Senators Saturday - Claude Osteen, 1963.

Claude Osteen had a pretty good season in 1962 and was looking to build on it in 1963. He was able to do that and lock himself into the Senators starting rotation.

Osteen, shown here on card 374 of the 1963 Topps set, appeared in 40 games. That was second only to reliever Ron Kline. 29 of those appearances were starts, the most on the club. In a team best 212.1 innings pitched Gomer managed to drop his ERA to 3.35. That was a little odd since his WHIP rose to 1.382. He also struck out 109 batters.

Claude Osteen was the workhorse of the Washington pitching staff in 1963. He was also one of the best pitchers on the team and one of their few bright spots. It is a testament to the support he received that he ended the year with a 9-14 record.

Decisions: Trading Loaiza.

On July 17, 1998 the Rangers traded Warren Morris and Todd Van Poppel to the Pirates. In return they got pitcher Esteban Loaiza. Loaiza, shown here on card 485 of the 1999 Fleer Tradition set, lasted with Texas until July 19, 2000. On that date the Rangers traded him to the Blue Jays.

While with Texas, Esteban Loaiza never had an ERA under 4.50. His highest season win total was nine games. Not exactly a barn-burner.

In return for Loaiza, Toronto sent two players to Texas. The first was pitcher Darwin Cubillan. Darwin's Texas experience was a train wreck. In 17.2 innings pitched he posted a 10.70 ERA. In May of 2001 Texas sent him to Montreal.

The second player that the Rangers picked up in the trade was Double A middle infielder named Michael Young. Mike arrived in Arlington for good in 2001 and hasn't looked back. Eleven years later he is the steady veteran presence on the team. He is currently in the top ten for the franchise all time in batting average (.304), total bases (3,060), home runs (169), RBI (917), walks (499), and stolen base percentage (75.65%) . He holds the franchise records for games played (7,396), at-bats (6,788), plate appearances (7,396), runs scored (1,006), hits (2,061), doubles (388), triples (52), and singles (1,452). He's also been an All-Star seven times and has one Gold Glove to his credit.

Clearly the Michael Young trade helped make the Rangers what they are today. He's had an impact far above what Texas gave up to get him in 2000.

New guys (and gals).

So, with back-to-back American League championships under their belt the Rangers are down to the last few days of Spring Training. Being the defending A.L. Champs makes things a little different. Having a shot at reaching the postseason again makes things a lot different.

One of the things that's different are the fans. There's more of them than there was just four or five years ago. Five thousand plus were at last night's game against the Royals. Spring Training game. That's different. Not bad, just different.

Going to take a bit of getting used to, the new folks. Not that I mind them, there's lots of good things that come from new fans. Excitement, camaraderie, money. Yeah, enough to lock players down, enough to get Darvish. Nice feeling.

If you're a recently arriving Rangers fan let me take this opportunity to say welcome to the camp. Hopefully the ride goes on for awhile and you get permanently hooked on the team.

Just one thing, give us lifetime fans a little room sometimes. Not the whole bus but at least a seat every once in awhile. It's been a long ride and we're glad to have you aboard for the climax but give us a little credit. Do you remember Brad Arnsberg? Did you send him his 1991 Fleer card and ask him to sign it? We do and we did.

Not that we remember Brad because he was a superstar. He was a Ranger. So were Curt Wilkerson, Jeff Kunkle, Dewayne Henry, Danny Patterson, and Greg Harris. None were a player to build a team around but they were our guys. They didn't win a lot but we lived and died with them anyway.

It's great to have the new powerhouse in the American League and all the new fans that go along with it. Hopefully they want to learn about the guys I remember from the long dry years, just like I am still soaking up information about Joe Lovitto, Jim Kern, Lenny Randle, and their compatriots.

Odd Moments: Fired manager working.

Today's odd moment actually took place over three days in July of 1982. Don Zimmer, looking dour here on card 195 of the 1982 Donruss set, was the Rangers manager at the start of the 1982 season. On July 26th owner Eddie Chiles notified Zimmer that he was fired.

Firing a manager is not all that unusual. Where the story starts to take a turn is when Chiles asked Zimmer to stay on until he could name a replacement. Apparently Chiles was having trouble deciding if he should name Darrell Johnson or Fred Koenig to replace Zimmer. Both were coaches with the team. Johnson got the job. Reportedly he got the nod because Koenig had recently gotten an accidental black eye and Chiles didn't think that would look good on TV.

Don managed three more games before the official announcement of his firing on the 28th. During that time rumors began to surface about Zimmer's firing. Chiles denied them. Following the team's loss to the Brewers on the 28th Chiles and Zimmer met with the media. With Zimmer sitting next to him, Chiles announced the firing. He then said that, "Don didn't do anything wrong. He's my friend, and I hope I'm his friend." Zimmer spent the time looking at the ceiling. When asked if he understood why he had been fired Zimmer replied, "No. Hell no. He (Chiles) says he understands, but I don't."

Apparently Zimmer wasn't the only person who didn't understand. Newly minted manager Darrell Johnson immediately told the media that he planned no wholesale changes to the team. Speaking to reporters Johnson said, "I never saw a thing that Zimmy did that I thought was wrong. I have no magic wand to wave."

Maybe Eddie Chiles knew why he fired Zimmer but it was apparent that nobody at the field level knew why. Two things are certain though. One is that Darrell Johnson had no magic wand, he would lead the team to a 26-40 record for the rest of the season. The second thing is that the situation was most unusual from start to finish.

1975 Topps - Jim Sundberg.

1975 Topps card number 567 is Jim Sunberg's first card. He had played for Texas in 1974 and had impressed. 1975 would be his sophomore season and he was out to prove that he wasn't a flash in the pan.

Unfortunately Sunny fell victim to the dreaded Sophomore Slump. In 540 plate appearances he batted just .199. His on-base percentage was only .238. One of Jim's problems was that his walks dropped to 51 while his strikeouts rose to 77. He also seemed to struggle a bit with his power as he hit nine doubles (four less than the previous season), no triples, and six home runs. A small bright spot was that one of those homers came on his birthday.

Defense was a whole other matter. In 1,316 innings behind the plate Jim posted a .981 fielding percentage. While that was two points lower than the league average he still finished second to Thurman Munson for a Gold Glove. That was probably due to his arm. Jim picked seven runners off first and one off second and third during the season. He also caught 65 would-be base thieves for a 46% caught stealing percentage. That was a good eight points above the league average.

The Rangers had confidence in Jim Sundberg. Enough confidence that they played him in 155 games - a number that tied the American League record for catchers. Sunny's glove and arm were what inspired most of the confidence but the team seemed certain that his bat would return in 1976. If it did then it appeared that Texas had found their backstop of the future.

Tragedy.

So I noticed this morning that an old post from November of last year was garnering some interest. Apparently several folks had found it by searching for James Hvizda. Not that unusual, sometimes family members or even former players themselves do searches. Then a reader left a comment on my earlier post that made me do my own search.

From what I can tell, Jim Hvizda, the same one shown here on card 25 of the 1989 South Atlantic League All-Stars set, allegedly stabbed his wife to death yesterday in Pennsylvania. After reading the criminal complaint and looking at pictures I am pretty sure it's the same guy. Facial features look the same. Pennsylvania is the correct state. The date of birth matches. What a shocker.

From what I can tell, this tragedy is the end result of a violent relationship. The victim had obtained a restraining order on Jim. She then agreed to meet with him. He apparently came to the meeting with the intent of killing her.

Unfortunately this type of pattern isn't rare in domestic violence relationships. This time it was fatal. Now a community is reeling, a woman has lost her life, and four children are without a mother or father.

As a person who deals regularly on a professional level with domestic violence let me take this opportunity to urge everyone to take these situations seriously. If you or someone you know or love is in a violent relationship, take action. Don't ignore it and don't underestimate the danger. There's no reason that any person should have to live in fear of a loved one or die at their hands.

Senators Saturday - Don Leppert, 1963.

1963 was Don Leppert's first season with the Washington Senators. In December of 1962 the Senators had picked him up from Pittsburgh in exchange for a career minor leaguer. That's why he appears in his Pirates uniform on card number 243 of the 1963 Topps set.

Leppert and Ken Retzer platooned behind the plate with Retzer getting more playing time. Don still managed to appear in 73 games and actually got named to the All-Star game as a reserve. He didn't play but at least he got named to the team.

In the 477.1 innings Leppert played behind the plate he committed five errors for a .984 fielding percentage. That was just five points shy of the league average. Apparently he had trouble handing runners though as he threw out just 14% of those attempting to steal on him.

On offense Don made 234 trips to the plate and posted a .237 average. Thanks to his 20 walks his on-base percentage managed to get up to .305. In spite of striking out nine times more than he walked, Don really didn't have much power. He hit just six long balls and 11 doubles.

Despite being named to the All-Star team, 1963 had been a let down season for Don Leppert. His batting average and on-base percentage had both fallen from the previous season even though his playing time had increased. He had also seen his fielding percentage and runners caught stealing percentage fall. If Don wanted to stick with Washington he would need to step up his game all around for 1964.