1978 Texas Rangers season

The 1978 Texas Rangers season was the 18th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 7th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 7th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished second in the American League West with a record of 87 wins and 75 losses.

Offseason

October 25, 1977: Gorman Thomas was sent to the Rangers by the Milwaukee Brewers to complete an earlier deal made on August 20.
November 9, 1977: Mike Marshall was granted free agency. Richie Zisk signed a 10-year, $2.75 million contract as a free agent.
November 10, 1977: Darold Knowles was purchased from the Rangers by the Montreal Expos.
November 11, 1977: Doc Medich signed as a free agent.
December 8, 1977: Bert Blyleven was traded by the Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller, were traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves, and Tom Grieve and a player to be named later were traded by the Rangers to the New York Mets as part of a 4-team trade. Al Oliver and Nelson Norman were traded by the Pirates to the Rangers, and Jon Matlack was traded by the Mets to the Rangers. John Milner was traded by the Mets to the Pirates. Willie Montañez was traded by the Braves to the Mets. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Ken Henderson to the Mets on March 15, 1978.
December 14, 1977: Ferguson Jenkins was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Rangers for John Poloni and cash.
January 21, 1978: Mike Jorgensen signed as a free agent.
January 25, 1978: Gaylord Perry was traded by the Rangers to the San Diego Padres for Dave Tomlin and $125,000.
February 8, 1978: Gorman Thomas was sold back to the Milwaukee Brewers.
February 28, 1978: David Clyde and Willie Horton were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein.
March 1, 1978: Jackie Brown and Rusty Torres were signed as free agents.
March 28, 1978: Mark Mercer signed as a free agent. Dave Tomlin was sold to the Cincinnati Reds.
April 1, 1978: Tom Buskey was released as a free agent.
April 2, 1978: Jim Hughes signed as a free agent.

Regular season

Notable transactions

April 18, 1978: Reggie Cleveland was purchased from the Boston Red Sox.
May 16, 1978: Bobby Bonds was traded to the Rangers by the Chicago White Sox for Claudell Washington and Rusty Torres.
May 17, 1978: Dave May was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers.
June 6, 1978: 1978 [Major League Baseball draft]
*Wayne Tolleson was drafted by the Rangers in the 8th round.
*Charlie O'Brien was drafted by the Rangers in the 14th round, but did not sign.
*Mike Richardt was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round of the Secondary Phase.
August 1, 1978: Paul Lindblad was sold to the New York Yankees.
August 31, 1978 Johnny Grubb was traded to the Rangers by the Cleveland Indians for players to be named later. Bobby Cuellar and Dave Rivera were sent to Cleveland on October 3 to complete the trade.

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		149	518	144	.278	6	58
1B	Mike Hargrove	146	494	124	.251	7	40
2B	Bump Wills	157	539	135	.250	9	57
SS	Bert Campaneris	98	269	50	.186	1	17
3B	Toby Harrah	139	450	103	.229	12	59
LF		133	525	170	.324	14	89
CF	Juan Beníquez	127	473	123	.260	11	50
RF	Bobby Bonds	130	475	126	.265	29	82
DH	Richie Zisk	140	511	134	.262	22	85

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
Kurt Bevacqua	90	248	55	.222	6	30
	77	176	39	.222	5	21
Bobby Thompson	64	120	27	.225	2	12
Jim Mason	55	105	20	.190	0	3
Mike Jorgensen	96	97	19	.196	1	9
John Ellis	34	94	23	.245	3	17
	17	50	12	.240	2	6
Pat Putnam	20	46	7	.152	1	2
Claudell Washington	12	42	7	.167	0	2
	23	34	9	.265	0	1
Johnny Grubb	12	33	13	.394	1	6
Sandy Alomar Sr.	24	29	6	.207	0	1
Billy Sample	8	15	7	.467	0	3
La Rue Washington	3	3	0	.000	0	0
Greg Mahlberg	1	1	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
	35	270.0	15	13	2.27	157
Ferguson Jenkins	34	249.0	18	8	3.04	157
	31	191.0	9	10	3.86	81
Doc Medich	28	171.0	9	8	3.74	71
Doc Ellis	22	141.1	9	7	4.20	45

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
Steve Comer	30	117.1	11	5	2.30	65
Jim Umbarger	32	97.2	5	8	4.88	60
Paul Mirabella	10	28.0	3	2	5.79	23
Roger Moret	7	14.2	0	1	4.91	5
Danny Darwin	3	8.2	1	0	4.15	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
Reggie Cleveland	53	5	7	12	3.09	46
	29	1	5	4	4.82	33
Paul Lindblad	18	1	1	2	3.63	25

Awards and honors

Jim Sundberg, Gold Glove, catcher

All-Stars

'''1978 [Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]'''

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL Rangers