The Rangers easily clinched the AL West with a 97-65 record and a 10-game lead over the 2nd place Royals. Texas, leading the division by 10 or more games for all of August and September, were able to put the team into cruise control and get extra playing time for some of their younger players and minor league vets.

The AL East was not so easily decided however, and resulted in a 3-way tie between Detroit, New York, and Milwaukee. Milwaukee won the 3-way playoff and will take on the...

In 1946, on the day that Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig took off his Red Sox jersey for the last time... two things were certain. One, the single greatest ballplayer ever to step into a batter's box was gone. And two, that his Career totals of 4014 hits and 730 Home Runs would never EVER be caught, much less broken.

That same year, an upstart left fielder named Stan Musial was traded from his Chicago Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies... that year, he would hit .370, and rack up 209 hits....

With a commanding lead and wishing to solidify their switch hitting ability, the Rangers acquired 35-year old 1B Wes "Mr. Steady" Parker and CL Monty Montgomery for promising young 1B Tommy Bianco and MR Ken Tatum.

Says Riley Payton, "We admire Wes for his consistency and skills. He swings a great bat for a switch hitter and can help us at 1B and a little bit at other position. He really gives us the ability to matchup and create more clever lineups."

The Rangers have pushed their record to 72-33 and are currently 16 games ahead of second place Oakland in the AL West.

The resounding success has come because of remarkable contributions turned in by the pitching staff. Nolan Ryan (10-10, 2.65 ERA), all-star Jon Matlack (16-3, 1.96 ERA), Bill Stoneman (12-5, 2.97 ERA) and Randy Jones (14-7, 2.98 ERA) have all turned in convincing performances this year to pace the Rangers. Potential MVP OF Ben Oglivie has powered the Texas offense...

The Blue Claws and the Federals seem to be going in opposite directions as we head to the end of June. Washington (42-36) the winner of 4 straight and 7 of there last 10 made easy work of the falling Blue Claws (38-40). Blue Claws now losers of 4 straight and 4-6 in their last 10.

Like the night before Baltimore is blank in Washington by the same score 5-0.
Only offense from the Blue Claws were singles from Amador and McCarthy. In fact the...