1973 Texas Rangers season

1973 Texas Rangers
1973 Texas Rangers
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Arlington Stadium
City	Arlington, Texas
Record	57–105 (.352)
Divisional place	6th
Owners	Bob Short
General managers	Joe Burke, Dan O'Brien Sr.
Managers	Whitey Herzog, Del Wilber, Billy Martin
Television	KDFW ; (Dick Risenhoover, Tom Hedrick)
Radio	KRLD ; (Dick Risenhoover, Bill Mercer)

Last updated August 01, 2025

The 1973 Texas Rangers season was the 13th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 2nd in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 2nd season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished sixth in the American League West with a record of 57 wins and 105 losses.

Offseason

October 27, 1972: Jim Panther was traded by the Rangers to the Atlanta Braves for Rico Carty.^[1]
November 30, 1972: Horacio Piña was traded by the Rangers to the Oakland Athletics for Mike Epstein.^[2]
November 30, 1972: Tom Ragland was traded by the Texas Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Vince Colbert.^[3]
January 10, 1973: 1973 Major League Baseball draft
- Jeff Schneider was drafted by the Rangers in the 2nd round, but did not sign.^[4]
- Jim Sundberg was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the Secondary Phase.^[5]

Regular season

On July 30, 1973, Jim Bibby threw the first no-hitter in Texas Rangers history as he no-hit the Oakland Athletics.^[6] The Rangers won the game 6–0.

Season standings

v
t
e
AL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	94	68	.580	—	50‍–‍31	44‍–‍37
Kansas City Royals	88	74	.543	6	48‍–‍33	40‍–‍41
Minnesota Twins	81	81	.500	13	37‍–‍44	44‍–‍37
California Angels	79	83	.488	15	43‍–‍38	36‍–‍45
Chicago White Sox	77	85	.475	17	40‍–‍41	37‍–‍44
Texas Rangers	57	105	.352	37	35‍–‍46	22‍–‍59

Record vs. opponents

1973 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	TEX
Baltimore	—	7–11	6–6	8–4	12–6	9–9	8–4	15–3	8–4	9–9	5–7	10–2
Boston	11–7	—	7–5	6–6	9–9	3–15	8–4	12–6	6–6	14–4	4–8	9–3
California	6–6	5–7	—	8–10	5–7	7–5	10–8	5–7	10–8	6–6	6–12	11–7
Chicago	4–8	6–6	10–8	—	7–5	5–7	6–12	3–9	9–9	8–4	6–12	13–5
Cleveland	6–12	9–9	7–5	5–7	—	9–9	2–10	9–9	7–5	7–11	3–9	7–5
Detroit	9–9	15–3	5–7	7–5	9–9	—	4–8	12–6	5–7	7–11	7–5	5–7
Kansas City	4–8	4–8	8–10	12–6	10–2	8–4	—	8–4	9–9	6–6	8–10	11–7
Milwaukee	3–15	6–12	7–5	9–3	9–9	6–12	4–8	—	8–4	10–8	4–8	8–4
Minnesota	4–8	6–6	8–10	9–9	5–7	7–5	9–9	4–8	—	3–9	14–4	12–6
New York	9–9	4–14	6–6	4–8	11–7	11–7	6–6	8–10	9–3	—	4–8	8–4
Oakland	7–5	8–4	12–6	12–6	9–3	5–7	10–8	8–4	4–14	8–4	—	11–7
Texas	2–10	3–9	7–11	5–13	5–7	7–5	7–11	4–8	6–12	4–8	7–11	—

Notable transactions

May 20, 1973: Mike Epstein, Rich Hand and Rick Stelmaszek were traded by the Rangers to the California Angels for Jim Spencer and Lloyd Allen.^[7]
June 5, 1973: David Clyde was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft.^[8]
July 11, 1973: Jim Fregosi was purchased by the Rangers from the New York Mets.^[9]

David Clyde

David Clyde was a high school pitching phenom who was made the number one overall pick in the 1973 June draft. 22 days later, without having played in the minor leagues, Clyde made his MLB debut, the youngest player to play in an MLB game that year. Clyde won his first ever major league start (in front of a sellout crowd at Arlington Stadium, the first sellout in club history) and played in eighteen games (all starts) that season, finishing with a record of 4–8, with a 5.01 ERA.

Roster

1973 Texas Rangers

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

37 Don Castle

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Ken Suarez	93	278	69	.248	1	27
1B	Jim Spencer	102	352	94	.267	4	43
2B	Dave Nelson	142	576	165	.286	7	48
SS	Toby Harrah	118	461	120	.260	10	50
3B	Jim Fregosi	45	157	42	.268	6	16
LF	Rico Carty	86	306	71	.232	3	33
CF	Vic Harris	152	555	138	.249	8	44
RF	Jeff Burroughs	151	526	147	.279	30	85
DH	Alex Johnson	158	624	179	.287	8	68

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Dick Billings	81	280	50	.179	3	32
Larry Biittner	83	258	65	.252	1	12
Jim Mason	93	238	49	.206	3	19
Bill Sudakis	82	235	60	.255	15	43
Elliott Maddox	100	172	41	.238	1	17
Tom Grieve	66	123	38	.309	7	21
Pete Mackanin	44	90	9	.100	0	2
Mike Epstein	27	85	16	.188	1	6
Bill Madlock	21	77	21	.351	1	5
Joe Lovitto	26	44	6	.136	0	0
Lenny Randle	10	29	6	.207	1	1
Don Castle	4	13	4	.308	0	2
Rick Stelmaszek	7	9	1	.111	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jim Bibby	26	180.1	9	10	3.24	155
Sonny Siebert	25	119.2	7	11	3.99	76
Pete Broberg	22	118.2	5	9	5.61	57
David Clyde	18	93.1	4	8	5.01	74
Rich Hand	8	41.2	2	3	5.40	14
Dick Bosman	7	40.1	2	5	4.24	14

Other pitchers