NINE MOMENTS TO REMEMBER

THE RANGERS, in their current state of abject melancholia, can be attacked from almost any direction the armchair tactician might choose. Poor scouting. Short-sighted management. No bullpen stopper. Bad nachos. But anyone who insists that the Rangers are bankrupt in history and tradition, the proto-plasm of the game itself, has been misled. For the last fifteen years, the Rangers have had as enriching a past as any team in the big leagues, and we’re providing nine of their most memorable moments right here.

Why nine? Because there are nine innings in a game, nine players on a team. And nine is the number of pitches required to close out the Rangers in the last of the ninth.



1. David Clyde Night, June 27, 1973: Ranger fans then were like Ranger fans now: they desperately needed something to cheer about. For one shining moment, David Clyde was the answer.

The 1973 Rangers were already dead in the water by late May when they took their number one draft choice and signed the eighteen-year-old pitcher out of Westchester High in Houston. With a 37-2 record his junior and senior years, an average of fourteen strikeouts per seven-inning game and a sub-freezing ERA of .051, Clyde was hailed as the next Sandy Koufax. He wasn’t, but thanks to him, there was a night in 1973 when Arlington Stadium resembled the Polo Grounds on a certain evening in October 1951.

So the first sellout in the history of Arlington Stadium was generated by curiosity seekers eager to see Clyde jump from high school directly into the major leagues against the then-respectable Minnesota Twins. Because of the ensuing traffic jam, Herzog convinced the umpires to start the game a half-hour late. The tension was incredible, particularly when Clyde walked the first two batters. He then pulled himself together and struck out the side as Arlington Stadium went ape. Clyde went on to work five innings and won the game, 4-3, fanning eight. A pennant may fly over Arlington Stadium some day (and Troy Dungan may sing for Twisted Sister), but tor compressed drama, there will never be anything like the first inning of David Clyde Night.

2. The Cleveland Beer Night Riot, June 4,1974: A promotion that involved ten-cent beer attracted 44,000 to drafty old Municipal Stadium on the shores of Lake Erie, where people come to watch the fish die. The first fan staggered onto the field in the third inning. In the fifth, a father-son act ran out to second base and mooned the stands. Before long, sozzled spectators pelted the Rangers with bottles and other missiles before manager Billy Martin pulled the team off the field. Thousands of the beerily belligerent were on the diamond in the ninth, with the score tied, when chief umpire Nestor Chylak forfeited the game to the Rangers.

3. Fear and Loathing at (he Surf Rider, March 16,1976: Pitcher Len Barker made an indelible impression when he arrived at his first major league spring training camp. He checked into the Rangers’ team hotel, a dive on the beach called the Surf Rider, and proceeded directly to the Banyan Room lounge. Several hours later. Barker, who is built like Fritz Von Erich, decided that it was showtime and attempted to lift the entire bar off its moorings and turn it over. From there, Barker roamed the hotel, randomly kicking in doors in hopes of meeting women. Pat Corrales, a coach at the time, attempted to drag Barker from one of the rooms. He got Barker out, but in a case of mistaken identity, Corrales was the one who was arrested and charged with burglary. Barker left town and later left the Rangers. He’s since straightened up, and in 1982, with Cleveland, he became the eighth major league player ever to pitch a perfect game.

4. The Friendly Skies Incident, October 1, 1974. Fiery manager Billy Martin, somewhat intoxicated and upset because the Rangers had lost a double-header, punched sixty-five-year-old Bert Hawkins, the team’s traveling secretary, during a charter flight to Kansas City. Earlier, Martin had berated Hawk because his wife, Janet, had attempted to organize a Rangers Wives Club. “The wives can destroy a ball club,” Martin said.

5. The Miracle of ’77, July-August 1977: Ranger tradition calls for the team to roll over and quietly disappear shortly after the All-Star game in mid-July. But in 1977, the damn Rangers were like the Washington Senators in Damn Yankees. Perhaps owner Brad Corbett had indeed sold his soul to the devil. After the All-Star break, on July 17. the Rangers were 46-44. in fourth place and eight games out. By August 17. the Rangers, after a blazing 22-6 month, were 67-50 and in first place. They eventually lost out to Kansas City, but only because the Royals burned down the stretch winning twenty-eight out of their last thirty-two games. The Rangers finished 94-68. by far their best record.

6. From Strike Zone to Twilight Zone, June 3, 1978: Pitcher Roger Moret. who’d been accused by teammates of being into voodoo, entered the Arlington Stadium clubhouse two hours before a game and lapsed into a trance-like state, standing buck naked in front of his locker. left arm rigidly extended, holding a shower shoe. He didn’t move a muscle for several hours. Manager Billy Hunter was summoned to check out the spectacle and said, with heartfelt sympathy, “I need a starting pitcher, not some goddamn statue.”

7. Sugar Ray Randle Lowers 7. The Boom, March 28, 1977: Throughout spring training, manager Frank Lucchesi made no secret of the fact that he intended to give Lenny Randle’s second-base job to rookie Bump Wills. When Randle threatened to jump camp. Lucchesi told writers that Randle was “a $90,000-a-year punk” and encouraged them to print the remark. The term “punk,” by the way. has sexual connotations among some social groups. Two days later, before an exhibition game, Randle approached Lucchesi and punched his lights out. The Rangers rewarded Lucchesi for his pain and suffering by firing him three months later. Randle is now a stand-up comedian in L.A

8. One For The Book, July 3, 1983: The Rangers scored twelve runs in the fifteenth inning at Oakland to set a record for the most runs ever scored by a major league team in an extra inning. It’s also the only good record the Rangers own. In 1977. however, Toby Harrah and Bump Wills hit back-to-back, inside-the-park home runs, tying a record that had stood since 1926.

9. The Rude Kid Episode, May 29, 1973: This one never made the papers. Early in the 1973 season, the Ranger juggernaut (led by Ken “Piggie” Suarez and Rico “The B-e-e-g Boy” Carty) was hopelessly mired in last place. After a rainout at Yankee Stadium, the team sat on a bus that would carry them to LaGuar-dia Airport. Suddenly, a youngster of about thirteen bounded onto the bus and began explaining just what he thought of the Rangers. After several minutes, manager Whitey Herzog suggested that the young man might perhaps go and abuse himself. Then the bus driver pitched the kid overboard. Herzog. chuckling to himself, said, “The kid’s right, you know. And i( hurts.”

In the back of the bus, none of the Rangers seemed bothered by what had taken place. They were too absorbed in their card games.