Rangers History Today: Power Surge in Chicago

On this date in Texas Rangers history, the Rangers made their first visit to Wrigley Field and the Rangers and the Cubs made a little history.

On June 18, 2002, the Rangers were in a new rotation for interleague play, as they faced teams from the National League Central. The Rangers drew a road trip to the north side of Chicago to face the Cubs, a team they had only previously faced in spring training games.

The ‘Friendly Confines’ also allowed the two teams to assemble power hitters like never before.

The game represented the first time that four players with at least 400 career home runs played in the same game. That included two Rangers and one Cub that had previously been a Ranger. Sammy Sosa, who started his career in Texas, had 475 home runs going into that game. His teammate, Fred McGriff, had 459 home runs. For the Rangers, Juan Gonzalez went into the game sitting on 401 home runs, while Rafael Palmeiro actually connected on a home during that game to hit No. 460 for his career.

If you’re wondering where Alex Rodriguez was in all of this, well, he hadn’t quite reached 400 home runs at the time. He would, in fact, need another three years to reach No. 400, and wouldn’t even be a Rangers player by that point.

So naturally, one of these guys won the game, right? You’d be wrong. Sure, the Cubs won in dramatic fashion, 4-3, with a walk-off home run in the ninth inning. But it wasn’t Sosa or McGriff who did the honors. No, it was shortstop Alex Gonzalez. It was Gonzalez’s sixth home run of the season, and he ended up with 83 home runs in his career.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.