Joe Shlabotnik Lives! Rangers All-Time Non-Stars Pt. 1

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Charlie Brown’s favorite baseball player was Joe Shlabotnik. We don’t know who Joe played for, but because he was Charlie Brown’s favorite player, we knew he couldn’t be any good.

This blog is for Charlie Brown-type Rangers fans. When it comes to the Rangers (and the Senators before them), they are your team, through thick and thin. Every Ranger is your player and you treat them as if they were an All-Star. Through the years, you eventually find out they weren’t quite as good as you remember them, but you cheered whenever they knocked in a run, stole a base, or notched a W and it gave you hope they would do the same the next time they were in the line-up.

The Rangers/Senators have had a lot of All-Stars through the years and some very good players that played on not so good teams. But if there are some not-so-good teams, that must mean there were some very average players at best.

So, for you die-hards, off days in the schedule will be days to honor the Joe Shlabotniks in Rangers/Senators history- the working-guy type talents that we nonetheless rooted for every night.

There are criteria. First, they player had to have been with the Rangers/Senators for at least three seasons, thus eliminating the Doug Stranges and Pepe Friases of the world. And they couldn’t be small-time bench players, either. These are true Joe Shlabotniks- everyday players with some 400 at bats every year for at least two of the minimum three seasons they were with the franchise, yet we barely remember them when thinking back over the years.

The first Shlabotnik Award winner will be named right here on April 13th or 14th.

In the meantime, tonight it’s the Blue Jays and Rich Harden making his Rangers debut. Can’t imagine anything more dramatic than the opener, so I’ll be happy with us giving the Blue Jays an old-fashioned butt-kicking!