# 1972 Texas Rangers season

The 1972 Texas Rangers season was the 12th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 1st in Arlington as the Rangers, the 1st season at Arlington Stadium and the team's first year in the AL West, after playing their first 11 seasons in Washington, D.C. The Rangers finished sixth in the American League West with a record of 54 wins and 100 losses. The Rangers were dead last in batting in the major leagues with a .217 team batting average. They failed to record an extra-base hit in 38 of their 154 games, the most of any team in the live-ball era (1920 onwards).

## Offseason

* December 2, 1971: Bernie Allen was traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Terry Ley and Gary Jones.
* December 2, 1971: Del Unser, Gary Jones, Terry Ley, and Denny Riddleberger were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Roy Foster, Ken Suarez, Mike Paul, and Rich Hand.
* December 2, 1971: Paul Casanova was traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves for Hal King.
* March 4, 1972: Denny McLain was traded by the Rangers to the Oakland Athletics for Jim Panther and Don Stanhouse.
* March 7, 1972: Tim Cullen was released by the Rangers.
* Prior to 1972 season: Lew Beasley was acquired by the Rangers from the Baltimore Orioles.

## Regular season

On April 15, 1972, the Rangers played their first American League game against the California Angels on the road at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels' Andy Messersmith hurled a complete-game, two-hit shutout, and the Rangers fell, 1–0. Toby Harrah and Hal King had their only hits, both singles, but catcher King made two errors. His second miscue led to the Angels' winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Dick Bosman was the hard-luck loser.

### The first game in Texas

On April 21, 1972, the Rangers' first game in Texas came six days later at Arlington Stadium against the Angels before 20,105 spectators. This time, Bosman emerged triumphant as the Rangers built a 6–1 lead and hung on to win their home opener, 7–6. Frank Howard and Dave Nelson each homered for Texas, while Lenny Randle and Harrah each collected three hits. Harrah scored three runs, and Randle notched four runs batted in.

#### Opening Day starters, April 15, 1972

| 2 | Lenny Randle | 2B |
| 1 | Dave Nelson | 3B |
| 5 | Don Mincher | 1B |
| 15 | Hal King | C |
| 33 | Frank Howard | LF |
| 4 | Larry Biittner | RF |
| 35 | Joe Lovitto | CF |
| 11 | Toby Harrah | SS |
| 27 | Dick Bosman | P |

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 93 | 62 | .600 | — | 48‍–‍29 | 45‍–‍33 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 67 | .565 | 5½ | 55‍–‍23 | 32‍–‍44 |
| Minnesota Twins | 77 | 77 | .500 | 15½ | 42‍–‍32 | 35‍–‍45 |
| Kansas City Royals | 76 | 78 | .494 | 16½ | 44‍–‍33 | 32‍–‍45 |
| California Angels | 75 | 80 | .484 | 18 | 44‍–‍36 | 31‍–‍44 |
| Texas Rangers | 54 | 100 | .351 | 38½ | 31‍–‍46 | 23‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1972 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | TEX |
| Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 10–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 |
| Boston | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 8–7 | 5–9 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 9–3 | 8–4 |
| California | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 9–6 | 7–5 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 10–7 |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 6–6 | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 8–9 | 9–3 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 7–8 | 14–4 |
| Cleveland | 10–8 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 10–8 | 6–6 | 5–10 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 2–10 | 9–3 |
| Detroit | 8–10 | 9–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 8–10 | — | 7–5 | 10–8 | 9–3 | 7–9 | 4–8 | 10–2 |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–9 | 9–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 7–5 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 8–6 |
| Milwaukee | 5–10 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 10–5 | 8–10 | 5–7 | — | 4–8 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 5–7 |
| Minnesota | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–7 | 6–8 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 9–9 | 8–4 | — | 6–6 | 8–9 | 11–7 |
| New York | 6–7 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 9–7 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 6–6 | — | 3–9 | 8–4 |
| Oakland | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 8–7 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 9–8 | 9–3 | — | 11–4 |
| Texas | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–10 | 4–14 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 6–8 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 4–11 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball Draft
** Brian Doyle was drafted by the Rangers in the 4th round.
** Jim Sundberg was drafted by the Rangers in the 8th round, but did not sign.
* July 20, 1972: Don Mincher and Ted Kubiak were traded by the Rangers to the Oakland Athletics for Marty Martínez, Vic Harris and a player to be named later.
* August 31, 1972: Frank Howard was purchased from the Rangers by the Detroit Tigers.
* September 7, 1972: Rich Hinton was purchased by the Rangers from the New York Yankees.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Pos | Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| C | Dick Billings | 133 | 469 | 41 | 119 | .254 | 5 | 58 | 1 |
| 1B | Frank Howard | 95 | 287 | 28 | 70 | .244 | 9 | 31 | 1 |
| 2B | Lenny Randle | 74 | 249 | 23 | 48 | .193 | 2 | 21 | 4 |
| 3B | Dave Nelson | 145 | 499 | 68 | 113 | .226 | 2 | 28 | 51 |
| SS | Toby Harrah | 116 | 374 | 47 | 97 | .259 | 1 | 31 | 16 |
| LF | Tom Grieve | 64 | 142 | 12 | 29 | .204 | 3 | 11 | 1 |
| CF | Joe Lovitto | 117 | 330 | 23 | 74 | .224 | 1 | 19 | 13 |
| RF | Ted Ford | 129 | 429 | 43 | 101 | .235 | 14 | 50 | 4 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| Larry Biittner | 137 | 382 | 34 | 99 | .259 | 3 | 31 | 1 |
| Elliott Maddox | 98 | 294 | 40 | 74 | .252 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Don Mincher | 61 | 191 | 23 | 45 | .236 | 6 | 39 | 2 |
| Vic Harris | 61 | 186 | 8 | 26 | .140 | 0 | 10 | 7 |
| Dalton Jones | 72 | 151 | 14 | 24 | .159 | 4 | 19 | 1 |
| Jim Mason | 46 | 147 | 10 | 29 | .197 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Hal King | 50 | 122 | 12 | 22 | .180 | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| Bill Fahey | 39 | 119 | 8 | 20 | .168 | 1 | 10 | 4 |
| Ted Kubiak | 46 | 116 | 5 | 26 | .224 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Jeff Burroughs | 22 | 65 | 4 | 12 | .185 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Tom Ragland | 25 | 58 | 3 | 10 | .172 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Marty Martínez | 26 | 41 | 3 | 6 | .146 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Ken Suarez | 25 | 33 | 2 | 5 | .152 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Jim Driscoll | 15 | 18 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 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 |
| Dick Bosman | 29 | 173.1 | 8 | 10 | 3.63 | 105 |
| Rich Hand | 30 | 170.2 | 10 | 14 | 3.32 | 109 |
| Don Stanhouse | 24 | 104.2 | 2 | 9 | 3.78 | 78 |

#### 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 |
| Pete Broberg | 39 | 176.1 | 5 | 12 | 4.29 | 133 |
| Mike Paul | 49 | 161.2 | 8 | 9 | 2.17 | 108 |
| Bill Gogolewski | 36 | 150.2 | 4 | 11 | 4.24 | 95 |
| Jim Shellenback | 22 | 57.0 | 2 | 4 | 3.47 | 30 |
| Gerry Janeski | 4 | 12.2 | 0 | 1 | 2.84 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Horacio Piña | 60 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 3.20 | 60 |
| Paul Lindblad | 66 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 2.62 | 51 |
| Jim Panther | 58 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 4.13 | 44 |
| Casey Cox | 35 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4.41 | 27 |
| Steve Lawson | 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.81 | 13 |
| Rich Hinton | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.38 | 4 |
| Jim Roland | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | 4 |
| Jan Dukes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Denver Bears | American Association | Del Wilber |
| AA | Pittsfield Senators | Eastern League | Joe Klein |
| A | Burlington Rangers | Carolina League | Frank Gable |
| A | Greenville Rangers | Western Carolinas League | Rich Donnelly |
| A-Short Season | Geneva Senators | New York–Penn League | Bill Haywood |