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The Rangers are an American baseball franchise based in Arlington, Texas. They are members of the American League West division. The Rangers franchise was formed in 1961, then called the Washington Senators, as a member of the American League. In its 53-year history, the Texas Rangers baseball franchise of Major League Baseball's American League has employed 24 managers. The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field.
Mickey Vernon became the first manager of the Texas Rangers in 1961, serving for just over two seasons. Ron Washington has managed more games and seasons than any other manager in Rangers history. Before 2010, the only Rangers manager to have led the team to the playoffs was Johnny Oates, who also won the 1996 Manager of the Year Award with the Rangers. Ted Williams is the only Rangers manager to have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; Whitey Herzog, who was elected to the Hall in 2009 and will be inducted in July 2010, will become the only Rangers manager to earn induction as a manager (Williams was inducted for his playing career).
In 1963, manager Mickey Vernon was fired and replaced by interim manager Eddie Yost. One game later, Yost was replaced by Gil Hodges. In 1973, Whitey Herzog was replaced by Del Wilber. One game later, Billy Martin took over the role of manager. In 1975, Frank Lucchesi took over for Martin in midseason, who in turn was replaced by Eddie Stanky. After six games, Connie Ryan could not finish the season, so Billy Hunter took over the role of manager, only to be fired with one game to go in the 1978 season and replaced by Pat Corrales. In 1982, Don Zimmer was fired as Rangers manager but continued to run the team for three more games before being replaced by Darrell Johnson. Rangers owner Eddie Chiles said the poor play of the Rangers had nothing to do with Zimmer's firing but was instead 'something personal'. In 1985, after Doug Rader led the Rangers to (exact number of seasons) losing seasons, he was replaced by Bobby Valentine, who in turn was replaced by Toby Harrah during midseason. In 2001, Johnny Oates's poor performance forced the Rangers to hire Jerry Narron as his replacement during midseason. Buck Showalter was hired as manager of the Texas Rangers on October 11, 2002, following a last-place season under manager Jerry Narron. Showalter managed the Rangers through the 2006 season, before being fired as manager on October 4, 2006. In November 2006, Ron Washington was hired as manager of the Rangers. He managed the team from 2007 to 2014, longer than any other person in the franchise's history, when he announced his resignation on September 5, 2014. Jeff Banister is currently manager for the Rangers.