The Texas Rangers Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise was established in 1961 as the second incarnation of the Washington Senators, an expansion team awarded to Washington, D.C., after the old Washington Senators team of the American League moved to Minnesota and became the Twins. The new Senators remained in Washington through 1971 playing at Griffith Stadium in their first season and at RFK Stadium for the next 10 years. In 1972, the team moved to Arlington, Texas, where it became the Texas Rangers. The Rangers played at Arlington Stadium from 1972 to 1993. Arlington Stadium was demolished, and the new Ballpark at Arlington was built, opening in 1994. The Ballpark at Arlington was renamed Globe Life Park in Arlington in 2014.
It took the team 36 seasons to make the playoffs and they have made nine appearances since, seven following division championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2016 and as a wild card team in 2012 and 2023. In 2010, the Rangers advanced past the Division Series for the first time, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays. The team then brought home their first American League pennant after beating the New York Yankees in six games. In the 2010 World Series, the franchise's first, the Rangers fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games. They repeated as American League champions the following year, then lost the 2011 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The team won the 2023 World Series, effectively ending the longest drought amongst all North American pro sports franchises that are yet to win their first championship. The Rangers are in the American League West Division along with the Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels and the Houston Astros.
Washington Senators: 1961–1971
When the original Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1960 as the Twins, Major League Baseball decided to expand a year earlier than planned to stave off threats of losing its exemption from the Sherman Antitrust Act. At the winter meetings that year, it awarded a new team to Los Angeles (the Angels) as well as a new team in the nation's capital. This new team adopted the old Senators name, but was (and still is) considered an expansion team since the Twins retained the old Senators' records and history. The Senators and Angels began to fill their rosters with American League players in an expansion draft. The team played the season at old Griffith Stadium before moving to District of Columbia Stadium (now the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium).
For most of their existence, the new Senators were the definition of futility, losing an average of 90 games a season. The team's struggles led to a twist on a joke about the old Senators—"Washington: first in war, first in peace and still last in the American League." Frank Howard, known for his towering home runs, was the team's most accomplished player, winning two home run titles.
Ownership changed hands several times during the franchise's stay in Washington and was often plagued by poor decision-making and planning. Owner Pete Queseda once wondered why he needed to pay players who did not belong in the majors and later agreed to a ten-year lease at D.C. Stadium—a move that would come back to haunt the Senators. In , Quesada sold his stake in the club and resigned. Washington stockbrokers James Johnston and James Lemon owned the team briefly, suffering massive financial losses. Johnston died in and Lemon sold the team a year later to hotel and trucking executive Bob Short, who outbid a group headed by Bob Hope. Short named himself general manager and hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams as manager.
The concurrent rise of the nearby Baltimore Orioles to regular championship contenders (winning their first World Series in ) certainly did not help the Senators draw crowds. Further expansion and re-alignment in 1969 did not do much to help the Senators either, since (unlike the National League) the AL owners ultimately voted to align their new divisions strictly based on geography. This arrangement placed both expansion teams (the Seattle Pilots and the Kansas City Royals) in the AL West, while pitting perennial also-rans Washington against the AL's five best teams in the AL East. Despite this, and despite Williams having never coached or managed at any level of baseball, the Senators recorded their only winning season as a Washington team in 1969. However, their 86–76 finish was only good enough for fourth in the extremely competitive Eastern Division. Attendance surged to over 918,000, at the time the highest in Washington baseball history.
However, this would not last. Short had borrowed most of the $9.4 million he had paid for the team. Serving as his own general manager, Short was forced to make many questionable trades to service the debt and bring in much-needed revenue. As a result, the team rapidly fell back into the American League's cellar. Moreover, like their predecessors in their final few years in the nation's capital, the new Senators had to compete for an audience with the Baltimore Orioles, to the northeast, who by the 1960s were perennial contenders. Fans kept their distance from the Senators while the Orioles won four American League pennants and two World Series from 1966 through 1971. As it turned out, the 1969 season would be the only time the franchise would manage so much as a .500 record in its first 12 years. As well, the Senators would never approach their 1969 gate again during their stay in Washington; it would remain the franchise record for attendance until 1974–the franchise's fourth year in Texas.
By the end of the season, Short had issued an ultimatum: unless someone was willing to buy the Senators for $12 million (in comparison, the New York Yankees were sold in 1973 for $8.8 million), he would not renew the stadium lease and move the team elsewhere. At that season's end, Short dealt his best starting pitcher and the left side of his infield to the Detroit Tigers for erstwhile 30-game-winner Denny McLain, who had spent most of the 1970 campaign suspended because of gambling allegations. The deal—alleged by onetime Senators broadcaster Shelby Whitfield to have been made in order to secure the Tigers' vote in favor of the Senators' eventual move to Texas—turned Detroit back into contenders, while McLain was a monumental bust, losing a league-worst 22 games.
Short was especially receptive to an offer from Arlington, Texas mayor Tom Vandergriff, who had been trying to get a Major League team to play in the Metroplex for over a decade. Years earlier, Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, sought to move his team to Dallas, but the idea was rebuffed by the other AL team owners.
Arlington's hole card was Turnpike Stadium, a 10,000-seat park which had been built in to house the AA Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs of the Texas League. However, it had been built to Major League specifications. It was also located in a natural bowl, meaning only minor excavations would be necessary to expand the park to accommodate Major League crowds.
After Vandergriff offered a multimillion-dollar down payment, Short decided to make the move to Arlington. On September 21, 1971, (by a vote of 10–2, the Orioles' Jerold Hoffberger and John Allyn of the Chicago White Sox registering the dissenting votes), American League owners granted approval for the season.
Senators fans were livid. Enmity came to a head at the club's last game in Washington. Thousands of fans simply walked in without paying after the security guards left early, swelling the paid attendance of 14,460 to around 25,000, while fans unfurled a banner reading "SHORT STINKS". With the Senators leading 7–5 and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, several hundred youths stormed the field, raiding it for souvenirs. One man grabbed first base and ran off with it. With no security in sight and only three bases, umpire crew chief Jim Honochick forfeited the game to the New York Yankees.
Even after the move, the Rangers retained the rights to the Senators name, which meant the current Washington team, who relocated from Montreal in , would revive another longtime name, the Nationals (which was used by several NL teams in the 19th century, as well as the first AL Senators team from 1905 to 1955). However, the Rangers allowed the Nationals to use the curly W logo that originated with the expansion Senators.
Naming of the Rangers
After moving from Washington, the Senators were renamed after the Texas Rangers, the state-wide investigative law-enforcement agency which was founded by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 when Texas was part of Mexico, and whose mythology led to fictional characters such as The Lone Ranger and Walker, Texas Ranger. The franchise began as the Washington Senators in 1961, playing in Washington, D.C., before relocating to Arlington, Texas, in 1972 and becoming the Texas Rangers. This move marked a significant geographic and cultural shift for the club, beginning its long-term relationship with the Texas market.Baseball-Reference.com. "Washington Senators/Texas Rangers Franchise History & Encyclopedia." Accessed DATE, URL.
First years in Texas: 1972–1984 During the off-season, improvements were made to Turnpike Stadium, which reopened as Arlington Stadium for the 1972 season. Meanwhile, ownership announced that the franchise would be renamed the Texas Rangers. The team played its first game on April 15, 1972, a 1–0 loss at the California Angels. The next day, the Rangers defeated the Angels 5–1 for the club's first victory. After the season Ted Williams retired as manager; he had made no secret of his displeasure with the franchise's new location. Whitey Herzog was named the new manager, but he was replaced before the end of the 1973 season by Billy Martin.
In 1974, the Rangers began to come into their own as a team. They finished the season second in the American League West with an 84–76 record, behind the eventual World Series champion Oakland Athletics. The 1974 Rangers are still the only MLB team to finish above .500 after two consecutive 100-loss seasons. Mike Hargrove was awarded A.L. Rookie of the Year, Billy Martin was named Manager of the Year, Jeff Burroughs won American League MVP, and Ferguson Jenkins was named the Comeback Player of the Year after winning 25 games, a club record to this day. However, after a 44–51 start in 1975, Martin was fired as the Rangers' manager and was replaced by Frank Lucchesi.
After excellent seasons between 1977 and 1979, the Rangers came very close to clinching a playoff spot in the first half of 1981. But when Texas lost its last game before the players' strike began, the Oakland A's won the AL West in the first half by a half-game. After 1981, the Rangers would not post another winning record for five seasons. During this stretch, the Rangers made one of their most unpopular trades ever, sending multi-Gold Glove catcher and fan favorite Jim Sundberg to the Milwaukee Brewers for future Brewers’ manager Ned Yost, who later managed the Kansas City Royals to the 2015 World Series championship.
The Rangers faced attendance problems for a few years after moving to Texas, in part due to the team's inconsistent performance and in part due to the oppressive heat and humidity that can overtake the area in the summer. Until the Florida (now Miami) Marlins arrived in 1993, Arlington Stadium was often the hottest stadium in the Majors, with temperatures frequently topping throughout the summer months. In part because of this, the Rangers began playing most of even their weekend games between May and September at night—a tradition that continued until the opening of retractable-roofed Globe Life Field in 2020. Beginning in 1990, the Rangers usually received a waiver from ESPN to play Sunday night games and televise them in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.
The Valentine, Ryan, and Bush years: 1985–1994