The Texas Rangers were once the second iteration of the Washington Senators. They also have the distinction of being managed by three Hall of Famers: Gil Hodges, Ted Williams, and Whitey Herzog. They were in Washington for just 11 years and were awful with a .418 winning percentage. Since they moved to Texas in 1972, they have made the playoffs eight times and appeared in back-to-back World Series in 2010 and 2011. For their All-Time roster, you will find a very good lineup and some old pitchers. However, everyone on this roster, except for one player, played elsewhere.
Make sure to check out all of our other All-Time Rosters.
Starting Nine
Ivan Rodriguez, C
While he isn’t the original “Pudge”, Rodriguez certainly lived up to the nickname that Carlton Fisk was known as. Making his debut at just 19 years old in 1991, Rodriguez was a defensive wizard immediately. In 1992, he won the first of 10 consecutive Gold Gloves and also made the first of 10 straight All-Star appearances. The Puerto Rico native also won the AL MVP in 1999 hitting a career-high 35 home runs and even stealing 25 bases. Considered one of the best catchers ever, Pudge was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.
Mark Teixeira, 1B
While Tex only played for four and a half years with the Rangers, he quickly established himself as a premier first baseman in the league. In his third season in 2005, Teixeira finished seventh in MVP voting, won a Gold Glove, and was an All-Star. He also set career highs in homers (43) and RBIs (144). Tex finished his Rangers career slashing .283/.368/.533 with 153 home runs and 499 RBIs in just 3,006 plate appearances.
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Kinsler played more than half of his games with the Rangers. During that time, he accumulated an impressive 35.0 WAR in just under 4,800 plate appearances (4.375 WAR/600). In 2011, the second baseman had his best season setting career-highs in runs (121) and home runs (32) while becoming a 30-30 player for the second time in his career. He was a three-time All-Star for Texas and finished his time there with 156 homers and 172 stolen bases.
Adrian Beltre, 3B
The soon-to-be first ballot Hall of Famer played his final eight seasons with the Rangers. Beltre won three of his five Gold Gloves with Texas and finished his career there with a stellar 5.35 WAR/600 PA. He slashed .304/.357/.509 and got his 3,000th hit on July 30, 2017, off of Wade Miley. It was a double which was fitting, considering Beltre sits 11th all-time with 636 of them.
Alex Rodriguez, SS
While A-Rod played only three seasons for the Rangers, they were ridiculously good. He led the AL all three years while winning two Gold Gloves and the MVP in 2003. He was an iron man as well missing just one game in his time in Texas. He had an insane 156 homers and 395 RBIs with a 1.011 OPS.
Frank Howard, LF
A mountain of a man, standing 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds, Howard was renowned for his power. That was put on full display with the Washington Senators (before they moved to Texas). For a five-year stretch from 1967-1971, Howard averaged 40 home runs and 103 RBIs while slashing .278/.374/.533. He is third in team history with 246 home runs and sixth with 701 RBIs.
Josh Hamilton, CF
Although his troubles have been well documented, Hamilton certainly had a renaissance for a five-year stretch from 2008-2012. He led the league in RBIs with 130 in 2008 and batting with a .359 average in 2010. He also won the MVP that season and was an All-Star all five of the years with Texas in his first stint with the team. Hamilton played a big part in the back-to-back AL crowns in 2010 and 2011 including taking home the ALCS MVP in 2010 blasting four homers and swiping three bags in just six games against the New York Yankees.
Juan Gonzalez, RF
Gonzalez leads the franchise in home runs (372), RBIs (1,180), and extra-base hits (713). He led the league in homers twice (1992, 1993) and hit 40+ five times. He also won two MVP awards (1996, 1998). Juan Gone made an impressive run at the single season RBI record in 1998 logging 101 of them by the All-Star break. Unfortunately, he would fall well short of it at 157.
Rafael Palmeiro, DH
Palmeiro had two separate five-year stints with the Rangers. In those 10 years he hit 321 home runs and drove in 1,039 runs. the left-handed slugger slashed .290/.378/.519 and walked more than he struck out (805-754). When he came back to Texas the second time in 1999, Palmeiro had one of his best seasons, setting career-highs in HRs (47), RBIs (148), and OPS (1.050).
Starting Rotation
Nolan Ryan, RHP
Ryan pitched his final five seasons with the Rangers. When he first signed with them in 1989, he was 42 years old, but had 16 wins, a 3.20 ERA, and led the league in strikeouts with 301. He also got his 5,000th K on August 22. The following season he led the league in strikeouts again with 232 and on July 31, recorded his 300th career win. The Rangers are the third all-time team he is on along with the Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros.
Gaylord Perry, RHP
A workhorse throughout his career, Perry spent a few years with the Rangers. In 112 starts with Texas, the Hall of Fame right-hander completed 55 games averaging just over 7.1 innings per start. It wasn’t that he was just eating innings either. Perry pitched to a 3.26 ERA and had over three strikeouts to every walk. He did all of this in his late 30’s into his 40’s as it seemed, like Ryan, he would pitch forever.
Fergie Jenkins, RHP
The third starter on the Rangers is another player who made his name elsewhere but pitched well enough for Texas to be included. Jenkins came to the Rangers in 1974 and immediately made his mark winning 25 games and leading the league in complete games with 29. He finished second to Catfish Hunter in Cy Young voting that season, ironically ahead of Ryan and Perry who pitched for the Angels and Indians respectively.
Charlie Hough, RHP
The knuckeballer was a reliever for much of his career until 1982 at 34 years old. By then his Dodger days were behind him as Hough embarked on the second half of his career. From 1982-1988, the right-hander averaged 252 innings per year and pitched to a 3.58 ERA. In 1986 he made his first and only All-Star team. He pitched for Texas until 1990 and retired four years later.
Yu Darvish, RHP
Here we go! The first young guy in the rotation. Darvish surprised many fans by signing with the Rangers back in 2012. He hit the ground running in America finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting that season. His second year was even better as he had a 2.83 ERA and led the AL in strikeouts with 277. After what looked like another excellent season coming from the big right-hander in 2014, he was injured and wound up having Tommy John surgery in March, 2015. He came back strong and was dealt to the Dodgers in 2017.
Bullpen
John Wetteland, RHP
The Rangers all-time leader in saves at 150 only played four years for Texas. While his final two seasons were solid, Wetteland was dominant for the first two. In 1997 and 1998, he pitched to a 1.98 ERA with a 135/35 K/BB rate in 127 innings. In the steroid era, it is even more incredible that he allowed just 11 homers in those innings.
Jeff Russell, RHP
Russell had two stints with the Rangers including the final two years of his career. In his tenure, the right-hander saved 134 games which doesn’t seem like much except when you consider he was only closing out games for four and a half years. He even led the league with 38 saves in 1989 earning his second All-Star game nod.
Francisco Cordero, RHP
Cordero set a franchise record for saves with 49 in 2004. For his career with Texas, he saved 117 games and struck out nearly a batter per inning. His ERA checks in at 3.45, but from 2002-2004 it was 2.39 while he struck out over a quarter of the batters he faced.
Ron Kline, RHP
Back when the Rangers were in Washington as the Senators, Kline was a very good reliever. He led the league in saves in 1965 with 29. His 2.54 ERA over those four years with the Senators was excellent and he regularly pitched more than just one inning as he averaged 91 innings a year.
Darold Knowles, LHP
Let’s get a lefty in here. Knowles also pitched for the Senators after Kline departed. The southpaw had a very good 2.46 ERA in his five and a half years with Washington (one with Texas). He was tough to take out of the ballpark allowing just 22 home runs in 424 innings.
Kenny Rogers, LHP
Rogers is mostly remembered as a starter as he was for most of his career. However, in his first four years in the big leagues with Texas, the lefty started just 12 games and came in from the bullpen 274 times. He was solid in those seasons from 1989-1992 with a 3.78 ERA and 28 saves. He gets a nod here as he can come in and spot start as well.
Bench
Buddy Bell, 3B
Many teams would be fine with Bell as their starting third baseman. He actually has more Gold Gloves than Beltre and is considered one of the best defensively at the hot corner. He could a bit also. Bell slashed .293/.351/.431 in his eight years with Texas and in his prime from 1979-1984 he won six straight Gold Gloves and batted .301 averaging 14 homers a year.
Toby Harrah, IF
The versatile Harrah could play anywhere in the infield. While he wasn’t stellar defensively, he was adequate and had a .357 career OBP with Texas. He also had a bit of power and speed hitting 124 home runs and stealing 153 bases with the Rangers including a career-high 27 in 1977 while leading the league in walks that season with 109.
Michael Young, SS/3B
The Rangers all-time leader in many categories including hits (2,230) and runs (1,085) gets a spot here. In his prime nine-year stretch from 2003-2011 Young led the league twice in hits (2005, 2011) while also leading the league with a .331 batting average in 2005. He also averaged 17 homers and 90 RBIs while slashing .312/.358/.461.
Elvis Andrus, SS
The long-time shortstop is only the second active player on this squad. Although he isn’t on the Rangers anymore, Andrus has a comfortable franchise lead with 305 stolen bases. He played for the Rangers for 12 years and logged at least 145 games in 10 of them. His best season came in 2017 when he was a 20-20 player and had a 5.4 WAR.
Rusty Greer, OF
While Greer only played nine years in the majors, they were all with Texas. In his prime five seasons from 1995-1999, the outfielder slashed .308/.392/.490 and averaged 19 home runs, 96 runs, and 91 RBIs. Of course, he also made the prerequisite great play in Rogers’ perfect game in 1994, making a diving play in the ninth inning.
Julio Franco, 2B
The ageless Franco played until he was 49 years old. Five of his 23 seasons were with the Rangers where he enjoyed success. During that time from 1989-1993, the right-handed hitter with the often-imitated stance slashed .307/.382/.440 and led the AL in batting with a .341 average in 1991.
Honorable Mentions
Kevin Brown, RHP
Neftali Feliz, RHP
Ruben Sierra, OF
Shin-Soo Choo, OF
Jim Sundberg, C
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
