6 R a n g e r s GOING WEST here are at least 15 cities towns and villages named Arlington in the United States The largest of those is located in northeastern Texas exactly halfway between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth But Texas’s Arlington isn’t the oldest community of that name In fact it was given its name in 1877 in honor of another older Arlington the one in Virginia where Confederate general Robert E Lee was born Back then Arlington Texas was a rough-and-tumble frontier outpost Now it is a bustling modern city that spreads across 100 square miles and is home to almost 400,000 people and 2 professional sports teams Like Lee who spent several years in Texas in the 1850s defending the frontier against raiding parties of American Indians Arlington’s baseball team has ties to the East Coast specifically Washington D C When the Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis and became the Minnesota Twins in 1960 Major League Baseball awarded another franchise to Washington D C This team added to the American League AL was again named the Senators and before T
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington formerly The Ballpark in Arlington is known as a hitter-friendly park due to its relatively shallow outfield fences
ALL-TIME RANGERS R a n g e r s 8 Texas Rangers (cid:39)(cid:32)(cid:43)(cid:26)(cid:31)(cid:28)(cid:41)(cid:1)(cid:76) CHARLIE HOUGH In 1969 Charlie Hough suffered an arm injury and had to learn a different way to pitch After Los Angeles Dodgers scout Goldie Holt was done with him Hough had acquired what became his signature pitch the knuckleball During his 10-year tenure in Texas Hough averaged 15 wins and 240 innings pitched per season At the peak of his career in 1983 he hurled 3 straight shutouts and threw 37 consecutive scoreless innings Four years later the 39-year-old became the oldest pitcher in AL history to lead the league in both starts 40 and total innings pitched 285 STATS Rangers seasons 1980 90 Height 6-foot-2 Weight 190 (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:19)(cid:22)(cid:18)(cid:0)(cid:67)(cid:65)(cid:82)(cid:69)(cid:69)(cid:82)(cid:0)(cid:83)(cid:84)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:75)(cid:69)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:84)(cid:83) (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:17)(cid:16)(cid:23)(cid:0)(cid:67)(cid:65)(cid:82)(cid:69)(cid:69)(cid:82)(cid:0)(cid:67)(cid:79)(cid:77)(cid:80)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:84)(cid:69)(cid:0)(cid:71)(cid:65)(cid:77)(cid:69)(cid:83) (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:17)(cid:25)(cid:24)(cid:22)(cid:0)(cid:33)(cid:76)(cid:76)(cid:13)(cid:51)(cid:84)(cid:65)(cid:82) (cid:115)(cid:0)(cid:17)(cid:19)(cid:0)(cid:67)(cid:65)(cid:82)(cid:69)(cid:69)(cid:82)(cid:0)(cid:83)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:84)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:84)(cid:83) Charlie Hough Pitcher
TED WILLIAMS R a n g e r s 9 it would become the Texas Rangers in 1972 the team would spend a decade playing ball in the nation’s capital In hindsight team owner Elwood Pete Quesada probably should have chosen a different name for his new team The D C area had a long history of losing with teams named the Senators and the newest incarnation of the franchise proved to be no different as it began play in 1961 The Senators posted losing records in eight straight seasons despite the best efforts of brawny left fielder Frank Howard and catcher Paul Casanova While the Senators were struggling other important events were unfolding that would eventually affect the future of the team In 1962 Charlie O Finley the owner of the Kansas City Athletics met with AL team owners in New York about moving his team to the Dallas Fort Worth area an idea that was ultimately rejected But 2 years later construction began on the 10,000-seat Turnpike Stadium in Arlington slated to be the home of a minor-league team called the Dallas Fort Worth Spurs Back in D C legendary Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams was hired as manager of the Senators in 1969 Under his guidance the team posted its first winning record going 86 76 Pitcher
