# 1973 Texas Rangers season

The 1973 Texas Rangers season was the 13th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 2nd in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 2nd season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished sixth in the American League West with a record of 57 wins and 105 losses.

## Offseason

* October 27, 1972: Jim Panther was traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves for Rico Carty.
* November 30, 1972: Horacio Piña was traded by the Rangers to the Oakland Athletics for Mike Epstein.
* November 30, 1972: Tom Ragland was traded by the Texas Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Vince Colbert.
* January 10, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball Draft
** Jeff Schneider was drafted by the Rangers in the 2nd round, but did not sign.
** Jim Sundberg was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the Secondary Phase.

## Regular season

On July 30, 1973, Jim Bibby threw the first no-hitter in Texas Rangers history as he no-hit the Oakland Athletics. The Rangers won the game 6–0.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 94 | 68 | .580 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Kansas City Royals | 88 | 74 | .543 | 6 | 48‍–‍33 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Minnesota Twins | 81 | 81 | .500 | 13 | 37‍–‍44 | 44‍–‍37 |
| California Angels | 79 | 83 | .488 | 15 | 43‍–‍38 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Chicago White Sox | 77 | 85 | .475 | 17 | 40‍–‍41 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Texas Rangers | 57 | 105 | .352 | 37 | 35‍–‍46 | 22‍–‍59 |

### Record vs. opponents

1973 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | TEX |
| Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 15–3 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 10–2 |
| Boston | 11–7 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 9–9 | 3–15 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 14–4 | 4–8 | 9–3 |
| California | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 8–10 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 6–12 | 11–7 |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–12 | 3–9 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 6–12 | 13–5 |
| Cleveland | 6–12 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | — | 9–9 | 2–10 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 7–5 |
| Detroit | 9–9 | 15–3 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 4–8 | 12–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 |
| Kansas City | 4–8 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 10–2 | 8–4 | — | 8–4 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| Milwaukee | 3–15 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 4–8 | — | 8–4 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 8–4 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 3–9 | 14–4 | 12–6 |
| New York | 9–9 | 4–14 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–3 | — | 4–8 | 8–4 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 8–4 | 4–14 | 8–4 | — | 11–7 |
| Texas | 2–10 | 3–9 | 7–11 | 5–13 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 4–8 | 7–11 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 20, 1973: Mike Epstein, Rich Hand and Rick Stelmaszek were traded by the Rangers to the California Angels for Jim Spencer and Lloyd Allen.
* June 5, 1973: David Clyde was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1973 Major League Baseball Draft.
* July 11, 1973: Jim Fregosi was purchased by the Rangers from the New York Mets.

### David Clyde

David Clyde was a high school pitching phenom who was made the number one overall pick in the 1973 June draft. 22 days later, without having played in the minor leagues, Clyde made his MLB debut, the youngest player to play in an MLB game that year. Clyde won his first ever major league start (in front of a sellout crowd at Arlington Stadium, the first sellout in club history) and played in eighteen games (all starts) that season, finishing with a record of 4–8, with a 5.01 ERA.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Ken Suarez | 93 | 278 | 69 | .248 | 1 | 27 |
| 1B | Jim Spencer | 102 | 352 | 94 | .267 | 4 | 43 |
| 2B | Dave Nelson | 142 | 576 | 165 | .286 | 7 | 48 |
| SS | Toby Harrah | 118 | 461 | 120 | .260 | 10 | 50 |
| 3B | Jim Fregosi | 45 | 157 | 42 | .268 | 6 | 16 |
| LF | Rico Carty | 86 | 306 | 71 | .232 | 3 | 33 |
| CF | Vic Harris | 152 | 555 | 138 | .249 | 8 | 44 |
| RF | Jeff Burroughs | 151 | 526 | 147 | .279 | 30 | 85 |
| DH | Alex Johnson | 158 | 624 | 179 | .287 | 8 | 68 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Dick Billings | 81 | 280 | 50 | .179 | 3 | 32 |
| Larry Biittner | 83 | 258 | 65 | .252 | 1 | 12 |
| Jim Mason | 93 | 238 | 49 | .206 | 3 | 19 |
| Bill Sudakis | 82 | 235 | 60 | .255 | 15 | 43 |
| Elliott Maddox | 100 | 172 | 41 | .238 | 1 | 17 |
| Tom Grieve | 66 | 123 | 38 | .309 | 7 | 21 |
| Pete Mackanin | 44 | 90 | 9 | .100 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Epstein | 27 | 85 | 16 | .188 | 1 | 6 |
| Bill Madlock | 21 | 77 | 21 | .351 | 1 | 5 |
| Joe Lovitto | 26 | 44 | 6 | .136 | 0 | 0 |
| Lenny Randle | 10 | 29 | 6 | .207 | 1 | 1 |
| Don Castle | 4 | 13 | 4 | .308 | 0 | 2 |
| Rick Stelmaszek | 7 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jim Bibby | 26 | 180.1 | 9 | 10 | 3.24 | 155 |
| Sonny Siebert | 25 | 119.2 | 7 | 11 | 3.99 | 76 |
| Pete Broberg | 22 | 118.2 | 5 | 9 | 5.61 | 57 |
| David Clyde | 18 | 93.1 | 4 | 8 | 5.01 | 74 |
| Rich Hand | 8 | 41.2 | 2 | 3 | 5.40 | 14 |
| Dick Bosman | 7 | 40.1 | 2 | 5 | 4.24 | 14 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jim Merritt | 35 | 160.0 | 5 | 13 | 4.05 | 65 |
| Steve Dunning | 23 | 94.1 | 2 | 6 | 5.34 | 38 |
| Mike Paul | 36 | 87.1 | 5 | 4 | 4.95 | 49 |
| Don Stanhouse | 21 | 70.0 | 1 | 7 | 4.76 | 42 |
| Lloyd Allen | 23 | 41.0 | 0 | 6 | 9.22 | 25 |
| Don Durham | 15 | 40.1 | 0 | 4 | 7.59 | 23 |
| Rick Henninger | 6 | 23.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.74 | 6 |
| Jim Kremmel | 4 | 9.0 | 0 | 2 | 9.00 | 6 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Steve Foucault | 32 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 3.88 | 28 |
| Bill Gogolewski | 49 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4.22 | 77 |
| Jackie Brown | 25 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3.92 | 45 |
| Charlie Hudson | 25 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4.62 | 34 |
| Jim Shellenback | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 |
| Rick Waits | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Spokane Indians | Pacific Coast League | Del Wilber |
| AA | Pittsfield Rangers | Eastern League | Joe Klein |
| A | Gastonia Rangers | Western Carolinas League | Rich Donnelly |
| Rookie | GCL Rangers | Gulf Coast League | Bill Haywood |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Spokane, GCL Rangers