Rangers Manager Trivia at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill

Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where the patrons always drink a toast of good luck to a new Rangers manager. Nineteen men have held this august position and it has been an electic bunch.

* Ron Washington was born in New Orleans. He is not the first Rangers manager to be born in New Orleans. So too was Connie Ryan, who one of four managers for the Rangers in 1977.

* Washington is the 11th Major League manager born in Louisiana. Only one of the previous ten won a World Series. Eddie Dyer managed the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1946 World Series when they beat the Boston Red Sox.

* Washington had a career .292 on-base percentage. That’s the 99th lowest for a Major League player with at least 1,500 career at-bats since World War II. Fourteen of the 100 players with the lowest career on-base percentage since World War II (minimum 1,500 at-bats) ended up managing in the big leagues. Washington is the third for the Rangers. Don Zimmer and Billy Hunter both had career on-base percentages lower than Washington.

* The oldest man to ever manage the Rangers was Eddie Stanky, who was 60 when he took over for one game in 1977. Connie Ryan, who succeeded him for six games, was 57. Washington is 54, third oldest. Ted Williams was 53 when the Rangers came to Texas. So was Darrell Johnson when he was interim manager in 1982 after Don Zimmer was fired.

* Everybody knows that Johnson was the only Rangers manager who ever managed in a World Series before he took over in Texas. Managed the Red Sox in the 1975 World Series. Three managers went to the World Series after managing the Rangers: Whitey Herzog, Billy Martin and Bobby Valentine.

* Besides Johnson, Martin and Buck Showalter were the only two who had managed a playoff team before they took over for the Rangers.

* Sorry, yes, Valentine was the youngest. He was 35 when he took over. Second youngest was Pat Corrales, who was 37, a year younger than Doug Rader or Kevin Kennedy.

* Billy Hunter and Johnny Oates? That’s right, they are the only two Rangers managers who left the job with a winning record after managing more than one game. Eddie Stanky and Del Wilber were 1-0. Don’t remember Wilber? He managed one game between Herzog and Martin in 1973.

* What do Kevin Kennedy, Frank Lucchesi and Buck Showalter have in common? Come on you know that. They are the three Rangers managers who never played in the Major Leagues.

* No Rangers managers were born in Texas. Looks like Washington and Ryan were the closest, being from New Orleans. Five were born in California. Kennedy and Corrales were born in Los Angeles. Not that it matters but Billy Hunter was born Punxsatawney, Pa., famous for Groundhog Day.

* Ted Williams holds all the hitting records for a Rangers manager of course. Except stolen bases. Toby Harrah has that distinction. Eddie Stanky had the most sacrifice bunts.

* Harrah of course is the only Rangers manager to actually play for the Rangers.

* Eight Rangers managers played in World Series. Billy Martin played in five with the Yankees, winning four. He was the MVP of the 1953 World Series. Don Zimmer won two World Series with the Dodgers.

* Johnny Oates had two at-bats in the World Series for the Dodgers in 1977-78. That’s more than Pat Corrales and Connie Ryan. Corrales had one at-bat for the Reds in the 1970 World Series as Johnny Bench’s backup and Ryan had one at-bat for the Boston Braves in 1948.

* Stanky was the Dodgers second baseman when they went to the World Series in 1947. So? That was Jackie Robinson’s position. The Dodgers didn’t want to move Stanky so Robinson played first base in his historical first season in 1947. Stanky was traded to the Boston Braves in 1948 so Robinson could move to second.

* Billy Hunter was on the 1956 New York Yankees who won the World Series but he did not get into a game.

* Hunter also batted .219 as a rookie for the St. Louis Browns in 1953. So? He was still an All-Star that season. The Browns were 54-100 and had to have somebody. He was the last All-Star for the Browns. They were in Baltimore the next season.

* Hunter and Ted Williams both managed at least one full season in Texas. They are the only two to do that, and not manage anywhere else, either before or after their time in Arlington.

* The Rangers have had four managers win a Manager of the Year Award: Billy Martin (1974), Bobby Valentine (1986), Johnny Oates (1996) and Buck Showalter in 2004. Strange though. Only Oates led his team to the playoffs though.

* Washington played 372 games at shortstop, the most for him at any position. Hunter and Valentine also played more games at shortstop than any other position. Eddie Stanky, Billy Martin and Connie Ryan played more at second base. Third base? Toby Harrah, Doug Rader and Don Zimmer.

* Most common primary position was catcher: Johnny Oates, Jerry Narron, Darrell Johnson, Pat Corrales and Del Wilber. Kevin Kennedy was a catcher in the Minors. Ted Williams and Whitey Herzog were outfielders.

* Herzog had 37 games at first base, most by a Rangers manager. Doug Rader was used as a DH 34 times.

* Bobby Valentine caught two games. He is the only Rangers manager to play all eight positions at the Major League level. Don Zimmer caught 35 games but never played center or first. Neither one pitched.

* No Rangers manager ever pitched? Wrong. Ted Williams, in 1940 for the Red Sox, pitched two innings in a game and allowed one run on three hits. Struck out one.

* Whitey Herzog lasted just 138 games for the Rangers in 1973. But he managed 2,409 Major League games in all, the most by any Rangers manager. Billy Martin managed 2,267 games while Don Zimmer managed 1,744.

* No Rangers came on the job with more experience than Frank Lucchesi. He had 20 years of managerial experience in the Minors, winning seven championships and four Manager of the Year award. Plus 21/2 years with Philadelphia in 1970-72.