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 had the lowest team batting average in the majors with .217, and 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 1B15 Hal King C33 Frank Howard    LF  4 Larry Biittner    RF35 Joe Lovitto CF11 Toby Harrah SS 27 Dick Bosman P

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

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 1972 Texas Rangers Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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 133 469 41 119 .254 5 58 1 1B 95 287 28 70 .244 9 31 1 2B 74 249 23 48 .193 2 21 4 3B 145 499 68 113 .226 2 28 51 SS 116 374 47 97 .259 1 31 16 LF 64 142 12 29 .204 3 11 1 CF 117 330 23 74 .224 1 19 13 RF 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 137 382 34 99 .259 3 31 1 98 294 40 74 .252 0 10 20 61 191 23 45 .236 6 39 2 61 186 8 26 .140 0 10 7 72 151 14 24 .159 4 19 1 46 147 10 29 .197 0 10 0 50 122 12 22 .180 4 12 0 39 119 8 20 .168 1 10 4 46 116 5 26 .224 0 7 0 22 65 4 12 .185 1 3 0 25 58 3 10 .172 0 2 0 26 41 3 6 .146 0 3 0 25 33 2 5 .152 0 4 0 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 29 173.1 8 10 3.63 105 30 170.2 10 14 3.32 109 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 39 176.1 5 12 4.29 133 49 161.2 8 9 2.17 108 36 150.2 4 11 4.24 95 22 57.0 2 4 3.47 30 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 60 2 7 15 3.20 60 66 5 8 9 2.62 51 58 5 9 0 4.13 44 35 3 5 4 4.41 27 13 0 0 1 2.81 13 5 0 1 0 2.38 4 5 0 0 0 8.10 4 3 0 0 0 3.86 0

Farm system

Notes

References

1972 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference 1972 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com