1977 Texas Rangers: Forgotten Excellence
The Texas Rangers came into existence in 1972, after a decade of mostly bad baseball as the Washington Senators. The relocation to the Dallas area didn’t bring a lot in the way of success. There was a brief burst of winning baseball in 1974 under Billy Martin, but Billy quickly ran into trouble with the front office, got dismissed, and the losing returned.
The 1977 Texas Rangers broke the drought and only the stricter criteria for postseason qualification that marked this era stops them from being recognized for what they were—one of the franchise’s most successful teams.
A CHAOTIC SPRING
Ironically, the turnaround came in spite of the signature offseason move. Texas traded Jeff Burroughs, who won the AL MVP award in 1974, to the Atlanta Braves for five players and cash. While two of the pitchers they got back—Adrian Devine and Roger Moret—were modestly decent additions to the bullpen, no one else was impactful.
But a trade that didn’t pan out was the least of the Rangers’ problems prior to the season. Manager Frank Lucchesi was having issues with infielder Lenny Randle. It ended up in a fight where Luchessi needed medical attention and Randle was ordered by a civil court to pay medical expenses.
Suffice it to say, none of this augured for anything resembling a special year.
POSITIVE ADDITIONS
But other moves fared better. The Rangers signed shortstop Bert Campaneris, a veteran of the Oakland A’s Dynasty from the earlier part of the 1970s. They added starting pitcher Doyle Alexander, and swung a deal for a good young outfielder in Claudell Washington. All of these moves were on the free agent market or low-cost trades.
Furthermore, the source of the tension with Randle had an upside. It was the arrival of rookie second baseman Bump Wills. The son of legendary basestealer Maury Wills, Bump proved ready for the big leagues, delivering a .361 on-base percentage. Bump also had his daddy’s ability to run and swiped 28 bags.
PATIENCE AND SPEED
The Texas lineup was consistently above average in most major categories, with their signature standout point being the ability to draw walks. Toby Harrah’s 109 walks led the league. Harrah also hit 27 home runs, stole 27 bases and was the team’s best all-around everyday player.
First baseman Mike Hargrove became known as the “Human Rain Delay” due to his lengthy routine outside the batter’s boxes, but also for his patience—he posted a .420 on-base percentage and slugged .476 to go along with it. Jim Sundberg was behind the plate and finished with a .365 OBP.
Washington stole 21 bases and centerfielder Juan Beniguez stole 26 more. Campaneris added 27 steals. Combined with Wills, the consistent Ranger running game made up for below-average home run power. Texas finished sixth in the American League for runs scored.
DEPTH OVER DOMINANCE
Gaylord Perry anchored the starting rotation, and the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer was a steady 15-game winner with a 3.37 ERA. Alexander stepped into the rotation, won 17 games and posted a 3.65 ERA. Bert Blyleven, another arm with Cooperstown in his future, finished with a 2.72 ERA in 30 starts. Dock Ellis made 22 starts and delivered a solid 2.90 ERA.
Devine was the primary reliever, saving 15 games and winning 11 with a 3.58 ERA. Moret’s ERA was 3.73. Texas also got steady work from Paul Lindblad and Darold Knowles, two more veterans from the A’s Dynasty.
No one on the Ranger staff had what could be described as a standout year. But there were no obvious weak points either. Over a long 162-game haul, that added up the second-best composite ERA in the American League.
A SO-SO START
Texas swept a contending Baltimore Oriole team on the road to open the season, but otherwise settled into an up-and-down early part of the season. They split six with the Chicago White Sox, who were out to a fast start, and lost three of four to the Minnesota Twins, who had Rod Carew on his way to an MVP season. Texas won three of five against the Kansas City Royals who had won the AL West in 1976.
Here’s a good place to step back and remind younger readers that Central Divisions did not exist until 1994. Thus, Kansas City, Minnesota, and Chicago were all division rivals in what was a seven-team AL West. Furthermore, only first-place teams qualified for the playoffs, going directly into the League Championship Series.
On Memorial Day, Texas was 21-19 and five games off the pace, trailing Chicago and Minnesota. Although with Kansas City off to a slow start, and the Oakland dynasty officially having fallen apart, the division was anybody’s to take.
SUMMER RESET
The Rangers continued to play middling baseball through the first part of June. Not only was this more mediocrity, but the spring tension surrounding Lucchesi hadn’t gone away. He was having words with the front office. With a record of 31-31 on June 21, Lucchesi was fired. After a week with a couple of different interim managers, Texas hired Billy Hunter to take over.
In the short-term, it didn’t seem to make a difference. The Rangers lost six of their first nine games under Hunter. This just looked like another lost season. But on a long homestand going into the All-Star break, Texas won nine of twelve. They had a 46-44 record, were eight games out of first, and trailed the White Sox, Royals, and Twins. But at least the Rangers had a pulse.
FIREWORKS ON THE SOUTH SIDE
Texas came barreling out of the break and won eight of nine games. It set up a trip to the South Side of Chicago to face the frontrunning White Sox to open the month of August. If the Rangers were going to make a move into real contention, it had to come now.
They came out swinging on Monday night. Hargrove had three hits. So did Sundberg, including a home run and three RBIs. Texas won 11-6.
On Tuesday night, the Rangers fell behind 7-0 by the seventh inning. With two outs, a Chicago error kept the inning alive and Washington ultimately drove in two runs with a double. Even so, it seemed like a blip on a bad night. Until the eighth. Texas, again aided by a two-out error, closed to within 7-5 and had two runners aboard. Rightfielder Dave May homered. The Rangers had the lead. While the White Sox tied it 8-8, Texas DH Willie Horton won it with an RBI double in the ninth.
More fireworks followed on Wednesday night. A 6-6 tie went to extra innings. Texas unloaded for six in the top of the 12th, keyed by Hargrove’s three-run jack. They needed the outburst, because Chicago rallied with four of their own, but the Rangers hung on for a 12-10 win. Even though they dropped the finale 5-4, Texas had pulled within 5 ½ games and was making this a race.
AUGUST HEAT
By the time the White Sox made the return trip to Arlington on August 12, all four AL West contenders were packed within two games. The race was hotter than a Texas summer as this weekend series began. And the Ranger bats kept rolling.
Trailing 6-5 in the eighth inning of Friday night’s opener, Texas rallied for five runs. The bottom of the lineup—Wills, Sundberg and reserve outfielder Keith Smith—combined for eight hits and Smith’s three-run bomb was the big blow in the eighth. They won 10-7.
After dropping a 6-5 decision on Saturday, Texas then spotted Chicago six runs in the top of the first on Sunday night. By the end of the second inning, the Rangers had tied it, behind home runs from Hargrove and Washington. They went on to a 12-9 win.
Over these seven games against Chicago, Texas scored an astonishing 63 runs. In a football-mad state that was primed for big years from Roger Staubach’s Dallas Cowboys and the University of Texas, who got a Heisman Trophy campaign from Earl Campbell, the Rangers were at least keeping baseball on the radar in the latter part of August.
KANSAS CITY LEAVES NO ROOM FOR ERROR
The problem the Rangers were having was the fact Kansas City was even hotter and there was no room for error. A difficult stretch against the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees and the contending Boston Red Sox, resulted in a 3-6 record. The Royals kept winning. Even with a record of 74-60 on Labor Day, Texas was six games behind K.C.
There was still time to make a move, and the September schedule wasn’t particularly hard. Texas split six games in the first week out of the holiday weekend. Kansas City thundered forward and put the Rangers in a ten-game hole. The Rangers responded by winning six of their next eight games—but the Royals were so hot that Texas actually lost another half-game in the standings in that stretch.
With two weeks to go, facing a 10 ½ game mountain, there was no hope of catching K.C. Texas, to their credit, stayed focused. They took advantage of a soft schedule against the A’s, California Angels, and Seattle Mariners, and won 11 of their last 13.
With a final record of 94-68, the Rangers took second in the AL West, were fifth-best in the American League, and eighth-best in the majors. In the world of today, Texas would have been a hot team going into the playoffs. In the world of 1977, they were going home.
A FORGOTTEN ACHIEVMENT
This 1977 edition of the Texas Rangers is forgotten, but they’re actually one of the best teams in the history of the franchise. Only three other Ranger teams have won more games. The ’77 Rangers won more games than the 2010 squad that won the American League pennant or the 2023 team that won the whole thing. The ’77 team just did it in the wrong era.
Another reason this season is forgotten is less edifying, and it’s the fact that it was a peak point, rather than a beginning. While the Rangers played winning baseball the next two seasons, they did decline, and by 1980 they were back on the wrong side of .500. It took until 1996, after realignment and the shrinking of the AL West, for the franchise to make the postseason.