Random Fun Facts

• The Rangers played three games within a 24-hour period at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Tues 9/8-Wed 9/9.  When the Mon 9/7 game at the Indians was postponed due to rain, the Rangers-Indians played a double header on Tuesday that started at 4pm.  The final game of the 3-game series started at 11am on Wednesday.

• By hitting his 30th home run of the season in the Sept 4th win at Baltimore, outfielder Nelson Cruz became only the 3rd player in Rangers history to hit 30-or-more home runs in his first full major league season, joining Pete Incaviglia (1986) and Ruben Sierra (1987).  Cruz also became the first Rangers right-handed hitter with 30 homers in a season since Alfonso Soriano in 2005.

• 21-year old rookie Neftali Feliz became the first Rangers pitcher to strike out seven straight hitters since Nolan Ryan accomplished the feat 18 years ago.

• When the Rangers beat the Red Sox on Sunday, August 17th, Texas overtook Boston for a ½ game lead in the A.L. wild card standings.  The Rangers had not held the wild card or division lead that late in a season since 1999 (also the last time the Rangers made the payoffs).  The win also put Texas 16 games over .500 for the first time since 2004.

• Andruw Jones’ apparent home run down the left field line on July 19th versus the Twins was overruled by a video review.  It marked the first time that replay was used at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.  Despite losing the ruling and having Jones’ home run taken off the scoreboard, the Rangers managed to beat the Twins in 12 innings, 5-3.

• Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz appeared in the Home Run Derby after being added to the All Star roster as an injury replacement.  Cruz finished second in the derby to Prince Fielder.  It was the second straight year that a Rangers player finished second:  outfielder Josh Hamilton placed just behind champion Justin Morneau in the 2008 Home Run Derby.

• Two of the 9 starters for the American League in the 2009 All Star Game were Texas Rangers:  outfielder Josh Hamilton in center field (voted a starter by fans) and 3rd baseman Michael Young (voted as an All Star by players, added to starting lineup as injury replacement for Rays’ Evan Longoria).

• June 17th was a historic night at Rangers Ballpark.  Rangers catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez returned to Arlington as a member of the Houston Astros and broke Carlton Fisk’s record of games caught with Pudge’s 2,227th game behind home plate.   Pudge played 12 seasons as a Ranger.  “It was awesome what happened today, it’s just unbelievable,” Pudge said after acknowledging repeated standing ovations from appreciative Rangers fans.

• On June 10th, the Rangers drafted Ruben Sierra Jr., an 18 year old center fielder from Puerto Rico.  Sierra is the son of the former Ranger All-Star. 

• When the radio Voice of the Texas Rangers, Eric Nadel, missed the June 4th broadcast of the Rangers @ Yankees game because of eye surgery to repair a tear in the retina of his right eye, it broke a streak of 3,175 consecutive Rangers games broadcast by Nadel.  He had not missed a game since June 2, 1989 when he attended his father’s funeral, a streak of 20 years.  Nadel joined the broadcast crew in 1979.

• The rookie minimum in Major League Baseball is approximately $400,000.00.

• The Rangers won 20 games in the month of May, the second most wins of any month in team history (21 wins in Sept, 1978).  It was only the second 20-win month in team history, and only time in the month of May.

• Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s grand slam in the 10th inning on May 5th at Seattle was the fifth in extra innings in Rangers history and the first in a road game since Bump Wills hit an extra inning grand slam at Baltimore on July 19th, 1980.   Salty’s slam was the icing on the cake of the Rangers’ 7-2 win over the Mariners.

• Ian Kinsler’s bat which he used to hit for the cycle against the Orioles will be on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  Kinsler’s record setting night included 6 hits and he became the first player since 1890 to go 6-for-6 and hit for the cycle in a 9-inning game.  The Hall of Fame requested Kinsler’s jersey from that night, but Kinsler decided to keep the jersey for himself and sent the baseball bat to Cooperstown.

• On April 16th, every major league player wore uniform #42 as part of the 62nd anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking major league baseball’s color barrier.  The Rangers hosted the Orioles at Rangers Ballpark on Jackie Robinson Day and won the game 19-6. The Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation also sponsors a Jackie Robinson scholar, Makenzie Hodge of Baylor University.

• On Opening Day 2009, the Rangers payroll ranked 22nd highest among all 30 major league teams at $68,646,023.  The Yankees have the highest payroll at $201,400,000 with the Mets 2nd at $135,700,000.  The three lowest payrolls belonged to the Marlins ($37 million), the Padres ($43 million) and Pirates ($49 million).

• The minimum salary for Major League players in 2009 is $400,000.00.

• The Rangers have scored 800-or-more runs the past 13 straight seasons, going all the way back to the 1996 AL West championship season.  Thirteen years is the second longest streak in Major League history.  Over the 13 year span, the Rangers have the most home runs and highest slugging percentage of any American League team.

• The same owner who moved basketball’s Lakers from Minneapolis to Los Angeles is the same man who moved the Washington Senators to Arlington where the team would become known as the Rangers.  Bob Short moved the team to Arlington after the 1971 season.

• Former Rangers pitching coach Dick Bosman holds an unusual distinction in team history.  He was the starting pitcher for the Washington Senators’ final game on Sept 30, 1971 before the team moved to Arlington and became the Rangers.  He also was the starting pitcher for the first Rangers game on April 15, 1972.

   

Player Fun Facts

• Outfielder Marlon Byrd recorded 7 hits in a double-header sweep at Cleveland on Sept 8th.  Byrd went 4-for-4 in the opener including a 3-run homer.  In the night cap, he added three more hits.  His 8 hits set a new team record for a double-header.

• When Ian Kinsler hit a leadoff home run to open the double-header sweep of the Blue Jays on September 1st, he set team records for most leadoff homers in a season (7) and most career leadoff home runs (12).

• Michael Young was named the A.L. Player of  the Week on Monday, August 24th.  The previous week, he went 15-for-30 and had three consecutive three-hit games.  He also had two doubles, a triple, a home run, eight RBIs and was in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak.  Young had previously been named Player of the Week only once in his career, back in August of 2006.

• When Elvis Andrus stole second base during the 4th inning of the Rangers 7-3 win over the Tigers on July 28th, it was his 20th stolen base of the season.  He became only the 10th player in MLB history to record a 20-steal season before his 21st birthday.  Another of those 10 players is currently a Ranger:  Andruw Jones accomplished the feat in ’97 with the Braves.

• Ian Kinsler hit a leadoff home run and a walk-off home run in the 12th inning during the Rangers’ 5-3 win over the Twins at Rangers Ballpark on July 19th.  Kinsler became only the third player in Major League Baseball since 1969 to hit a leadoff homer and walk-off homer in the same game.  And according to the Elias Sports Bureau and SABR statistician David Vincent, Kinsler is only the 5th player in Major League history to accomplish the feat, the last being Reed Johnson for Toronto in 2003.

• Shortstop Elvis Andrus, a native of Maracay, Venezuela, learned English as a teenager by listening to Rascal Flatts songs and reading the song lyrics on Google.

• Andruw Jones hit three home runs at Anaheim on July 8th to propel the Rangers’ 8-1 win over the Angels and move Texas back into 1st place in the AL West.  It was the second 3-home run game in Jones’ career and the first by a Rangers batter since Brad Wilkerson hit 3 (also against the Angels) in July, 2007 in Arlington.

• Rangers shortstop Omar Vizquel collected his 2,678th career hit in the first inning of the win at Arizona on June 25th.  The record-breaking hit moved Vizquel past Luis Aparicio, the Hall of Fame shortstop, for most hits by a native of Venezuela.
  

• Relief pitcher Frankie Francisco did not allow an earned run until the final day of May, a streak of 31 appearances which dated back to August 18, 2008.  He logged the most innings of any pitcher in 2009 before surrendering a run.

  *Pitcher C.J. Wilson’s Guitar Hero Metallica Madness charitable event raised $12,000 this year, a new record for the event.  Proceeds go to his children’s charities as well as the Texas Hemophilia Camp. 

• Shortstop Omar Vizquel is playing his 21 season of Major League Baseball.  But until joining the Rangers this season, the 11-time All-Star shortstop had never started a game at 2nd base.  He has started at SS, 2B and 3B as a Ranger.

• Pitcher Matt Harrison pitched back-to-back complete game victories during the second week of May versus the White Sox and Mariners, respectively.  He is the first Ranger to accomplish back-to-back complete game wins since Kenny Rogers in 1994.

• Pitcher Vicente Padilla threw two gems in a row on a road trip in early May.  He pitched 8 innings at Seattle and allowed only 1 hit.  In his next outing in Chicago, he held the White Sox to 1 hit in 7 innings.  He’s the first pitcher in Rangers history with back-to-back starts allowing one-or-fewer hits.  And he’s only the fifth pitcher in the major leagues to accomplish that feat since 1954.

• Ian Kinsler became the 4th Ranger in club history to hit for the cycle (HR, triple, double, single in the same game) on April 15th at Rangers Ballpark versus the Orioles.  For the game, he totaled 6 hits (including 1 HR, 1 triple, 2 doubles and 2 singles.  Only one other Ranger has totaled 6 hits in one game (Alfonso Soriano in a 10-inning game in ’04).  Kinsler also scored 5 runs and totaled 13 bases, just one short of the team record set by Jose Canseco in 1994. 

• In addition to Kinsler (2009), the other Rangers to hit for the cycle include Oddibe McDowell (1985), Mark Teixeira (2004) and Gary Matthews Jr. (2006).

• When Nelson Cruz hit a mammoth home run to left field in the 7th inning of the Rangers 8-5 win over the Indians on April 8th, he became only the 15th player in ballpark history to reach the club level in left field. 

• Rookie Elvis Andrus became the third youngest player (20 yrs, 223 days) in team history to be in the Rangers starting lineup on opening day.  Ivan “Pudge” Rodgriguez (20 years, 130 days) remains the youngest Ranger to ever start a season opener.

• Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz represented the Dominican Republic is the 2009 World Baseball Classic.  But he also had previously represented his country on the Dominican national BASKETBALL team.

• All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton gave up smokeless tobacco at the behest of his 7-year old daughter, Julia, who asked her daddy to give up the habit.

• Pitcher Kevin Millwood is an excellent golfer with a single-digit handicap.  During the baseball season, he maintains about a 7 handicap.  But during the off-season, he gets as low as a 4.  His favorite golf course that he’s ever played is Augusta National, home of The Masters.

• Pitcher Jason Jennings had a memorable Major League debut on August 23, 2001.  He became the first pitcher in major league history to throw a shutout and hit a home run in his first Major League game.

• All-Star Michael Young played part of the 2008 season with two fractures in two different fingers.

• Another tidbit about Michael Young:  he drives a Maserati.

• Hank Blalock hit a home run in each of the final four Rangers home games in 2008.  The streak of four consecutive games with a home run was the longest streak of Blalock’s career.

• When Rangers catcher Taylor Teagarden hit a grand slam on September 15th, it was his 6th home run in 12 games.  He is only the third player since 1956 to hit six homers through his first 12 major league games.

• Taylor Teagarden earned a bronze medal as a member of USA’s baseball team in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

• Shortstop Omar Vizquel has won 11 Gold Glove Awards.  Only 9 players in major league history have won more Gold Gloves than Vizquel.

• With an RBI in a game versus the Mariners on September 2, 2008, Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton became the second major league baseball player in the past 55 years to record 120 RBI’s in only his second full major league season.  The only other player to accomplish the feat since 1953 is the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols in 2002.

Team Fun Facts

• In a double-header sweep at Cleveland on Sept 8th, the Rangers pounded a total of 31 hits in the 11-10 and 9-5 wins over the Indians.  Five of the 31 hits were home runs, 15 for extra bases.  Marlon Byrd collected 7 of the hits, a new club record for a double-header.  The team batting average for the twin bill was .383 with a .691 slugging percentage.

• In the Rangers’ 7-2 win over the Red Sox at Rangers Ballpark on August 15th, Texas base runners stole 8 bases, a new club single-game record.  Four of the bases were stolen by rookie outfielder Julio Borbon, three by rookie shortstop Elvis Andrus, and one by second baseman Ian Kinsler.  The previous team record was 7 stolen bases in a game at Seattle in 1978.

• The back-to-back shutouts thrown by Rangers pitchers on Jun 11th versus the Blue Jays and June 12th versus the Dodgers were the Rangers first consecutive home shutouts on back-to-back nights in the past 29 seasons.  Kevin Millwood and Vincente Padilla were the starting pitchers in the 1-0 and 6-0 wins over the Blue Jays & Dodgers, respectively, with help from the Texas bullpen.

• The Rangers spend anywhere from $60 to $95 per bat, depending on whether the player prefers to hit with a wooden bat made of ash (approx $60) or maple (up to $95).  Rangers clubhouse manager Zach Minasian can order bats from any of a total of 29 accredited manufacturers.  A player may go through two dozen to six dozen bats in just one season (source:  Dallas Morning News, 5/27/09)

• When the Rangers hosted the Yankees on Monday, May 25th, both teams wore red caps in honor of Memorial Day.  That’s right, even the Yankees wore red caps.  A near-capacity crowd of 48,914 enjoyed the holiday at Rangers Ballpark.

• During the May 10th game at Chicago on Mother’s Day, Rangers and White Sox players used pink bats and wore pink wrist bands.  The use of the color pink was part of MLB’s partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the fight against breast cancer.  Maybe Rangers designated hitter Hank Blalock should use the pink bat throughout the season.  He hit two home runs in the game to lead the Rangers to a 7-1 victory.

• It’s an unofficial rite of passage:  the shaving cream pie-to-the-face for young players.  During a postgame interview following the Rangers’ win over the Indians on April 8th, rookie Elvis Andrus was being interviewed by the club’s television broadcast crew.  Andrus was talking about hitting the first home run of his major league career.  Teammate Michael Young promptly delivered the pie-to-the-face…all in good fun, of course.

• The Rangers 3-game sweep of the Indians to open the 2009 season was Texas’ first sweep of a season-opening three game series since 1996.  The Rangers made the playoffs that season.  The Rangers had only one 3-game sweep during the entire 2008 season (Aug 25-27 vs Kansas City).   And the season-opening sweep was the Rangers first sweep at Rangers Ballpark since Sept 24-26, 2007 vs the Angels.

• Michael Young should bring stability to the 3rd base position in 2009 as Young moves from shortstop to “the hot corner”.  Injuries last season forced the Rangers to start 8 different players at 3rd base in 2008.

• Because the Rangers wore red uniforms and caps as their primary color during the team’s three A.L. West title runs in the 1990’s, many fans have hoped the club would switch their current uniform colors from blue to red.  Starting in 2009, the Rangers will incorporate more red into their uniform rotation, including a solid red top and hat as an alternate uniform.

Ballpark Fun Facts

• In mid-July the Rangers removed its Bermuda grass infield and replaced it with zeon zoysia which is more lush and enhances the green look of the field.  Because its more plush than the Bermuda, ground balls may be slowed down a bit if hit along the infield.

• Josh Hamilton’s 460-foot blast into the upper home run porch during Texas’ 10-8 win over the Angels on May 16th was the third longest home run in the history of Rangers Ballpark.

• Grass clippings from the field are used in mulch for the outside landscaping or returned to the field as fertilizer.

• All edible foods left over from prep that are not used for games are sent to Mission Arlington.

• The playing surface consists of Bermuda Tifway 419.  The sod was grown on a farm in nearby Granbury, Texas.  The sod was laid in 4x100 foot strips on the field in October, 1996.  Drainage line are laid every 15 feet over the expanse of the entire field.  The playing surface is then covered by 4-to-5 inches of pea gravel, plus 14-to-15 inches of sand mixture.  The field’s drainage capacity is 9-to-10 inches of water per hour.  The irrigation system allows the entire outfield to be watered from one station at 750 gallons per minute, or 50,000 gallons per hour. 

• The tarp, which is used to protect the field during rain delays, is mounted on a hydraulic lift and stored below ground down the left field line, preventing any sight-line problems.  Thanks to the below ground storage, there are no obstructed views for fans seated down the left field line.

• The Legends of the Game Baseball Museum inside Rangers Ballpark is available for group ‘After Dark Sleepovers’ in which kids hit and pitch in the same cages used by the Rangers.  A baseball-themed movie, breakfast, and morning tour of the ballpark are also included in the sleepover package.  Call the museum for more information at 817 273 5087.

• Each season the wives of Rangers and Astros players take part in the annual “Diamond Boot” softball game.

• The Rangers helped the Miracle League build a new Texas Rangers Miracle League Field in Arlington which provides opportunities for all children to play baseball regardless of their abilities.  The stadium includes wheelchair accessible dugouts and a completely flat playing surface which eliminates barriers for wheelchair-bound players.  The custom-designed synthetic turf is cushioned to help prevent injuries.  The Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation helps fund the maintenance and upkeep of the field.

• When 30-year old Brian Gordon made his major league debut with the Rangers on September 17th, he became the 55th player used by the Rangers during the 2008 season, a team record for players used in one season.  The previous record was 52.