MLB Top 5: Texas Rangers Catchers and Managers

By Kevin Rakas

This is the first article in a series that looks at the five best players at each position for the Texas Rangers. In this installment are catchers and managers.

The original Washington Senators franchise began in 1901 and had 19 seasons with a record of .500 or better, earned three pennants and won a lone championship in a thrilling seven-games World Series in 1924. However, there was very little success over the final three decades in the Nation’s Capital, and Calvin Griffith, who took control of the club after his uncle Clark’s passing, wanted to move the team. The threat of Congress revoking Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption, plus the possible advent of the Continental League, the brainchild of future Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey, led to a round of expiation for each league.

Despite relative peace between the leagues after an initial rivalry at the turn of the 20th century, each circuit had issues with expansion. The National League wanted to replace the Dodgers and Giants with a team in New York, while the American League desired to place a team in Los Angeles. Each circuit wanted the other to back out of the big city, but when both refused, the war was on. The N. L. approved the Mets and Colt .45s (later Astros) to begin play in 1962, while the A. L. circumvented its older brother and voted not only to let the original Senators move and become the Twins but to also put teams in Los Angeles (Angels) and Washington, leading to the birth of a “new” Senators franchise.

The new ownership group consisted of 10 investors, led by Elwood “Pete” Quesada, a World War II general who became the first administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. The team spent its first decade in Washington, undergoing turnover both on and off the field. Despite playing at new D.C. Stadium, the team was losing money and playing poorly, and Quesada, along with four other original investors sold their shares to the remaining owners, with North Carolina investment banker James Johnston taking over as chairman. He and fellow majority owner, former Princeton basketball coach James Lemon, eventually bought out the others and split control of the franchise. Although the team was improving on the field and at the box office, the 1967 offseason proved disastrous. Manager Gil Hodges left to take over the Mets and Johnston passed away due to cancer.

Lemon couldn’t afford to buy Johnston’s shares, so in late 1968, he sold the team to Bob Short, a Minnesota businessman who owned the Lakers and moved the team from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960. Short sold his shares in the Twins and took over the new Senators, functioning both as owner and general manager. His biggest move was bringing in former Red Sox great Ted Williams as manager and the team responded with an 86-76 mark, the first time the club posted a winning record. The Senators could not sustain the production on the field in subsequent seasons and rumors began to surface that Short was going to move the team. He claimed the team was hemorrhaging money and needed help from the league to avoid bankruptcy. When the league was unwilling to loan Short the $3 million he requested, he announced he was moving the team to Arlington, Texas. In the team’s final game in Washington in 1971, the Senators were leading when fans stormed the field with one out remaining. The umpires gave the Yankees the forfeit victory in the final major league game in the Nation’s Capital for almost 35 years.

Thankfully for baseball fans, Short’s tenure as an owner lasted just six years. Even in the greener pastures of Texas, the team struggled on the field and at the box office, losing 100 games in each of the first two seasons in its new home. Short sold 90 percent of the Rangers to Bradford Corbett, a manufacturing business owner from Texas, in early 1974. The team posted its second winning record that season and had a run of three straight seasons above .500 later in the decade, despite using five managers in that stretch. In 1980. Corbett sold the Rangers to Texas oilman Eddie Chiles, who oversaw the team for a decade that included a pair of winning seasons.

The Rangers continued to improve after being sold for $89 million in 1989 to George W. Bush, an oil company owner and aspiring politician who was the son of then-U. S. President George H. W. Bush. The younger Bush joined with Edward “Rusty” Rose, his college classmate at Harvard and later, an investment banker in Texas, to improve the team on the field. When Bush decided to focus on his political career in 1994, J. Thomas Schieffer, took over as primary owner. The move worked, both for the team and the owner. The Rangers had four winning seasons under Bush’s control and was in first place in the American League West, despite a 52-62 record, when the players’ strike ended the 1994 season. Under Schieffer, the Texas club had two winning seasons in a three-year stretch and earned its first playoff appearance after winning the division in 1996. Meanwhile, Bush spent six years as governor of Texas (1995-2000) and served two terms as the 43rd president of the United States (2001-09).

Schieffer and Rose sold the Rangers for $250 million in 1998 to Tom Hicks, a Dallas equity investor who also owned several media companies, the Dallas Stars hockey team, and a decade later, would purchase the English Premier League soccer club, Liverpool F.C. Hicks led the team to four winning seasons, including division titles and playoff appearances in this first two campaigns at the helm. However, his finances were not what would be expected from a billionaire. Hicks needed to borrow $40 million from the league in 2010 just to make payroll payments and soon filed for bankruptcy. The team was sold at auction to a group that included sports industry attorney and minor league team owner Chuck Greenberg and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who ended his 27-year career with the Rangers in 1993.

Greenberg lasted about a year as CEO before he sold his interest in the Rangers and Ryan took over as Chief Executive Officer, serving as the face of the franchise despite holding fewer shares than oil magnates Ray Davis and Bob Simpson. Ryan stepped down from his position and joined the Astros as a special assistant from 2014-19. Davis and Simpson have mostly been hands-off owners since Ryan left, allowing the “baseball people” to run the franchise. In the past 15 years, the Rangers have won four division titles, including back-to-back American League pennants in 2010-11. Following a loss to San Francisco in 2010, Texas won a franchise-record 96 games before falling in seven games to St. Louis in the Fall Classic. The Rangers finally broke through in 2023. Despite the Astros holding the tiebreaker for the division title, the Rangers dropped the Rays and Orioles before dispatching their Texas neighbors in a seven-game ALCS and running through the upstart Diamondbacks for the first championship in their 64-year history.

The best Catchers and Managers in Texas Rangers history

Catchers

Honorable Mention – Don Slaught was drafted by the Royals and spent three years with Kansas City before joining Texas. He played three years with the Rangers (1985-87) batting .280 his first year and hitting a career-best 13 home runs in 1986. “Sluggo” missed time that season after suffering a broken cheekbone, eye socket and nose after being hit in the face by a pitch and saw his average drop to .224 the following year. After two seasons in New York, he joined Pittsburgh and saw considerable playing time on a team that went to the NLCS three straight years. Slaught finished his 16-year career by playing single seasons with the Angles, White Sox and Padres. Following his time as a player, he created RightView Pro, the first video analysis system for baseball and softball.

Robinson Chirinos is a native of Venezuela, who signed with the Cubs, was sent to the Rays and joined the Rangers via trade in 2013. He was mostly in a platoon role with Texas, although he played 113 games in 2018, setting career highs with 18 home runs and 65 runs batted in. While Chirinos reached double figures in home runs four times in seven seasons with Texas (2013-18 and 2020), he finished second in caught stealing percentage in 2014. He won a title with Houston in 2019 and came back to Arlington to play 14 games the following year, finishing with 67 home runs in 456 contests. Chirinos played for the Mets, had a tryout with the Yankees and a second stint with the Cubs before finishing his career with the Orioles in 2022.

5, Geno Petralli – The Sacramento native was a Blue Jays draft pick, who spent seven years in the Toronto system but played just 25 big-league games with Toronto before signing with Texas in 1985. Petralli spent his final nine seasons with the Rangers (1985-93), although he only was a starter three of those years, playing backup to Slaught and others during that time while also playing every other spot on the field besides shortstop and center field. His primary duty with Texas was catching knuckleballer Charlie Hough, leading to the backstop tying a dubious record with six passed balls in a game in late August 1987. On the hitting side, he was the first Rangers’ catcher to bat .300 in a season, a feat he accomplished twice. Petralli was the catcher for Nolan Ryan‘s 300th career win and retired in 1994 to become a coach with the Cubs.

4. Jonah Heim – The team’s current starter was born in Buffalo, was drafted by the Orioles and had stints with the Rays and Athletics before coming to the Rangers in the trade that sent shortstop Elvis Andrus to Oakland. In 2021, Heim became the first Texas player and first rookie in major league history to hit a walk-off home run in two straight games. He is known for his defense and decent power with a low average. Heim’s best season came in 2023, when he earned an All-Star selection and won a gold glove after setting career highs with a .258 average, 18 home runs, 95 RBIs and 28 doubles. He was named to the All-MLB Second Team and finished second in both double plays and fielding percentage, then hit three home runs and drove in eight runs in 17 playoff games, helping the Rangers win their first championship.

3. Paul Casanova – The Cuban-born catcher left his politically charged country when he signed with the Indians in 1960. Casanova also had brief minor league stints with the Cubs and the Indianapolis Clowns, a former Negro League team which had become a barnstorming club, before signing with the “new” Senators in 1962. He made his debut in 1965, set career highs with a .254 average and 13 home runs the following year and earned his only All-Star selection in 1967, when amassed personal bests with 141 games, 131 hits and 53 RBIs. Casanova’s time with the Senators encompassed the team’s final seven seasons in Washington (1965-71). In addition to 527 hits, 41 homers and 216 RBIs in 686 games, the rifle-armed backstop led all catchers in double plays three times and finished second in fielding percentage in 1969. Less than three months after the team became the Rangers, Casanova was traded to the Braves and spent his final three season in Atlanta and caught Phil Niekro‘s no-hitter in late 1973. Following his playing career, he worked for the White Sox as a minor league coach and instructor and ran a baseball academy in Florida. Casanova passed away in 2017 at age 75.

2. Jim Sundberg – The Illinois native was the second overall pick by the Rangers in the 1983 draft, and he made his major league debut the following season, earning his first of three career All-Star selections and finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting. Sundberg was a solid hitter for a catcher but was a standout defensively. In addition to six straight gold gloves (including the first by a Rangers player in 1976) and four straight fielding titles with Texas, he led the league in putouts and assists six times each, double plays five times and runners caught stealing on three occasions. In 1975, Sundberg became the first catcher in more than 30 years to register 100 assists in a season. Although the Rangers had a winning record five times during his decade-long first stint, the team never made the playoffs.

Sundberg was traded to the Brewers and made his final All-Star team in 1984. He also spent time with the Royals and Cubs, winning the World Series in Kansas City in 1985. Sundberg spent his final two seasons back in Texas, finishing his 12 seasons with the Rangers (1974-83 and 88-89) ranked fourth in franchise history in games (1,512), tied for sixth in triples (27), eighth in hits (1,180) and tenth in doubles (200) to go with 482 runs, 60 home runs, 480 RBIs and 1,614 total bases. Following his playing days, he Sundberg spent six seasons as a television color commentator for the Rangers, and after six years working for a company that marketed sporting goods and training production, he returned to the team. He was part of the Rangers’ inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2003 and also served as a catching coordinator and held several front office positions, rising to Senior Executive Vice President before his retirement in 2014.

1. Ivan Rodriguez – Sundberg was the top catcher for the club, both on offense and defense until the arrival of Rodriguez, who signed with the Rangers in 1988 at age 16. He was a native of Puerto Rico, who played against future teammate, outfielder Juan Gonzalez, many times as a youth. Rodriguez was originally a pitcher before switching first to third base and then catcher. After three years in the minor leagues, he made his major league debut as the youngest player in the league and finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting. Over the next decade, Rodriguez established himself as one of the best players in the game and an elite backstop, earning ten straight All-Star selections and gold glove awards in addition to six silver sluggers. Defensively, there was no one even close to his level, and he drew comparisons to Johnny Bench as an all-around player. Rodriguez was the fielding champion in 2000 and led all catchers in caught stealing percentage seven times (throwing out more than 50 percent of runners on six occasions), assists four times, runners caught stealing three times, and putouts and double plays twice each. Rodriguez as also adept at blocking balls in the dirt and pitch calling, helping Kenny Rogers throw a perfect game in July 1994.

“Pudge” continued to improve and had easily his best season in 1999. In addition to an All-Star selection, gold glove and silver slugger, he won the MVP Award (edging out Red Sox starter Pedro Martinez) after setting a record for American League catchers with 35 home runs, hit .332 (the highest average by an A. L. catcher in more than 60 years), set career highs with 116 runs, 199 hits and 113 RBIs and stole 25 bases, becoming the first Junior Circuit backstop to post at least 20 homers and 20 steals in a season. Rodriguez was having an even better year in 2000 (a .347 average) when missed the rest of the season after breaking his thumb when it hit a bat while making a throw to second base in late July. The following year, he opened up a baseball school in his native Puerto Rico but finished the season on the injured list with tendinitis knee that required surgery.

Rodriguez left Texas and went to Florida in 2003, winning the NLCS MVP Award against the Cubs thanks to a then-record 10 RBI, then helping the Marlins beat the Yankees in the World Series. After Florida wanted to give him a pay cut, he joined Detroit, earning four straight All-Star selections and three gold gloves while helping the Tigers reach the World Series in 2006. Two years later, he was traded to the Yankees, then split the 2009 season between the two Texas-based teams, playing 28 games with the Rangers following an August trade. “Pudge” spent his final two seasons with the Nationals, finishing his 13-year Rangers’ tenure (1991-2002 and ’09) ranked second in franchise history in hits (1,747) and doubles (352), fourth in home runs (217), RBIs (842) and total bases (2,806), fifth in games (1,507), runs (866) and triples (28), tied for sixth in average (.304) and ninth in strikeouts (781). He batted .300 or better for eight straight years, topped 20 home runs in a season five times and amassed at least 80 runs, 180 hits, 30 doubles and 80 RBIs four times apiece.

In addition to his postseason exploits with the Marlins and Tigers, Rodriguez appeared in 10 playoff games with the Rangers over three trips to the Division series, totaling 10 hits and three RBIs. He officially retired in 2012, finishing his 21-year career with 14 All-Star selections, 13 gold glove awards, 2,844 hits and a major league record 2,427 games behind the plate. Rodriguez was a television analyst and special assistant for his longtime club, was a partner in an investment capital company and was voted into several halls of fame, including ones for the Rangers, Texas Sports and Latino players. Despite rumors of steroid use during his playing career, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017 after receiving 76 percent of the vote in his first year of eligibility.

Managers

Honorable Mentions – Ted Williams had a heck of a playing career that included 19 All-Star selections, six batting titles, two Triple Crowns and a pair of MVP Awards and ended with a selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. Three years later, “Teddy Ballgame” was named manager of the Senators and led the team to an 86-76 mark in his first year, earning the Associated Press Manager of the Year Award after helping Washington post the first winning season in franchise history. The team fell off each of the next three years and Williams resigned after amassing a 273-364 record in four years (1969-72). Following his retirement, he was a spring training instructor for the Red Sox and an avid fisherman, and he passed away in 2002 at age 83.

Billy Hunter was born in groundhog country (Punxsutawney, PA) and spent six seasons as a slick-fielding shortstop, earning an All-Star selection as a rookie with the St. Louis Browns in 1953. He returned to the team after the move to Baltimore and was a minor league manager and third base coach for more than a decade. Hunter was hired by the Rangers in late June 1977, becoming the team’s fourth manager in about a week. He took a Rangers team that was hovering around .500 and led them to a 60-33 record and a second-place finish and 94 wins overall, which was a team record at the time. Texas won 87 more games the following year and was on the way to another runner-up finish in the A. L. West when he was fired. He vowed never to coach or manage in the major leagues again and, after a 146-108 record with the Rangers, he spent five years as baseball coach and 11 more as athletic director at Towson State University in Maryland.

Kevin Kennedy is a Los Angeles native who was drafted by the Orioles in 1976 and spent most of his eight-year minor league career in Baltimore’s system. He spent eight more years as a minor league manager for the Dodgers and was a bench coach for the Expos in 1992 before being named manager of the Rangers the following year. “The Skipper” led Texas to an 86-76 mark and a second-place finish in 1993, a season that included a fight between Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan and White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura. In 1994, Texas began playing at the Ballpark in Arlington and was in first place, despite a 52-62 record, when the players’ strike ended the season prematurely. Kennedy moved on to manage the Red Sox for two winning seasons before he was fired. Since then, he has been focused on a media career, working as an analyst for ESPN, Fox Sports and Sirius XM, as well as broadcasts for the Dodgers and Rays and hosting his own podcast.

5. Jeff Banister – He survived bone cancer and osteomyelitis in high school that nearly cost him his leg. Banister spent seven seasons as a catcher and first basemen in the Pirates’ organization, mostly in the minor leagues save for a one-game stint in Pittsburgh in 1991. He missed all of the following season thanks to elbow surgery and played just eight more minor league games as a player-coach before retiring to become a minor league manager. Banister was Pittsburgh’s major and minor league field coordinator and managed the club’s Arizona Fall League team in 2009. After five seasons as Pirates bench coach, he was hired by the Rangers in 2015 and was named Manager of the Year after leading the team to 88 wins in his first season. The Rangers won 95 games the following year but fell in the Division Series for the second straight campaign. Banister was fired late in the 2018 season, finishing his nearly four-year run in Texas with a 325-313 record. After spending one year as special assistant in baseball operations for the Pirates and two as director of player development at the University of Southern Colorado, he was hired as bench coach of the Diamondbacks in 2022 and was on the staff when the Rangers beat them in the World Series the following year.

4. Bobby Valentine – The Connecticut native played six minor league seasons with the Dodgers and spent 10 seasons as a major league infielder with five teams before retiring in 1979. Following his playing career, Valentine opened a sports-themed restaurant and became a minor league coach and major league manager with the Padres and Mets. He was hired as skipper of the Rangers in 1985 and finished second in the Manager of the Year voting the following year after leading the team to 87 victories. Despite three more winning seasons, Texas failed to reach the playoffs and Valentine was fired midway through the 1992 season after setting a franchise record at the time with a 581-605 mark.

Valentine spent one season each as a coach for the Reds, as well as managerial stints in the Mets’ minor leagues and with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. After another minor league stint in New York, he was brought up to manage the Mets at the end of the 1996 season. Over the next seven years, “Bobby V” led his new team to five straight winning seasons, two playoff appearances and the National League pennant in 2000. Despite the success on the field, he is best known for the sunglasses and fake mustache disguise he wore back into the dugout after getting ejected from a game in June 1999. After being fired by the Mets in 2002, Valentine spent six more seasons managing in Japan before one final stint in Boston in 2012. He also worked for ESPN, was the athletic director at Sacred Heart University for nine years and had a losing bid to become mayor of his hometown of Stamford in 2021.

3. Johnny Oates – Born in North Carolina, he had in 11-year career as a big-league catcher. His playing career ended in 1981, and he became a coach and minor league manager with the Yankees, Cubs and Orioles before taking over as manager of Baltimore’s big-league club at the end of the 1991 season. Oates had a winning record in parts of four years with the Orioles, but he clashed with new owner Peter Angelos and was fired after the strike ended the 1994 season. He was hired by the Rangers the following year and, after a winning record in his first season, he led the team to its first playoff appearance and won the Manager of the Year Award in 1996. Oates had a knack for getting the best out of his young and talented team, leading Texas to four winning seasons and three division titles, including a 95-win campaign in 1999. After his worst season, he stepped down from the Rangers in May 2001, finishing his seven-year tenure (1995-2001) with a 506-576 record. Instead of battling to get another managerial spot, Oates battled cancer in the form of a brain tumor. After one victory, the cancer returned in 2003 and claimed his life a year later at age 58.

2. Bruce Bochy – Born in France and raised in Florida, he made his professional debut in the Astros’ organization in 1975. Bochy spent 14 seasons as a catcher, with most of his major league career spent with the Padres. Following his 1989 retirement as a player, Bochy was a minor league manager with San Diego before taking over the big-league club in 1995. In 12 seasons in Southern California, he led the team to five winning seasons, four playoff appearances and a pennant in 1998.

Bochy was hired by the Giants in 2007 and spent 13 seasons in San Francisco. In that time, he led the team to seven winning seasons and three championships in a five-year span. Bochy retired after the 2019 season, taking a front office role with the Giants and managing France in the World Baseball Classic. He returned to the dugout with Texas in 2023, leading the team to 90 wins and finishing as the runner-up in the Manager of the Year voting. Despite losing the West Division tiebreaker to the Astros, the Rangers breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs before knocking out their interstate rivals in seven games in the ALCS. Bochy took Texas to levels never reached before with a victory over Arizona in the World Series for the team’s first championship. The Rangers fell to 78 wins and a third-place finish in Bochy’s second year this past season.

1. Ron Washington – The New Orleans native began his career when he signed with the Royals in 1970 and was a successful member of owner Ewing Kauffman‘s Royals Academy. Washington spent the next 20 seasons as a player, including 10 in the major leagues mostly as a reserve infielder with the Twins. Following his playing career, he spent five years as a minor league coach and instructor for the Mets and 11 as a first and third base coach with the Athletics from 1996-2006. Washington brought his tough and traditional approach to the Rangers when he was hired to manage the team the following year. He found himself in hot water after testing positive for cocaine in 2009 but after admitting his use and taking steps to change his behavior, he was allowed to keep his job.

The decision worked out well for the Rangers, as Washington led the team to five straight winning seasons and back-to-back pennants in 2010-11. He finished second in the Manager of the Year voting after Texas won 90 games in the first of those years before falling to the Giants in the World Series. Under Washington’s tutelage, the Rangers set a team record with 96 victories the following season and reached Game 7 of the Fall Classic, but the Cardinals’ heroics proved to be too much. Texas won at least 90 games in each of the next two seasons but fell off in 2014. Washington resigned his post in early September, leaving with a franchise-best 664-611 record in eight years, then faced sexual assault allegations against a reporter and admitted to having an affair. He was a coach in Oakland for two years and spent the next seven in Atlanta where he was the third base coach on the Braves’ championship team in 2021. Washington recently finished his first season as manager of the Angels.

Main Image: © Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

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