2001 Texas Rangers season

MLB yearly infobox
name = Texas Rangers
season = 2001
misc =

current league = American League
y1 = 1961
division = Western Division
y2 = 1972
Uniform logo =
ballpark = The Ballpark in Arlington
y4 = 1994
city = Arlington, Texas
y5 = 1972
owners = Tom Hicks
managers = Johnny Oates and Jerry Narron
television = KDFW
KDFI
(Tom Grieve, Bill Jones)
radio =KRLD
(Eric Nadel, Vince Cotroneo)
KESS-FM
(Eleno Ornelas, Edgar Lopez)|

The Texas Rangers 2001 season involved the Rangers finishing 4th in the American League west with a record of 73 wins and 89 losses.

Offseason

*November 17, 2000: Aaron Harang was traded by the Texas Rangers with Ryan Cullen (minors) to the Oakland Athletics for Randy Velarde. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/haranaa01.shtml]
*December 10, 2000: Ken Caminiti was signed as a Free Agent with the Texas Rangers. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/caminke01.shtml]
*January 26, 2001 – Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers, who had fallen to last in their division in 2000. The contract he signed is the most lucrative contract in sports history: a 10-year deal worth $252 million. The deal is worth $63 million more than the second-richest baseball deal.

Regular Season

*June 8, 2001 - The first interleague game between the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers took place at The Ballpark at Arlington. The rivalry would be known as the Lone Star Series. The Astros won the game by a score of 5-4.] The team that would win the most games between the two in a season would be awarded the Silver Boot.

eason standings

Transactions

*June 5, 2001: Mark Teixeira was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 1st round (5th pick) of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed August 24, 2001. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/teixema01.shtml]
*July 2, 2001: Ken Caminiti was released by the Texas Rangers. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/caminke01.shtml]
*August 31, 2001: Randy Velarde was traded by the Texas Rangers to the New York Yankees for players to be named later. The New York Yankees sent Randy Flores (October 12, 2001) and Rosman Garcia (October 11, 2001) to the Texas Rangers to complete the trade. [ http://www.baseball-reference.com/v/velarra01.shtml]

Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez's power hitting numbers improved with his move to Texas. In his first season with the Rangers, Alex produced one of the top offensive seasons ever for a shortstop, leading the American League with 52 HR, 133 runs scored, and 393 total bases. He became the first player since 1932 with 50 homers and 200 hits in a season, just the third shortstop to ever lead his league in homers, and was just the second AL player in the last 34 seasons (beginning 1968) to lead the league in runs, homers, and total bases; his total base figure is the most ever for a major league shortstop. His 52 homers made him the sixth youngest to ever reach 50 homers and were the highest total ever by a shortstop, surpassing Ernie Banks' mark of 47 in 1958, and also the most ever for an infielder other than a 1st baseman, breaking Phillies 3B Mike Schmidt's record of 48 in 1980. [cite web | url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_season.shtml | title=Single-Season Leaders & Records for Home Runs | accessdate=2007-07-20 | publisher=Baseball Reference]

It was his 5th 30-homer campaign, tying Banks for most ever by a shortstop. He also tied for the league lead in extra base hits (87) and ranked 3rd in RBI (135) and slugging (.622). He was also among the AL leaders in hits (4th, 201), average (7th, .318), and on-base percentage (8th, .399). He established Rangers club records for homers, runs, total bases, and hit by pitches, had the 2nd most extra base hits, and the 4th highest RBI total. He led the club in runs, hits, doubles (34), homers, RBI, slugging, and on-base percentage and was 2nd in walks (75), stolen bases (18), and game-winning RBI (14) while posting career highs for homers, RBI, and total bases. Rodriguez started 161 games at shortstop and one as the DH, the only major league player to start all of his team's games in 2001.

Player stats

Batting

"Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In"

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

Awards and Honors

*Alex Rodriguez, Hank Aaron Award
*Alex Rodriguez, A.L. Home Run Champ
*Alex Rodriguez, Silver Slugger Award
*Iván Rodríguez, C, Gold Glove
*Rubén Sierra, Comeback Player of The YearAll-Star Game

References

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/2001.shtml 2001 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2001&t=TEX 2001 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com]