Sunday, September 29, 1996

Rangers can finally call themselves champs
By DENNE H. FREEMAN
Associated Press

ARLINGTON - Finally, the Texas Rangers can call themselves champions.

It took only 3,916 games, 18 managers, 13 losing seasons, four owners, 460 players and 25 years to win the American League West. In typical Rangers fashion, they clinched it the hard way.

Texas won the West thanks to Oakland's 8-1 victory over Seattle while the Rangers were in the 13th inning of an eventual 4-3 loss to California in 15 innings.

When the 5-hour, 8-minute marathon finally ended Saturday morning, the Rangers ran through 150 bottles of champagne before drifting home at 3 a.m. Some of the champagne was hot. The game had taken so long that the ice melted in the buckets.

It figured: The Rangers' first championship in 25 years and the champagne wasn't cold.

Bob Short moved the franchise from Washington in 1972, and that team finished 38-1/2 games out of first place under manager Ted Williams, who was frustrated he couldn't teach anyone to hit.

Dick Bosman, the Rangers' current pitching coach, pitched and won the first game ever in old Arlington Stadium, a converted minor-league park.

The Rangers' subs went on to beat the Angels by the same score Saturday.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush put together a partnership that bought the franchise from oilman Eddie Chiles in 1989 and engineered a deal with Arlington for a new $190 million stadium, The Ballpark.
The Rangers moved in to start 1994, leaving behind 22 seasons of bad baseball in which the likes of Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog, Doug Rader and Bobby Valentine couldn't bring home a winner.

Things were so bad the Rangers had four managers in 1977 - all in one week. Frank Lucchesi, Billy Hunter, Connie Ryan and Eddie Stanky rode the managerial carousel. Hunter lasted until the next season.

Besides Short, Chiles and the Bush partnership, plastic pipe manufacturer and salesman Brad Corbett was the other owner. His biggest accomplishment was firing Herzog, replacing him with Martin, and later firing Martin.

Scarcely more than a week ago, it appeared as though the Rangers were about to add another sad chapter to their checkered history. After leading Seattle by nine games, Texas went into a slump that included a four-game sweep by the Mariners. Suddenly the lead was down to one.

Unlike previous Texas teams, however, this one didn't wilt in the heat of a pennant chase.

When the Rangers finally broke through for a pennant, club president Tom Schieffer said the keys were simple.

"We were a true team," Schieffer said. "(General manager) Doug Melvin went after players he wanted, those who truly wanted to be here. Then Johnny Oates took those players and molded them into one of the best teams ever to play for the Rangers.

"There was a great team atmosphere and it was a reflection of Johnny's character. He's just full of integrity. Nobody really gave us a chance, but Johnny kept this team hanging in there even after we were swept in Seattle. We bounced right back."

The Rangers will play at New York on Tuesday.

Oates will use pitcher John Burkett to start Game 1, followed by Ken Hill and Darren Oliver. Either Bobby Witt or Roger Pavlik will start in the No. 4 spot.

Schieffer isn't selling the team short now that it's in the playoffs. He said the Rangers' starting pitching is among the best in the major leagues.

"We had five pitchers in double figures (wins) and nobody else in baseball did that," Schieffer said. "I think we have our best baseball ahead of us.

"We've had a lot of pressure on us. There won't be any in the playoffs as far as we're concerned. Our season is already a big success. And it could be even bigger."

Then Schieffer made a prediction.

"We can beat the New York Yankees," he said. "The big burden for us was getting across the threshold. Now, we can move on to the promised land."

Oates, Schieffer said, should be in strong contention for manager of the year. At least Ranger fans think so. One sign in The Ballpark read: "We don't need Wheaties. We have our Oates."

And the fans finally have a September to remember.