July 23, 1985: Rookie Oddibe McDowell hits for first cycle in Rangers team history

Leading the Texas Rangers to an 8-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians on July 23, 1985, Oddibe McDowell had a “host of rookie dreams”1 come true. Before a home crowd of 8,985 at Arlington Stadium, the 22-year-old center fielder delivered a 5-for-5 performance and became the first Ranger to hit for the cycle. He tied a franchise record for most consecutive at-bats with a hit. And he brought some excitement to a struggling team.

A first-round draft choice in June 1984, McDowell left Arizona State University to play for the US Olympic baseball team that summer, delaying his professional debut until 1985.2 Assigned to the Triple-A Oklahoma City 89ers to begin the ’85 season, he played in just 31 games, batting .400 (50-for-125), with 17 extra-base hits and 12 stolen bases, before getting called up to the Rangers on May 19.

Immediate major-league success did not follow.3 Coming into the Rangers’ July series with the Indians, McDowell’s batting average was .207 with an on-base percentage of only .266. In the first game of the series, on July 22, McDowell went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a solo home run (his sixth of the season), prompting his manager, Bobby Valentine, to tell reporters, “He’s finally showing the fans what I’ve been trying to tell them for some time.”4

Cleveland (29-62) and Texas (36-57) each held the bottom position in their respective divisions. Tuesday night’s second game of the series pitted veteran Texas right-hander Charlie Hough against 25-year-old Cleveland left-hander Neal Heaton, pitching in his third full big-league season. Hough had a record of 8-10 with a 3.25 ERA. The knuckleballer was pitching for his fourth consecutive win. Heaton had just one win in his last 10 appearances, including eight starts; that victory came against the Rangers on July 8, a complete-game shutout. His record coming into this game was 5-11 with a 4.63 ERA.

After Hough set down the Indians in order to begin the game, McDowell started the bottom of the first with a double off the wall in right. He advanced to third when former Indian Toby Harrah grounded out to second and scored on Pete O’Brien’s sacrifice fly to right.

The Indians responded in the top of the second. Andre Thornton walked and Mike Hargrove doubled. After Hough struck out Carmelo Castillo, he hit Tony Bernazard with a pitch. George Vukovich erased the Rangers’ lead by hitting a grand slam, his third home run of the season.

Three batters later, with Brett Butler on first and two down, Indians manager Pat Corrales was ejected. He complained that Hough had balked with Julio Franco batting, but home-plate umpire Derryl Cousins didn’t agree.5 It was the fourth time in the season that the Cleveland skipper had been tossed.

The Rangers stormed back with five runs on six hits in the fourth frame, taking a 6-4 lead. All five tallies came with two outs. Glenn Brummer doubled home Cliff Johnson and George Wright. Wayne Tolleson plated Brummer with an RBI single.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that “the capper”6 came with the next batter, McDowell. The rookie, who had singled in the third, now tripled off the right-field fence, bringing Tolleson home with the go-ahead run; right fielder Castillo “appeared to misplay the ball as he jumped too soon and the ball landed under his glove.”7

The three-bagger ended Heaton’s night on the mound. Rookie righty Jeff Barkley entered in relief.8 Harrah singled, scoring McDowell, before Barkley retired the next two batters.

Cleveland loaded the bases three times in the first six innings but capitalized only once, on Vukovich’s grand slam. In the top of the sixth, Cleveland again loaded the bases, this time with none out. Dave Rozema entered the game and ended the threat with a strikeout and a double play.

In the bottom of the sixth, Tolleson doubled with one out and McDowell, singled for the second time, giving Texas its seventh run on his fourth hit of the game. McDowell stole second base but was stranded, as Cleveland used two more pitchers (Jamie Easterly and Tom Waddell) to finish the inning without allowing any further damage.

By the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers still had a 7-4 lead. When McDowell stepped into the batter’s box with two outs and the bases empty, his teammates were on the dugout steps. Waddell worked a 2-and-2 count before delivering a pitch that McDowell deposited “in the seats in right-center over the 380-foot sign.”9 The highly touted rookie had completed hitting for the cycle, and it was the first in the Rangers’ 14-season history.

To show their appreciation, the fans “cheered, stamped, and chanted”10 until McDowell came out of the dugout to tip his cap.

The home run also tied a Rangers record for consecutive hits. With five in this game and three in his last three at-bats in the first game of the series, McDowell tied a record of eight straight hits, set by Rico Carty in 1973.11 He had knocked in four runs and stolen two bases in the two-game span.12

McDowell was the only Ranger to hit for the cycle in the franchise’s first 32 seasons in Arlington (1972-2003). Through the beginning of the 2025 season, 10 more Rangers have accomplished the feat.13

To top off McDowell’s night, he caught Hargrove’s fly ball to center for the final out of the game. The Rangers had their fifth win in six games; the Indians had lost their ninth in 11. After the game, Corrales did not meet with reporters, marking the first time in his managerial career that he did not speak with the media after a game.

By the time his evening was over, McDowell had raised his batting average 27 points and his OPS from .616 to .671.

Teammate Brummer praised McDowell by saying, “Oddibe had my whole career in one night.”14 Cleveland general manager Joe Klein also applauded the performance, saying, “I already know McDowell was a good player. He didn’t have to show me.”15 Klein had selected McDowell from Arizona State with the Rangers’ first pick the previous season, when he was the Texas GM.

Hough pitched just five innings but earned his fourth win in a row. Rozema pitched the final four frames for Texas, earning his sixth save, but he was struck by three batted balls (on one hand and each of his legs).16

McDowell went on to bat .239 with 37 extra-base hits – including 18 homers – and 25 steals in 1985. He came in fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting,17 and his 2.5 Wins Above Replacement ranked third among Rangers’ position players, behind Harrah (4.2) and O’Brien (2.6).18

As one of the Rangers’ better players, McDowell secured his position as their center fielder, batting leadoff, for much of the next three seasons.19

Acknowledgments

The author thanks John Fredland and Kurt Blumenau for their insights and recommendations. This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Oddibe McDowell, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX198507230.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1985/B07230TEX1985.htm

Notes

1 Whit Canning, “Oddibe’s [sic] ‘Cycles’ into Rangers Lore,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 24, 1985: 53, 61.

2 McDowell was the first player from the 1984 draft to reach the major leagues.

3 McDowell batted.167 in his first 12 games (May 1985), and he entered July batting just .222 (7 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 homers) in 39 games.

4 Jim Reeves, “Rangers Motor on McDowell’s Cycle,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 24, 1985: 59, 65.

5 According to his Retrosheet umpire profile, 1985 was the first of three straight seasons in which Cousins led the league in ejections.

6 Paul Hoynes, “Corrales Ejected as Indians Lose Again,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 24, 1985: 23.

7 Hoynes. Castillo told reporters that the “ball took off on me. It nicked the top of my glove,” but Hoynes reported that television replays showed the ball hitting under Castillo’s glove.

8 Barkley appeared in three games in 1984, pitching a total of four innings. This was his 23rd appearance of 1985. He made just one more (July 26, against the Kansas City Royals), which turned out to be his last appearance in the major leagues.

9 Canning, “Oddibe’s [sic] ‘Cycles’ into Rangers Lore.”

10 Reeves, “Rangers Motor on McDowell’s Cycle.”

11 Carty collected hits in eight consecutive at-bats over three games in 1973 (his last two ABs on June 30 against the Kansas City Royals, followed by a 4-for-4 performance on July 1 against the Royals, and then two hits in his first two ABs on July 2, against the Chicago White Sox). This set a record for Texas, but Carty was purchased by the Chicago Cubs on August 13, 1973.

12 McDowell homered in the final game of the Cleveland series, although he was only 1-for-5 and his hits-in-consecutive at-bats streak had ended.

13 Jim King hit for the cycle on May 26, 1964, while playing for the Washington Senators. This Senators franchise debuted in 1961 and became the Rangers in 1972. McDowell was the first player wearing a Rangers uniform to complete the cycle.

14 Reeves, “Rangers Motor on McDowell’s Cycle.” Brummer was originally signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1974. He made his major-league debut on May 25, 1981, and played parts of four seasons in St. Louis. During the Cardinals’ 1982 World Series championship season, he beat the San Francisco Giants with an 11th-inning steal of home. Released on March 24, 1985, he signed with the Rangers but played just one season before Texas released him after the 1985 season. A career .251 batter, Brummer hit one home run and no triples, and drove in just 27 runs in 178 total games played.

15 Hoynes, “Corrales Ejected.” Klein selected McDowell with the 12th overall pick in the 1984 amateur draft. Klein attended the same high school as this article’s author.

16 Rozema did not seem to be injured (from these drives) and pitched again three more times over the next week, but in the following six weeks he made just one appearance before rejoining the bullpen in mid-September.

17 Chicago White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillén was the AL Rookie of the Year.

18 On the Rangers’ pitching staff, Hough had a 6.3 WAR and reliever Greg Harris had a 3.3.

19 McDowell struggled at the beginning of the 1987 season, and by June he was hitting in the bottom third of the Texas batting order. His production increased, and he ended the season batting .241 with career highs in doubles (26) and RBIs (52). In 1988, he was again hitting in the leadoff spot.