1978 Texas Rangers season

1978 Texas Rangers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961)
Western Division (since 1972)
Location
Arlington Stadium (since 1972)
Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bradford G. Corbett
General manager(s)	Dan O'Brien, Sr./Eddie Robinson
Manager(s)	Billy Hunter, Pat Corrales
Local television	KXAS-TV (Jon Miller, Frank Glieber)
Local radio	WBAP (Jon Miller, Bill Merrill)
< Previous season Next season >

The 1978 Texas Rangers season involved the Rangers finishing 2nd in the American League West with a record of 87 wins and 75 losses.

Offseason

October 25, 1977: Gorman Thomas was sent to the Rangers by the Milwaukee Brewers to complete an earlier deal (the Brewers sent a player to be named later to the Rangers for Ed Kirkpatrick) made on August 20.^[1]
November 10, 1977: Darold Knowles was purchased from the Rangers by the Montreal Expos.^[2]
December 8, 1977: Bert Blyleven was traded by the Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller, were traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves, and Tom Grieve and a player to be named later were traded by the Rangers to the New York Mets as part of a 4-team trade. Al Oliver and Nelson Norman were traded by the Pirates to the Rangers, and Jon Matlack was traded by the Mets to the Rangers. John Milner was traded by the Mets to the Pirates. Willie Montañez was traded by the Braves to the Mets. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Ken Henderson to the Mets on March 15, 1978.^[3]
January 25, 1978: Gaylord Perry was traded by the Rangers to the San Diego Padres for Dave Tomlin and $125,000.^[4]
February 28, 1978: David Clyde and Willie Horton were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein.^[5]

Regular season

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Kansas City Royals	92	70	0.568	—	56–25	36–45
Texas Rangers	87	75	0.537	5	52–30	35–45
California Angels	87	75	0.537	5	50–31	37–44
Minnesota Twins	73	89	0.451	19	38–43	35–46
Chicago White Sox	71	90	0.441	20½	38–42	33–48
Oakland Athletics	69	93	0.426	23	38–42	31–51
Seattle Mariners	56	104	0.350	35	32–49	24–55

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–8	4–6	8–1	9–6	7–8	2–8	7–8	5–5	6–9	11–0	9–1	7–4	8–7
Boston	8–7	—	9–2	7–3	7–8	12–3	4–6	10–5	9–2	7–9	5–5	7–3	3–7	11–4
California	6–4	2–9	—	8–7	6–4	4–7	9–6	5–5	12–3	5–5	9–6	9–6	5–10	7–3
Chicago	1–8	3–7	7–8	—	8–2	2–9	8–7	4–7	8–7	1–9	7–8	7–8	11–4	4–6
Cleveland	6–9	8–7	4–6	2–8	—	5–10	5–6	5–10	5–5	6–9	4–6	8–1	1–9	10–4
Detroit	8–7	3–12	7–4	9–2	10–5	—	4–6	7–8	4–6	4–11	6–4	8–2	7–3	9–6
Kansas City	8–2	6–4	6–9	7–8	6–5	6–4	—	6–4	7–8	6–5	10–5	12–3	7–8	5–5
Milwaukee	8–7	5–10	5–5	7–4	10–5	8–7	4–6	—	4–7	10–5	9–1	5–5	6–4	12–3
Minnesota	5–5	2–9	3–12	7–8	5–5	6–4	8–7	7–4	—	3–7	9–6	6–9	6–9	6–4
New York	9–6	9–7	5–5	9–1	9–6	11–4	5–6	5–10	7–3	—	8–2	6–5	6–4	11–4
Oakland	0–11	5–5	6–9	8–7	6–4	4–6	5–10	1–9	6–9	2–8	—	13–2	6–9	7–4
Seattle	1–9	3–7	6–9	8–7	1–8	2–8	3–12	5–5	9–6	5–6	2–13	—	3–12	8–2
Texas	4–7	7–3	10–5	4–11	9–1	3–7	8–7	4–6	9–6	4–6	9–6	12–3	—	4–7
Toronto	7–8	4–11	3–7	6–4	4–10	6–9	5–5	3–12	4–6	4–11	4–7	2–8	7–4	—

Notable transactions

June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
- Wayne Tolleson was drafted by the Rangers in the 8th round.^[6]
- Charlie O'Brien was drafted by the Rangers in the 14th round, but did not sign.^[7]
- Mike Richardt was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (10th pick) of the Secondary Phase.^[8]

Roster

1978 Texas Rangers roster

Roster

Pitchers

33 Doyle Alexander

39 Len Barker

26 Reggie Cleveland

28 Steve Comer

44 Danny Darwin

17 Dock Ellis

31 Ferguson Jenkins

25 Paul Lindblad

32 Jon Matlack

42 Doc Medich

16 Paul Mirabella

29 Roger Moret

40 Jim Umbarger

Catchers

9 John Ellis

43 Greg Mahlberg

10 Jim Sundberg

Infielders

2 Sandy Alomar

13 Kurt Bevacqua

19 Bert Campaneris

21 Mike Hargrove

11 Toby Harrah

35 Mike Jorgensen

34 John Lowenstein

3 Jim Mason

4 Nelson Norman

18 Pat Putnam

15 La Rue Washington

1 Bump Wills

Outfielders

12 Juan Beníquez

24 Bobby Bonds

6 Johnny Grubb

0 Al Oliver

7 Billy Sample

20 Bobby Thompson

15 Claudell Washington

22 Richie Zisk

Other batters

23 Gary Gray

Manager

45 Pat Corrales

5 Billy Hunter

Coaches

45 Pat Corrales

41 Sid Hudson

47 Fred Koenig

8 Connie Ryan

40 Jimmie Schaffer

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	Sundberg, JimJim Sundberg	149	518	144	.278	6	58
LF	Oliver, AlAl Oliver	133	525	170	.324	14	89

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
Lowenstein, JohnJohn Lowenstein	77	176	39	.222	5	21
Gray, GaryGary Gray	17	50	12	.240	2	6
Norman, NelsonNelson Norman	23	34	9	.265	0	1

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
Matlack, JonJon Matlack	35	270	15	13	2.27	157
Alexander, DoyleDoyle Alexander	31	191	9	10	3.86	81

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

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
Barker, LenLen Barker	29	1	5	4	4.82	33

Awards and honors

Jim Sundberg, Gold Glove, catcher

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tucson Toros	Pacific Coast League	Rich Donnelly
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Marty Martínez
A	Asheville Tourists	Western Carolinas League	Wayne Terwilliger
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Joe Klein

Notes

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

External links

1978 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto

AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

1978 MLB draft 1978 All-Star Game 1978 World Series

Texas Rangers

Formerly the Washington Senators
Based in Arlington, Texas (Dallas–Ft. Worth)

Franchise

Ballparks

Griffith Stadium RFK Stadium Arlington Stadium Globe Life Park in Arlington New Rangers Ballpark

Spring training	Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium Ranger Stadium Surprise Stadium

Culture and lore

Rivalries

Houston Astros

Retired numbers

Key personnel

Owners: Ray Davis & Bob R. Simpson
General Manager: Jon Daniels
Manager: Jeff Banister

Texas Rangers
Hall of Fame

Wild card berths (1)

2012

American League
West Division titles (6)

American League
championships (2)

2010
2011

Minor league affiliates

Seasons (56)

1960s	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.