The Greatest Texas Ranger of All Time
This is tougher than it looks because there's no obvious choice. The only Rangers to play more than 1000 games are (in descending order) Rafael Palmeiro, Jim Sundberg, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Toby Harrah, Ruben Sierra and Rusty Greer.
We can pretty easily dismiss Sundberg from consideration; although he was a good catcher, he was nowhere near the catcher that Ivan Rodriguez was. Looking at the sluggers, it's pretty clear that Juan Gone did more for the Rangers than Palmeiro--141 more RBI, 51 more homers. Greer, Harrah and Sierra were good ballplayers, but they're not in the class of Gonzalez and I-Rod.
Pitchers? Charlie Hough, Bobby Witt and Kenny Rogers are the only pitchers to win more than 100 games as a Ranger; Hough with 139 is the leader. It's safe to say that Ivan and Juan are well above the level of the pitchers.
So we're down to a classic slugger versus defensive whiz with solid hitting. Rodriguez is clearly the superior defensive player, so we know Juan has to beat him thoroughly on offense. And, somewhat to my surprise, Gonzalez does just that, which is what makes the selection difficult.
First the basics. Gonzalez and Rodriguez had very similar careers in Texas, overlapping for many years. Rodriguez played 1479 games and had 1723 hits as a Ranger, Gonzalez played 1400 and reached base safely 1595 times. But Gonzalez scored more runs, 878-852, and knocked in far more runs, 1180-829, largely because he out-homered the catcher by 372-215.
This is a very, very tough call. In the end it comes down to who's established his claim on the Hall of Fame.
