1983 Texas Rangers season

1983 Texas Rangers
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Arlington Stadium
City	Arlington, Texas
Owners	Eddie Chiles
General managers	Joe Klein
Managers	Doug Rader
Television	KXAS-TV (Steve Busby, Merle Harmon)
Radio	WBAP (Eric Nadel, Mark Holtz)
Seasons

The 1983 Texas Rangers season was the 23rd of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 12th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 12th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished third in the American League West with a record of 77 wins and 85 losses. The Rangers did break a Major League Baseball record for the most runs ever scored by one team during a single extra inning.

Regular season

Season standings

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	99	63	.611	—	55‍–‍26	44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals	79	83	.488	20	45‍–‍36	34‍–‍47
Texas Rangers	77	85	.475	22	44‍–‍37	33‍–‍48
Oakland Athletics	74	88	.457	25	42‍–‍39	32‍–‍49
California Angels	70	92	.432	29	35‍–‍46	35‍–‍46
Minnesota Twins	70	92	.432	29	37‍–‍44	33‍–‍48
Seattle Mariners	60	102	.370	39	30‍–‍51	30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1983 American League record Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	7–5	7–5	6–7	5–8	8–4	11–2	8–4	6–7	8–4	8–4	9–3	7–6
Boston	5–8	—	6–6	6–6	7–6	4–9	5–7	4–9	5–7	7–6	8–4	7–5	7–5	7–6
California	5–7	6–6	—	3–10	8–4	4–8	6–7	6–6	6–7	5–7	5–8	6–7	6–7	4–8
Chicago	5–7	6–6	10–3	—	8–4	8–4	9–4	4–8	8–5	8–4	8–5	12–1	8–5	5–7
Cleveland	7–6	6–7	4–8	4–8	—	5–8	7–5	3–10	6–6	6–7	7–5	8–4	3–9	4–9
Detroit	8–5	9–4	8–4	4–8	8–5	—	7–5	6–7	9–3	5–8	6–6	8–4	8–4	6–7
Kansas City	4–8	7–5	7–6	4–9	5–7	5–7	—	6–6	6–7	6–6	7–6	8–5	8–5–1	6–6
Milwaukee	2–11	9–4	6–6	8–4	10–3	7–6	6–6	—	8–4	4–9	6–6	5–7	8–4	8–5
Minnesota	4–8	7–5	7–6	5–8	6–6	3–9	7–6	4–8	—	4–8	4–9	9–4	5–8	5–7
New York	7–6	6–7	7–5	4–8	7–6	8–5	6–6	9–4	8–4	—	8–4	7–5	7–5	7–6
Oakland	4–8	4–8	8–5	5–8	5–7	6–6	6–7	6–6	9–4	4–8	—	9–4	2–11	6–6
Seattle	4–8	5–7	7–6	1–12	4–8	4–8	5–8	7–5	4–9	5–7	4–9	—	6–7	4–8
Texas	3–9	5–7	7–6	5–8	9–3	4–8	5–8–1	4–8	8–5	5–7	11–2	7–6	—	4–8
Toronto	6–7	6–7	8–4	7–5	9–4	7–6	6–6	5–8	7–5	6–7	6–6	8–4	8–4	—

Opening Day starters

• Buddy Bell
• Bucky Dent
• Dave Hostetler
• Pete O'Brien
• Larry Parrish
• Mike Richardt
• Billy Sample
• Mike Smithson
• Jim Sundberg
• George Wright

Notable transactions

• August 19, 1983: Rick Honeycutt was traded by the Rangers to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dave Stewart, a player to be named later and $200,000. The Dodgers completed by sending Ricky Wright to the Rangers on September 16.

Roster

1983 Texas Rangers roster
Roster
Pitchers 29 John Butcher 23 Víctor Cruz 44 Danny Darwin 35 Tom Henke 40 Rick Honeycutt 49 Charlie Hough 21 Odell Jones 51 Al Lachowicz 16 Mike Mason 32 Jon Matlack 24 Dave Schmidt 48 Mike Smithson 31 Dave Stewart 28 Frank Tanana 41 Dave Tobik 38 Ricky Wright		Catchers  8 Bob Johnson 43 Donnie Scott 10 Jim Sundberg Infielders 46 Jim Anderson 25 Buddy Bell 14 Larry Biittner  7 Bucky Dent  9 Pete O'Brien  2 Mike Richardt  1 Bill Stein  3 Wayne Tolleson 30 Mark Wagner 19 Curtis Wilkerson		Outfielders  4 Nick Capra 13 Tom Dunbar  6 Bobby Jones 15 Larry Parrish  5 Billy Sample 26 George Wright Other batters 12 Dave Hostetler 17 Mickey Rivers		Manager 11 Doug Rader Coaches 37 Rich Donnelly 23 Glenn Ezell 22 Merv Rettenmund 52 Dick Such 42 Wayne Terwilliger

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Jim Sundberg	131	378	76	.201	2	28
1B	Pete O'Brien	154	524	124	.237	8	53
2B	Wayne Tolleson	134	470	122	.260	3	20
3B	Buddy Bell	156	618	171	.277	14	66
SS	Bucky Dent	131	417	99	.237	2	34
LF	Billy Sample	147	554	152	.274	12	57
CF	George Wright	162	634	175	.276	18	80
RF	Larry Parrish	145	555	151	.272	26	88
DH	Dave Hostetler	94	304	67	.220	11	46

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Mickey Rivers	96	309	88	.285	1	20
Bill Stein	78	232	72	.310	2	33
Bob Johnson	72	175	37	.211	5	16
Larry Biitner	66	116	32	.276	0	18
Jim Anderson	50	102	22	.216	0	6
Mike Richardt	22	83	13	.157	1	7
Bobby Jones	41	72	16	.222	1	11
Curt Wilkerson	16	35	6	.171	0	1
Tom Dunbar	12	24	6	.250	0	3
Donnie Scott	2	4	0	.000	0	0
Mark Wagner	2	2	0	.000	0	0
Nick Capra	8	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Charlie Hough	34	252.0	15	13	3.18	152
Mike Smithson	33	223.1	10	14	3.91	135
Danny Darwin	28	183.0	8	13	3.49	92
Rick Honeycutt	25	174.2	14	8	2.42	56
Frank Tanana	29	159.1	7	9	3.16	108
Dave Stewart	8	59.0	5	2	2.14	24

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
John Butcher	38	123.0	6	6	3.51	58
Jon Matlack	25	73.1	2	4	4.66	38
Al Lachowicz	2	8.0	0	1	2.25	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Odell Jones	42	3	6	10	3.09	50
Dave Schmidt	31	3	3	2	3.88	29
Dave Tobik	27	2	1	9	3.68	30
Víctor Cruz	17	1	3	5	1.44	18
Tom Henke	8	1	0	1	3.38	17
Mike Mason	5	0	2	0	5.91	9
Ricky Wright	1	0	0	0	0.00	2

Awards and honors

• Buddy Bell, 3B, Gold Glove 1983

All-Star Game

Team leaders

• Larry Parrish, Home Runs, 26
• Larry Parrish, RBI, 88
• Billy Sample, Runs, 80
• Billy Sample, Stolen bases, 44
• Buddy Bell, Batting average, .277
• George Wright, Hits, 175

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Tom Burgess
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Marty Scott
A	Burlington Rangers	Midwest League	Orlando Gómez
A-Short Season	Tri-City Triplets	Northwest League	Dave Oliver
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Andy Hancock

Notable events

• July 3 — The Rangers score twelve runs in the fifteenth inning to defeat the Oakland Athletics 16–4, in the process breaking the MLB record for most runs scored during one single extra inning, previously held by the 1928 New York Yankees.

References

• 1983 Texas Rangers at Baseball Reference
• 1983 Texas Rangers at Baseball Almanac
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.