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Texas Rangers Baseball
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The Washington Senators
moved to Minnesota in 1960, Major League Baseball awarded a team to
Washington, D.C., giving it the name of the old franchise. Behind
the lines, the American League decided in 1962 to listen to the idea
of bringing a professional baseball team to the Dallas/Fort Worth
area. Kansas City A's owner Charley Finley seeks to move his team
to Dallas, but the idea is Refuted by the other American League team
owners. The Texas Rangers are a Major League Baseball team based in
Arlington, Texas, a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. They
are one of four teams that play in the Western Division of the American
League (AL). The Rangers uniform consists of the colors Blue, White,
and Scarlet red; Logo design is a "T" superimposed on a
baseball, set inside a circle with "TEXAS" on the top half
and "RANGERS" on the bottom. The Rangers and Angels are
the longest running AL franchises still waiting to win their first
pennant. The Rangers have never even advanced to a League Championship
Series. The Rangers have won four American League West Division titles
(1994, 1996, 1998, and 1999). The home ballpark of the Texas Rangers
is the Ameriquest Field in Arlington (2004-present), which was known
as the "The Ballpark in Arlington" until May 2004 and has
a seating capacity of 49,115. It was constructed as a replacement
for Arlington Stadium. The team survived for several years, but eventually
moved to Arlington, Texas for the 1972 season and renamed itself the
Texas Rangers. The 1972 Washington Senators were managed by one of
the greatest hitters of all time, Ted Williams. Williams was a two-time
Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner who also won the Triple Crown twice
and had a lifetime total of 521 home runs. In 1941, he came to the
last day of the season with a batting average of .3996, which would
be rounded up to .400 and thus make Williams the first man to hit
.400 since Bill Terry in 1930. Although his manager left the decision
to him, Williams opted to play in both games of a doubleheader and
risk losing his record. He got 6 hits in 8 at bats, raising his season
average to .406. No one has hit .400 since. Williams served as manager
for the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers during the 1960s and
early 1970s.The Texas Rangers Hall of Famers include Ferguson Jenkins,
Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan and Ted Williams (former manager; inducted
for his playing career with the Boston Red Sox). Alex Rodriguez signs
a 10-year, $252 million contract with Texas at the age of 25. The
Rangers enjoyed a dramatic turnaround in 2004 by winning 89 games
and finishing just three games back in the American League West. Buck
Showalter engineered the Texas renaissance and was named AL Manager
of the Year. The Rangers had five All-Stars: shortstop Michael Young,
third baseman Hank Blalock, second baseman Alfonso Soriano, starting
pitcher Kenny Rogers and closer Francisco Cordero. First baseman Mark
Teixeira and Soriano picked up Silver Slugger Awards and Rogers earned
his third Gold Glove.
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