2013 Quarry Unlimited - #14 Texas Rangers Part 1

Coming in at #14 today is a team that I really find hard to figure out, the Texas Rangers.  When I first got into collecting, my first question with them was why were known as Texas instead of Dallas, which they clearly are.  For a team like the Twins or the Rockies, being named after the state was not really bothersome because they were the only team in the state.  The Rangers, like the former names of both the Marlins and Angels, share the state with another team and yet try to take credit for the entire state.  This doesn't really bother me much, but I do find it hard to figure out.  Another that was always hard to figure out was, were the Rangers trying to be winners?  From when I was young, the Rangers were a team made up of guys like Buddy Bell, Toby Harrah, and Charlie Hough, decent players but hardly contenders for the best of their era.  But the Rangers mostly seemed content with mediocrity for the most part.  Of course now the Rangers have become yearly contenders, but they are still hard to figure out.  Are they a big market team or small market team?  They act like both at different times.  Are they building through free agency or the minors?  Once again, it's both.  I think the Rangers would be better suited to actually figuring out who they are and trying to build their team in that fashion.  I am mainly apathetic toward them, but I would really like them more if I could just figure them out, even a little.  While we consider, let's take a look at some team trivia.

RANGERS TEAM TRIVIA

# of players to play in a Rangers game (1993-2013) - 479

# of those players to have a Rangers card (as of today) - 368

% of Rangers players to appear on a Rangers card - 76.8%

Big names left out - Jeff Brantley, Jeff Francoeur, Billy Hatcher

# of new Rangers in 2013 - 23

Total # of Rangers in 2013 - 46

position on last year's list --   #15    =  UP 1

Let's take a look at the first half of the 2013 Texas Rangers with the team card leading the way.

I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2.

Thanx for reading.