El Caballo at The Elysian Fields

Carlos Lee carries the nickname "El Caballo" and he’s not the first in Rangers history.

Ruben Sierra was the original "El Caballo," which means "The Horse" in Spanish, and he was exactly that as the Rangers right fielder from 1986-92, and it was Bill James who once wrote, "I wouldn’t trade one Ruben Sierra for ten Jose Cansecos."

My favorite memory of Sierra from back then was the line drive over shortstop. As the center fielder went over to cut the ball off for a routine single, Sierra would put it into high gear around first and be sliding into second base with a double.

Former Rangers manager Bobby Valentine was probably right when he once said that "everybody knows Ruben goes harder on offense than he does on defense" but it’s also true that there may not have been a more talented player to wear the Rangers uniform than Sierra at his best in his first seven years in the Major Leagues.

Lou Gehrig was "The Iron Horse" because he played in 2,130 games and they also called him "Biscuit Pants" which may have been a reference to the size of his uniform rather than any comparison to the legendary race horse "Seabiscuit."

John "Pepper" Martin, hero of the 1931 World Series, was the Wild Horse of the Osage because of the way he ran the bases and, in baseball history, there has been a "Wild Horse," a "Crazy Horse, a "Horse Belly" and two who were called "Harry the Horse," which has nothing to do with the gangster in the musical "Guys and Dolls" who was played by Sheldon Leonard in the movie.

Harry the Horse was the guy who showed up at Nathan Detroit’s **** game with $5,000 to spend.

"Five thousand?" Nicely Nicely Johnson asked. "If it can be told, where did you take on this fine bundle of lettuce?"

Said Harry the Horse, "I collected the reward on my father."

The Rangers weren’t as resourceful in coming up with enough money to keep Sierra around and they finally traded him to the Oakland Athletics along with pitchers Jeff Russell and Bobby Witt for Canseco on Aug. 31, 1992 and, at the time, people were wondering if there had ever been a trade involving one Hall of Famer for another.

Of course we all know now that it’s extremely unlikely neither Canseco or Sierra will ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Sierra did come back to the Rangers in 2000-2001 and again in 2003 but he was no longer "El Caballo" but a part-time outfielder and designated hitter.

The Twins signed him this year but he was let go in May and it seems likeky that his career is over.

But it does seem appropriate to compare the two El Caballos to see which one is Secretariat and which one is Mister Ed.

Lee, through Tuesday, had played in 1,149 Major League games with a career batting average of .285 with a .339 on-base percentage and a .494 slugging percentage.

Sierra, in his first 1,149 games, batted .278 with a .323 on-base and a .467 slugging percentage.

Lee has 212 home runs with 682 runs scored and 748 RBI while Sierra had 636 runs scored and 737 RBI.

What’s interesting is that Lee lost two balls in left field in Monday’s game against the Twins that cost the Rangers in a 15-2 loss.

My feeling is that Sierra’s time with the Rangers started going downhill on Aug. 22, 1989. That was the night that Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson for his 5,000th strikeout but the Rangers lost, 2-0, because Sierra lost two balls in the lights out in right field.

There were others who lost balls in the lights while playing right field at the old Arlington Stadium but Sierra took a beating that night and it would forever bother him that people blamed him for Ryan losing such an important game.

From that point on it seemed like the relationship between Sierra and the Rangers and their fans seem to sour, which was wrong for such a great player.

As the original Mister Ed said, "Don’t be sore at me Wilbur, I’m only a nine-year old kid!"

Said Wilbur, "Well nine years old in a horse is equal to sixty in a human being."

Retorted Mister Ed, "Well stop yelling at an old man!"

Wait a minute. Most of you reading this have never seen one single episode of Mister Ed.

No matter. There is a new "El Caballo" in town.