Texas Strangers (Texas Rangers baseball team unofficial nickname)
The Washington Senators baseball team moved to Arlington, Texas in 1972 and became the Texas Rangers (named after the famous law enforcement agency). By April 1972, the Texas baseball team with the lack of familiar names was being nicknamed the “Texas Strangers.” The “Strangers” nickname has still stuck, although it is used less frequently today. Some spell the nickname “Texas stRangers.”
Wikipedia; Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in Arlington, Texas, United States. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball’s American League. From 1994 to the present, the Rangers have played in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The “Rangers” name originates from the famous law enforcement agency of the same name.
An expansion franchise, the club was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1961 and was called the Washington Senators (not to be confused with the Washington Senators that left D.C. after 1960 to become the Minnesota Twins). The team then moved to Arlington in 1972 and became the Rangers. The Rangers are one of the least successful teams in MLB history, being one of four teams to have never played in a World Series, having never won a league championship. They are also one of only two franchises to have never won a playoff series since the franchise’s inception in 1961. In fact, they have only won one playoff game.
Wikipedia: Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction based in Austin, the capital of Texas, in the United States. Over the years, the Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption, acted as riot police and as detectives, protected the Texas governor, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a paramilitary force at the service of both the Republic (1836–45) and the state of Texas.
The Texas Rangers were unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 and formally constituted in 1835. It was dissolved by the federal authorities during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, but was quickly reformed upon the reinstitution of home government. Since 1935, the organization has been a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety; it fulfills the role of Texas’s State Bureau of Investigation. As of 2007, there are 134 commissioned members of the Ranger force. It has been called the oldest state-level law enforcement agency in the United States.
The Rangers have taken part in many of the most important events of Texas history and were involved in some of the best-known criminal cases in the history of the Old West, such as those of gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, bank robber Sam Bass, and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. Scores of books have been written about the Rangers, from well researched works of nonfiction to pulp novels, making them significant participants in the mythology of the Wild West. During their long history, a distinct Ranger tradition has evolved; their cultural significance to Texans is such that they are legally protected against disbandment.
13 April 1972, Elyria (OH) Chronicle-Telegram, pg. C8, col. 1:
Writers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are calling the Texas Rangers the “Texas Strangers” because the transplanted Washington Senators have so few name players.
22 April 1972, Dallas (TX) Morning News, section B, pg. 2:
The crowd appeared to be feeling its way down the lineup of the young, mostly unknown Texas team, which has been referred to as the Texas Strangers about as much as the Texas Rangers.
12 October 1972, Berkshire (MA) Eagle, pg. 26, col. 3:
Horgan (Boston Herald-Advertiser writer Tim Horgan—ed.) prefaces his unique idea with these words: “Approximately one second after his Texas Strangers mercifully ended their season in Kansas City on Wednesday, their former manager will dissolve into the vastness of the nearest fishing hole.”
21 November 1972, Amarillo (TX) Globe-Times, pg. 5, col. 3:
Major league baseball got off to a super-poor start in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington last summer.
The Washington Senators were brought in and called the Texas Rangers.
Lack of established players caused them to be called the Texas Strangers.
20 May 1976, Los Angeles (CA) Times, part III, pg. D1:
They once were laughingly called the Texas Strangers but about the only thing strange about them nowadays is where the stand in the American League West.
Sports Illustrated
April 05, 1989
The A’s Have It
IN THIS ONCE-DERIDED, NOW-POTENT DIVISION, POWERHOUSE OAKLAND JUST GETS BIGGER AND BETTER
Peter Gammons
Once it was dubbed the American League Least, and unofficial team nicknames included the Twinkies , the Strangers and the Un-Athletics. Well, last season the Oakland Un-Athletics won 15 more games than the Eastern champ Boston Red Sox and swept them in the playoffs. Minnesota fans rued the fact that their Twinkies ’ 91 wins would have won the East. And in the off-season, the Texas Strangers pulled the trigger on more good deals than any other team in the league.
Google Groups: rec.sport.baseball
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Ira K. Blum)
Date: 19 May 1994 21:12:40 GMT
Local: Thurs, May 19 1994 5:12 pm
Subject: Re: AWFUL AL West!
Don’t look now but the Texas Strangers (I love/hate this particular bermanism) are only a game under .500
Google Groups: rec.sport.baseball
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Date: Tue, 09 Aug 94 21:44:21
Local: Tues, Aug 9 1994 9:44 pm
Subject: TEXAS RANCIDS
That foul stench you smell eminating from the American League West is the decaying defication of the Texas Rangers pitching staff. Or should the Rangers be better identified as the Texas Strangers/Rancids?
Google Groups: rec.humor
Newsgroups: rec.humor
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (jeffery mitchell)
Date: 28 Oct 1994 00:29:44 GMT
Local: Thurs, Oct 27 1994 8:29 pm
Subject: MLB Team Lame Names
Howdy!
Here are some names to apply to baseball teams when they are striking out more than usual. Considering that they are all striking right now, I think these currently apply to all of the teams. The Texas No Braingers should be winning the World Series right now!
(...)
Texas Rangers -> Texas Strangers
Google Groups: rec.sport.baseball
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Gerry Myerson)
Date: 14 Feb 1995 00:31:34 -0600
Local: Tues, Feb 14 1995 2:31 am
Subject: Nicknames for replacement teams
Texas Strangers
Google Groups: alt.sports.baseball.texas-rangers
Newsgroups: alt.sports.baseball.texas-rangers
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Kenn Averett)
Date: 1996/09/06
Subject: Best Play of the Year???
No longer the Texas stRangers!!!!!!!
Googel Groups: alt.sports.baseball.texas-rangers
Newsgroups: alt.sports.baseball.texas-rangers
From: “ikw”
Date: 1997/07/23
Subject: they are BACK!!!
Yep they are back the real TEXAS STRANGERS. I cannot belive how bad they are, reminds me of the 70’s aall over again.
Dallas Morning News - Texas Rangers Blog
Posted by tommex @ 12:28 PM Mon, Dec 24, 2007
of course, a perfect signee for Rangers as Chip pointed out in thread below, 37, injury prone & learning the position ? Yessss !
FELIZ NAVIDAD !
To DMN, fellow bloggers, and Texas stRangers !