Texas Rangers All-Time: Best Players To Wear Numbers 0-9

This week, we are going to start a new series of posts about the best players to ever wear each number for the Texas Rangers. Here’s No. 0-9…

The Texas Rangers have had a lot of players play for them and wear all sorts of different numbers over the years. In fact, they have had 76 of the 100 possible number’s be worn in games over the years.

In order to determine the best player, I will base it off of their career with the Texas Rangers, and take into account the amount of time that they spent with the team, and how good they were while with the team.

So without further ado, let’s meet the first ten players to make this list, representing the single digits!

0-Al Oliver (1978-81)

Oliver was an All-Star in Pittsburgh before being acquired by the Texas Rangers during the 1978 season, and had a terrific four years with the club. Over those four years, he .319 across 534 games, made two All-Star appearances, finished in the top-16 in MVP voting three times, and won two Silver Sluggers for the Rangers.

1-Elvis Andrus (2009-present)

Andrus has been a constant member of the Texas Rangers lineup for well over a decade now, and has had a terrific career, with over 1,700 hits and counting. He is slowly moving his way up the Rangers all-time lists for games, hits, etc., and will likely eventually move into the #1 spot in a few of those lists.

2-Carl Everett (2002-03)

This was a tough decision to make. The Texas Rangers have not really had anyone wear #2 for a long period of time, so I went with Everett based on his 179 games played with the Rangers during his tenure, which included a mid-season trade in 2003. He did make the All-Star game in 2003, although the Rangers had dealt him to the White Sox by that time.

3-Alex Rodriguez (2001-03)

A-Rod was incredible during his three years with the Rangers. Let’s just ignore the reason why he was so good, and look at his numbers. Over his three seasons, he hit .305 and led the MLB in home runs each year. On top of that, he made the All-Star team every year, won three Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves, and finished in the top six of the MVP voting every season, winning it once.

4-Don Slaught (1985-87)

This one was similar to #2, as the Rangers have not really had any really great players wear #4 for the team, so I decided to go with Slaught. Over his three seasons with the team, he appeared in 292 games, hit .260 with 25 home runs, and posted a WAR of 2.

#5-Ian Kinsler (2006-13)

Kinsler made the All-Star team three times with the Texas Rangers, and was an integral part to the teams back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011. With the Rangers, Kinsler hit .273 with 156 home runs.

#6-Tom Grieve (1972-77)

Tom Grieve is a Texas Rangers icon. Over the course of his time as #6, he hit .255 with 60 home runs for the Texas Rangers, and has eventually gone on to be the Rangers’s General Manager for a brief amount of time, and a member of the team’s TV broadcast team on Fox Sports Southwest.