The 50 Most Memorable Plays in Rangers History…. No. 49-50
Since everybody else loves to come up with a list – especially that Best (beep) Sports Show on Television, we break up the monotony of September by bringing you the top 50 Most Memorable Plays in Rangers….two a day until we are done at the end of the month.
Shattered leg
No. 49 – One of the worst injuries that ever occurred in Rangers history happened on May 9, 1976 in Fenway Park in Boston. John Ellis, a backup catcher acquired in the off-season, was being used at designated hitter that day and had already hit a home run. In the fifth inning, with the game tied 4-4, Ellis led off the inning with a single. With one out, Toby Harrah hit a ground ball to second baseman Denny Doyle, who had to make a tough play and flip the ball to second base. Ellis beat the throw with a hard slide and broke his leg in grotesque fashion.
Said Randy Galloway, who was covering the game for the Morning News: “It was the worst thing I ever saw. The thing was turned sideways. You couldn’t even look at it. Ellis wanted to stay in the game. He said, ‘I think I can go.”
Ellis was out of the rest of the season.
A-Rod’s Grand Moment
No. 50. – Alex Rodriguez’s biggest moment with the Rangers took place on July 27, 2002 against the Athletics. Rodriguez had already hit a first-inning home run off of Aaron Harang. With the score tied 6-6, Rodriguez came to the plate with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning and hit a game-winning walkoff grandslam against Athletics pitcher Billy Koch.
Rodriguez was with the Rangers for the first three years of his 10-year, $252 million contract. This is his only entry in the top 50 list.
T.R. Sullivan
Toby
Are we talking individual player accomplishments? If not, then how about George Bush who parlayed a “co-managing General Partnership” for a $600,000 investment, roughly 2 % into a two time Governorship and then 2 term Presidency. Or how about the 2008 Marketing Team that for 1 short week had the audacity to announce hunt for wildcard. It lasted but one short week before everyone realized that A-Fraud isn’t just a term for Madonna’s lover…. Ha Ha…. How about Jose Canseco having a ball hit off of his head, hey is that how people become writers and authors? Did you get hit on the head TR?
You know D’god you finally lost it. Are you stark raving nuts or what? Get some help buddy before it’s too late but for now I’m not interested in reading your stupidity!
You keep saying you aren’t going to read, but you keep reading….Hmmn, me thinks their must be something rotten in Denmark……Or you may have some obsessive compulsive disorder, the more you try to stay away, the more you have to read……
you know d’dawg you remind me of when you step in something and you know what it is but you just can’t keep from taking a sniff to be sure. get a life!
Hey d(GOD) aren’t you going to take up for Laird? He sounds like he must be kin to you. Sounds like a 4 year old. Anytime any player on this team complains he needs to go. When your name is on the list get out there and do your job! If you are doing your job they will call you again. Amazing the stupidity of some people you included.
John Ellis – what a gamer. I watched that game on TV, if my memory is working today, and whoever was announcing didn’t see what the rest of us saw. The announcer, talking over the replays, said it looked a pulled hamstring to him. I think they showed the replay several times, and he kept insisting it was a hamstring. Rooting for John Ellis sure was fun.
I will take up for Laird in this manner. He is right about the Rangers, make a freaking decision. Either Laird is your catcher or he isnt. Laird wants to play everyday and the Rangers evidently don’t want to play him every day. Looks and sounds like Laird is taking a page out of Texiera’s exit strategy. The bottom line is Laird is a better defensive catcher than Salty at this point, but hey i aint the GM. Because # 1 if i were Danks, Volquez, Young and Gonzalez would still be on this team….I personally like Ramirez over Salty at catcher but do believe my fellow longhorner is going to win out, he is the complete package. I wouldn’t bet against both Salty and Laird being dealt for some starting pitching. I believe Tea and Ram are the future hear. Being a former catcher, i really like the way Ramirez played behind the plate. Salty well just looks like he should be playing first base.
Man, dgod, you and Gerald have very short memories. Neither of you seems to recall the entire 2007 season. I know, it was a long time ago, but remember when Gerald was given the everyday job for an entire season and he hit .224? That’s what happened when he was “given a chance to play every single day.”
He says he’s tired of “worrying about a young guy coming up and taking” his job? Apparently he’s under the impression that he’s some superstar player, entitled to a starting gig rather or not his performance merits it. How many all star games has Gerald made to deserve such a high distinction to be free of competition for a major league job? He needs someone to share time with to be at his best.
This isn’t something new, either. Prior to his anemic 2007 he shared time with Barajas in 2006, playing against most lefties and getting to sit against most right handed pitchers, who seem to baffle him, while putting up a very good line of .296/.332/.473. Flash forward to 2007. Gerald wins the job, stays relatively competition free, faces lots of RHP and all of sudden that batting line plummets to .224/.278/.349.
How about this season when he’s “played every single day….?” “without worrying about a young guy….?” He wins the job out of spring training and proceeds to hit a less than mediocre .260/.325/.370 until Salty gets the call, at which time the two begin to split time equally. With Gerald getting to hit most of the lefties and getting a lot of time off against the righties, he thrives, hitting .333/.379/.474 before heading to the DL. Upon his return from the DL in July, being once again named the everyday catcher, he’s proceeded to hit .229/.272/.352 (eerily reminiscent of ’07) until the news came that he was going to be sharing time with another youngster.
Watch his September numbers rise as he shares time with Teagarden all the while grousing about how he should be an everyday catcher. If everyone (except you) can see that it takes a youngster to push him for playing time to get better results then why can’t he see it or you, for that matter.
I’d love to see Teagarden do well, garnering more playing time, but calling a player who hit .211 between double-A and triple-A and struck out every 3 at-bats even in the low minors “the total package” is a bit premature.
D’god the “tools of ignorance” must have looked “appropriate” on you.
Hey fredussr, you forgot the one about catcher being an idiot’s position. Ha Ha. Hey i don’t care who the catcher is, but i would like to see the Rangers make a committment to one of their catchers. No one and i mean no one should catch 162 games, it is not a good thing, health wise. But my personal preference and that of others is this. First and foremost i want defense from the catching position. That is someone who can handle pitchers, throws out runners, blocks balls in the dirt and that kind of stuff. Offense, especially on this team is secondary. At this point, Salty just isn’t doing the defensive things to play at the major league level. What he was doing prior to being hurt was hurting the team. If i were GM i would trade Salty and Laird for some pitching if at all possible. If i couldn’t then i probably would just trade Laird. The more and more i watch the more it seems that neither Salty or Laird have a future here. Just an opinion. Ram is my kind of player tough, but i do believe Tea has a shot. We need pitching folks and we do have depth at catcher.
“What he was doing prior to being hurt was hurting the team.” – Feldman, Harrison and Hurley all did better with Salty behind the plate than with Laird, and he was hitting .357/.446/.500 since July 12th, so I’m not sure exactly what he was hurting (unless it was the fictitious 50 passed balls). Care to elaborate?
When did it become about this year anyway? Is Gerald the future? You’ve got several good young prospects at the postion. What sense does it make to “make a committment” when you can get a look at several players?
“We need pitching folks and we do have depth at catcher.” – Yeah, we have extra catching that’s eventually going to be moved for pitching. Everyone and their mother has known this for months, but you’re the only one I’ve actually seen complain about that depth.
I’d like to see Laird be the first to go. He’s horrible hitting against RHP, good at controlling the running game and average or worse at every other aspect of catching. In other words, not an every day player and he’s only under control for 2 more years with Scott Boras as his agent, so there’s no need to plan on having him long term with younger, cheaper options. Not to mention the crying to the media every time he starts hitting like a pitcher and has to share time with a youngster who will eventually replace him.
The Red Sox are said to be inerested in Salty and Teagarden and have an excess of good young pitching. I honestly don’t care who gets dealt if it nets a viable top of the rotation type arm. I’m fine with going to battle with any combination of the 3 youngsters we have. Manny Pina may not hit much, but like Teagarden he’s a defensive whiz and he could see Oklahoma next season at age of 22.