411 REFERENCE · Wikipedia
1989 Texas Rangers season
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
March 2026
November 2013
Texas Rangers 1989 American League West Arlington Stadium Arlington, Texas 83 79 y 4th George W. Bush Tom Grieve Bobby Valentine KTVT(Bob Carpenter, Steve Busby)HSE(Greg Lucas, Norm Hitzges, Merle Harmon) WBAP(Eric Nadel, Mark Holtz )
The 1989 Texas Rangers season was the 29th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 18th in Arlington as the Rangers, and the 18th season at Arlington Stadium. The Rangers finished fourth in the American League West with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses. Nolan Ryan would achieve his 5,000th career strikeout during the season. He would finish as the American League leader in strikeouts.
This season, the Rangers were sold to a new ownership group; the managing partner was future Governor of Texas and United States President George W. Bush.
Offseason
October 11, 1988: Guy Hoffman was released by the Rangers.Guy Hoffman at Baseball Reference
December 5, 1988: Paul Kilgus, Mitch Williams, Curtis Wilkerson, Steve Wilson, Luis Benitez (minors) and Pablo Delgado (minors) were traded by the Rangers to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Rafael Palmeiro, Jamie Moyer and Drew Hall.Paul Kilgus at Baseball Reference
December 5, 1988: Bobby Meacham was traded by the New York Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Bob Brower. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/meachbo01.shtml Bobby Beacham: Career Statistics Baseball Reference 14 March 2018
December 6, 1988: Pete O'Brien, Oddibe McDowell, and Jerry Browne were traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Julio Franco.Julio Franco at Baseball Reference
December 7, 1988: Nolan Ryan was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.Nolan Ryan at Baseball Reference
January 6, 1989: Cecilio Guante was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.Cecilio Guante at Baseball Reference
January 6, 1989: Jim Sundberg was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.Jim Sundberg at Baseball Reference
January 23, 1989: Rick Leach was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.Rick Leach at Baseball Reference
Regular season
June 16, 1989: Sammy Sosa made his major league debut in a game against the New York Yankees.Sammy Sosa at Baseball Reference In four at-bats, Sosa appeared in 4 at-bats and had 2 hits.
August 22, 1989: Against the eventual World Champion Oakland A's, Ryan became the first pitcher ever to record 5,000 career strikeouts. He struck out Rickey Henderson in the fifth inning to break the 5,000 barrier. http://www.smackbomb.com/nolanryan/strikeouts.html The Nolan Ryan Express The Strikeout King smackbomb.com/nolanryan July 28, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20110716092407/http://www.smackbomb.com/nolanryan/strikeouts.html July 16, 2011 dead mdy-all
September 12, 1989: Nolan Ryan threw 164 pitches before he was replaced on the mound by Kenny Rogers in the ninth inning. The Rangers lost the game, 6–5, to the Kansas City Royals.
Rubén Sierra had a career year as he led the AL in triples and RBI but ranked 6th in home runs (29), third in runs scored (101) and 5th in hits (194). He set the club record for most total bases in a season (344), which also led the league.
Season standings
Texas Rangers
Record vs. opponents
TEX
Notable transactions
July 29, 1989: Sammy Sosa, Wilson Álvarez, and Scott Fletcher were traded by the Rangers to the Chicago White Sox for Harold Baines and Fred Manrique.
Roster
1989 Texas Rangers Roster Pitchers
24 Darrel Akerfelds
43 Wilson Álvarez
28 Brad Arnsberg
27 John Barfield
41 Kevin Brown
51 Cecilio Guante
44 Drew Hall
49 Charlie Hough
30 Mike Jeffcoat
38 Craig McMurtry
50 Gary Mielke
39 Jamie Moyer
37 Kenny Rogers
40 Jeff Russell
34 Nolan Ryan
54 Paul Wilmet
36 Bobby Witt Catchers
7 Chad Kreuter
12 Geno Petralli
5 Mike Stanley
10 Jim Sundberg
Infielders
25 Buddy Bell
22 Steve Buechele
42 Scott Coolbaugh
8 Jack Daugherty
1 Scott Fletcher
14 Julio Franco
20 Jeff Kunkel
17 Fred Manrique
3 Rafael Palmeiro
16 Dean Palmer Outfielders
13 Harold Baines
19,32 Thad Bosley
6 Cecil Espy
13,19 Juan González
29 Pete Incaviglia
9 Rick Leach
21 Rubén Sierra
17 Sammy Sosa
19 Jeff Stone
Other batters
47 Kevin Reimer Manager
2 Bobby Valentine
Coaches
52 Dick Egan (Bullpen)
11 Toby Harrah (First Base)
35 Tom House (Pitching)
15 Davey Lopes (Bench)
26 Dave Oliver (Third Base)
31 Tom Robson (Hitting)
Player stats
Batting
= Indicates team leader
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 Chad Kreuter 87 158 24 .152 5 9 1B Rafael Palmeiro 156 559 154 .275 8 64 2B Julio Franco 150 548 173 .316 13 92 3B Steve Buechele 155 486 114 .235 16 59 SS Scott Fletcher 83 314 75 .239 0 22 LF Pete Incaviglia 133 453 107 .236 21 81 CF Cecil Espy 142 275 122 .257 3 31 RF Rubén Sierra 162 634 194 .306 29 119 DH Harold Baines 50 172 49 .285 3 16
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 Jeff Kunkel 108 293 79 .270 8 29 Rick Leach 110 239 65 .272 1 23 Fred Manrique 54 191 55 .288 2 22 Geno Petralli 70 184 56 .304 4 23 Jim Sundberg 76 147 29 .197 2 8 Mike Stanley 67 122 30 .246 1 11 Jack Daugherty 52 106 32 .302 1 10 Sammy Sosa 25 84 20 .238 1 3 Buddy Bell 34 82 15 .183 0 3 Juan González 24 60 9 .150 1 7 Scott Coolbaugh 25 51 14 .275 2 7 Thad Bosley 37 40 9 .225 1 9 Jeff Stone 22 36 6 .167 0 5 Dean Palmer 16 19 2 .105 0 1 Kevin Reimer 3 5 0 .000 0 0
Pitching
= Indicates league leader
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 Nolan Ryan 32 239.1 16 10 3.20 301 Bobby Witt 31 194.1 12 13 5.14 166 Kevin Brown 28 191.0 12 9 3.35 104 Charlie Hough 30 182.0 10 13 4.35 94 Mike Jeffcoat 22 130.2 9 6 3.58 64 Jamie Moyer 15 76.0 4 9 4.86 44 Wilson Álvarez 1 0.0 0 1 inf 0
Other 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 John Barfield 4 11.2 0 1 6.17 9
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player G W L SV ERA SO Jeff Russell 71 6 4 38 1.98 77 Kenny Rogers 73 3 4 2 2.93 63 Cecilio Guante 50 6 6 2 3.91 69 Gary Mielke 43 1 0 1 3.26 26 Drew Hall 38 2 1 0 3.70 45 Craig McMurtry 19 0 0 0 7.43 14 Brad Arnsberg 16 2 1 1 4.13 26 Darrel Akerfelds 6 0 1 0 3.27 9 Paul Wilmet 3 0 0 0 15.43 1 Jeff Kunkel 1 0 0 0 21.60 0
Awards and honors
Julio Franco, Silver Slugger Award, 1989
Jeff Russell, Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award 1989
Nolan Ryan, American League Leader Strikeouts (301)
Rubén Sierra, Silver Slugger Award, 1989
Rubén Sierra, American League Leader, Triples (14)
Rubén Sierra, American League Leader, RBI (119)
Rubén Sierra, American League Leader, Total Bases (344)
All-Star Game
Julio Franco, second baseman, starter
Rubén Sierra, outfield, starter
Nolan Ryan, pitcher, reserve
Jeff Russell, relief pitcher, reserve
Farm system
Minor League Baseball
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers American Association Jim Skaalen AA Tulsa Drillers Texas League Tommy Thompson A Charlotte Rangers Florida State League Bobby Jones A Gastonia Rangers South Atlantic League Orlando Gómez Rookie GCL Rangers Gulf Coast League Chino Cadahia Rookie Butte Copper Kings Pioneer League Bump Wills
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charlotte
References
30em
1989 Texas Rangers at Baseball Reference
1989 Texas Rangers at Baseball Almanac
Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 3rd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 2007 978-1-932391-17-6
Category:Texas Rangers seasons
Texas Rangers seasons
Category:1989 in sports in Texas