Editing Texas Rangers (baseball) (section)

====First years in Texas (1972–1984)====
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[[File:Arlington Stadium 1988.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Arlington Stadium]], home ballpark from 1972 to 1993]]
Prior to the [[1972 Major League Baseball season|1972 season]], improvements were made to Turnpike Stadium, which reopened as [[Arlington Stadium]], in preparation for the inaugural season of the Texas Rangers. The team played its first game on April 15, 1972, a 1–0 loss at the hands of the [[California Angels]], their 1961 expansion cousins. The next day, the Rangers defeated the Angels, 5–1, for the club's first victory.

[[File:Jim Sundberg 1974.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Jim Sundberg]], catcher during 1974–1983 and 1988–1989]]
In 1974, the Rangers experienced their first winning season after finishing last in both 1972 and 1973. Under the ownership of [[Brad Corbett]], they finished second in the American League West with an 84–76 record, behind the eventual [[World Series]] champion [[Oakland Athletics]]. The [[1974 Texas Rangers season|1974 Rangers]] are still the only MLB team to finish above .500 after two consecutive 100-loss seasons. [[Mike Hargrove]] was awarded [[American League Rookie of the Year]], [[Billy Martin]] was named [[AL Manager of the Year]], [[Jeff Burroughs]] won [[AL MVP]], and [[Ferguson Jenkins]] was named the [[Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award|Comeback Player of the Year]] after winning 25 games, a club record to this day. The team posted winning records again from 1977 to 1979 but fell short of reaching the playoffs. The Rangers came very close to clinching a playoff spot in 1981, but wound up losing the first half of the AL West by one-and-a-half games to Oakland at the time of the [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|players' strike]]. Texas went on to finish under .500 each season through 1985.

The Rangers faced an attendance problem for a few years in Texas, due in part to both the team's inconsistent performance and the oppressive heat and humidity that can encompass the area in the summer. Until the [[Florida Marlins]] arrived in 1993, Arlington Stadium was often the hottest stadium in the majors, with temperatures frequently topping {{convert|100|F|C}} throughout the summer. So the Rangers began playing most of their weekend games between May and September at night, a tradition that continued for years.