We all love lists. Lists are fun. They create discussion and debate. Who doesn’t love a good list? I could ask my friends to name their top five greatest guitar players and the number one response will almost always be different. One would say Jimi Hendrix. Another would say Steve Vai. Me, personally, I say Stevie Ray Vaughan is the greatest ever.

 

With Adrian Beltre’s retirement I had mulled over doing a list of the all-time greatest Texas Rangers third basemen. However, after doing research on the internet, I realized that a lot of local bloggers and members of the media had already published several on the subject. I didn’t want to do another cookie cutter piece so I decided to take it to the next level and list my all-time Texas Rangers team. For this I picked infielders and outfielders with reserves. I also chose three starting pitchers and three relief pitchers.

 

This being an opinion piece I did choose some factors like playing time which is why you won’t see Ferguson Jenkins on the list. I also chose personal reasons which is why the Rangers all-time saves leader, John Wetteland, didn’t make the cut. If his name is ever cleared from child sexual abuse charges I will reconsider him.

 

With that being said here is my list.

 

INFIELD

 

1B: Rafael Palmeiro (Reserve: Pete O’Brien)

2B: Michael Young (Reserve: Julio Franco)

3B: Adrian Beltre (Reserve: Buddy Bell)

SS: Alex Rodriguez (Reserve: Elvis Andrus)

C: Ivan Rodriguez (Reserve: Jim Sundberg)

DH: Mickey Tettleton (Reserve: Larry Parrish)

 

OUTFIELD

 

Juan Gonzalez

Josh Hamilton

Ruben Sierra

(Reserves: Rusty Greer, Jeff Burroughs, Nelson Cruz)

 

STARTERS

 

Nolan Ryan

Kevin Brown

Charlie Hough

 

RELIEVERS

 

Neftali Feliz

Jeff Russell

Tom Henke

 

Now I know that nobody will 100% agree with me and that is the greatness of the list. Feel free to leave comments with your personal choices. Until next time, I’ll see you in the cheap seats!

 

James Holland is a contributing writer for Dallas Sports Fanatic. He is a lifelong fan of baseball and his hometown Texas Rangers. He has previously written for Yahoo! Sports and shutdowninning.com.