Give-up.
Adrian was back in the lineup and Joey was still in the lineup and that was good but there was more that was bad and there’s not much more I want to say about Tampa Bay 10, Texas 8, a particularly bad loss in a sport in which losses are part of the bargain but some are just a little more frustrating.
Instead, here’s a three-year-old report offering one assessment of the best player the Rangers have ever drafted in each still-existent round (though Jose Trevino [6th/2014] and Scott Heineman [11th/2015]) would like to serve notice). This year’s draft is in 13 days.
And below are two Rangers trivia quizzes I put together for Rangers Fan Fest in 2011, a couple weeks after Texas (dashed by Cliff Lee) signed Adrian, a few days before the club first acquired catcher-first baseman Mike Napoli, and 17 months before the Rangers used the 39th overall pick and a bunch of over-slot cash to take Joey.
Do with it what you’d like, but no need to respond with your answers because I won’t take the time to look at them. I’ll probably email the answers out (at least those that were correct in January 2011) later this week.
Oh, wait. I put together two quizzes for the following year’s Fan Fest, too. They’re also below.
I’d suggest you give the quizzes a shot without Google, but really, do what you want.
And I didn’t take the time to look over the questions to see if the intervening six-and-a-half and five-and-a-half years might have made any of them moot, or changed the answers, because I have only so much big league baseball life-force this morning, although I expect I’ll at least get to the end of this sentence and then be able to CTRL-V the four quizzes below it.
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1. On June 12, 1997, Texas played the first interleague regular season game in big league history. Who was the opponent?
____________________________________
2. Twice the Rangers have traded one future big league manager for another future big league manager, straight up. What were the two trades?
a. ______________________________ for ______________________________
b. ______________________________ for ______________________________
3. Name the two Rangers who hit inside-the-park home runs on consecutive at-bats.
a. ___________________________________
b. ___________________________________
4. Name the pitcher they hit them off of. (Note: He would later pitch for the Rangers.)
______________________________________
5. Four of the five oldest players to appear in the big leagues since 1990 have been Rangers at some point in their careers. Name the four.
a. ___________________________________
b. ___________________________________
c. ___________________________________
d. ___________________________________
6. In his career, Ruben Sierra was traded for six players. Two never got out of the minor leagues. The other four each hit at least 100 big league home runs. Two played for Texas. Name them.
a. ___________________________________
b. ___________________________________
7. Although it wasn’t one of the Rangers’ four playoff teams, the 1977 club won 94 games, second most in franchise history. Yet that team had four different managers. Name them.
a. ___________________________________
b. ___________________________________
c. ___________________________________
d. ___________________________________
8. The Rangers once traded one future big league pitching coach for another future big league pitching coach. Name them. (Hint: The Rangers also received a player to be named later, who played at the University of Texas.)
______________________________ for ______________________________
9. What former Ranger is the only player in baseball history to hold the single-season home run record for a team he only played one season for? (Note: He didn’t set the record while with Texas.)
___________________________________
10. First baseman Willie Montanez was a part of three different trades involving the Rangers — one that involved a future Hall of Famer; a second that involved a future Hall of Famer and a future GM; and a third that involved a future GM and a future big league manager. Name those other players. (Note: The trades are not necessarily in chronological order, and there were other players involved besides the above:
a. FUTURE HOF’er: ______________________
b. FUTURE HOF’er & GM: ______________________ & ______________________
c. FUTURE GM & MANAGER: ______________________ & ______________________
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Identify as many of the active and former Rangers players and executives to which these numbers are connected as you can. (NOTE: (1) Uniform numbers are not acceptable answers; and (2) there is one [and only one] player who is the answer to more than one of the questions.)
1. ______________________ 25–12, 2.82
2. ______________________ .359
3. ______________________ 28 years, 41 days
4. ______________________ 28
5. ______________________ .319
6. ______________________ 5 years, $65 million
7. ______________________ 1.57
8. ______________________ 157
9. ______________________ 57
10. ______________________ 5714
11. ______________________ .436
12. ______________________ 185
13. ______________________ 17th round (two acceptable answers)
14. ______________________ 52
15. ______________________ $3.96 million
16. ______________________ 96/12 (143/14 including playoffs)
17. ______________________ 1848
18. ______________________ 490 feet
TIE-BREAKER QUESTION: There are three former college quarterbacks who played for the Rangers in the ’00s. Name two.
______________________ & ______________________
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Name the former Rangers big leaguer born in:
Afghanistan __________________ Aruba __________________
Curacao __________________ Germany __________________
New Brunswick __________________ Nicaragua __________________
Nova Scotia __________________ Virgin Islands __________________
Netherlands/Holland (1) __________________ (2) __________________
Panama (1) __________________ (2) __________________
(3) __________________ (4) __________________
(5) __________________
Name the two father/son combinations who played in big leagues with Texas:
__________________ and __________________
__________________ and __________________
Name the two brothers and a second cousin (two coaches and a player) who were with Texas in the big leagues:
__________________ and __________________ and __________________
There is a first name that only four players in big league history have had. All four played for Texas.
__________________ and __________________
__________________ and __________________
Four current big league managers suited up as players for the Rangers — one with the big league club, two with minor league clubs, one in big league spring training only
__________________ and __________________
__________________ and __________________
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Four players have had three different stints with the Rangers (that is, they had time with other organizations in between each Texas stint). Name them.
__________________ __________________ __________________ __________________
One coach has had four different stints with the Rangers. Name him.
__________________
This former Ranger had 24 fingers and toes.
__________________
Five former Rangers had last names ending in “___owell.” Name them.
__________________ __________________ __________________
__________________ __________________
There is one existing big league franchise that the Rangers have never made a trade with. Name it. [no longer true]
__________________
At least five former players who played in the big leagues with Texas now work for Scott Boras. Name them.
__________________ __________________ __________________
__________________ __________________
Two other Boras soldiers were minor leaguers with the Rangers. Name them.
__________________ __________________
He’s played in more than 1,000 big league games and stolen more than 300 bases and had two different stints in the Rangers’ farm system without ever reaching the big leagues in Texas. Name him.
__________________
Bill Madlock, Vic Harris, Juan Beniquez, Steve Barr, Craig Skok, and John Poloni: What does this list of players represent?
_______________________________________________________________________