SABR Digital Library: The Team that Couldn’t Hit: The 1972 Texas Rangers
The Team that Couldn’t Hit: The 1972 Texas Rangers
Edited by Steve West and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers
Publication Date: February 13, 2019
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9438-1693-4, $29.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-9438-1692-7, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 414 pages
The 1972 Texas Rangers were a culmination of decades of trying to get a major-league team in Dallas-Fort Worth. The area has a long history with baseball, going back to the 1800s, and minor-league teams played in both cities right up until the Rangers arrived with Ted Williams at the helm.
High expectations were quickly dashed. Just how bad were those early Rangers teams? When reporter Mike Shropshire wrote a book about covering the Rangers from 1973 to ’75, he titled it Seasons In Hell. Twenty years later, the Rangers still hadn’t made the playoffs. Counting the decade when the franchise was known as the Washington Senators, the team did not go to the playoffs for the first 35 years of its existence.
So why write a book about the 1972 Texas Rangers, perhaps the worst team in club history? Because they’re the start of that history. Articles in this SABR Digital Library book cover the effort to bring a team to North Texas and the story of Tom Vandergriff, the man now known as “the father of the Rangers.” Biographies of every man to play — or coach — for the 1972 team are presented, including Frank Howard, Larry Bittner, Horacio Pina and Tom Grieve, and broadcasters Don Drysdale and Bill Mercer. Owner Bob Short and Arlington Stadium itself are given full write-ups as well.
- E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of The Team That Couldn’t Hit for $9.99 from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
- Paperback: Get the paperback edition of The Team That Couldn’t Hit from the SABR Store ($34.99 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)
Biographies
Game Recaps
Essays
Contributors: Marc Z. Aaron, Mark Armour, John Bennett, Robert W. Bigelow, Maurice Bouchard, Bruce Bumbalough, Frederick “Rick” Bush, Bo Carter, Greg Chandler, Alan Cohen, Rory Costello, Dan Fields, Paul Geisler, Joseph Gerard, Charlie Grassl, Chip Greene, Paul Hofmann, Chris Holaday, Mike Huber, Gordon Janis, Chris Jones, Maxwell Kates, Duane Keilstrup, Norm King, Bob LeMoine, Len Levin, Francisco Rodriguez Lozano, Chad Moody, Bill Nowlin, Will Osgood, Carl Riechers, C. Paul Rogers III, Ray Rossi, Kris Rutherford, Rick Schabowski, William Schneider, David E. Skelton, Mark S. Sternman, Joe Stroop, Wayne Strumpfer, Clayton Trutor, Dale Voiss, Joseph Wancho, Steve West, Bob Whelan, Gregory H. Wolf, and Don Zminda.