www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Editor Chrös McDougall Copy Editor Nicholas Cafarelli Interior Design and Production Kazuko Collins Cover Design Kazuko Collins Photo Credits Tony Gutierrez AP Images cover Eric Gay AP Images 1 30 33 43 middle Kyodo via AP Images 4 43 bottom Chris O’Meara AP Images 7 Paul Sancya AP Images 9 Tony Gutierrez AP Images 11 AP Images 12 14 17 18 20 42 top and middle Bill Janscha AP Images 22 28 35 42 bottom Jim Mone AP Images 25 Andy Sharp AP Images 27 43 top Reed Saxon AP Images 36 Linda Kaye AP Images 39 Ron Vesely MLB Photos via Getty Images 41 Ralph Lauer AP Images 44 Julia Robertson AP Images 47 Library of Congress Control Number 2014933063 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Basen Ryan Texas Rangers by Ryan Basen p cm Inside MLB Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62403-487-9 1 Texas Rangers Baseball team History Juvenile literature I Title GV875 T4B37 2015 796 357’6409764531 dc23 2014933063
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Winning the Pennant 4 Chapter 2 Same Old Senators 12 Chapter 3 New Home on the Range 18 Chapter 4 A New Era 28 Chapter 5 A Costly Mistake and a Rebirth 36 Timeline 42 Quick Stats 44 Quotes and Anecdotes 45 Glossary 46 For More Information 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER 1 WINNING THE PENNANT
N eftali Feliz had a chance to make his tory The Texas Rangers had a 3 2 lead in the 2010 American League AL Championship Series With two outs in the top of the ninth inning of Game 6 the Rangers led the New York Yankees 6 1 Feliz the Rangers closer needed just one more out to send his team to its first World Series Yankees star Alex Rodri guez was at the plate More than 51,000 fans at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington stood and cheered as Feliz got two strikes on Rodriguez Then he threw an 83-miles-per-hour slider Rodriguez watched as the ball cut back into the strike zone The umpire called strike three Fans erupted The Rang ers rushed to the mound to celebrate After half a cen tury including 39 seasons in Texas the Rangers were going to the World Series Vladimir Guerrero jumps on top of his Rangers teammates in celebration Vladimir Guerrero jumps on top of his Rangers teammates in celebration after they defeated the New York Yankees in the 2010 AL Championship after they defeated the New York Yankees in the 2010 AL Championship Series to advance to the team’s first World Series Series to advance to the team’s first World Series WINNING THE PENNANT 5
