Thomas Ragland (born June 16, 1946) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player who appeared in 102 games in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, mostly as a second baseman, for the Washington Senators / Texas Rangers from to , and the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

in 1973. He also played for seven different minor league clubs in parts of nine seasons spanning 1965–1974. Born in

Talladega, Alabama Talladega (, also ) is the county seat of Talladega County, Alabama, United States. It was incorporated in 1835. At the 2020 census, the population was 15,861. Talladega is approximately east of one of the state’s biggest cities, Birmingham. ...

, and raised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, where he graduated from Northern High School, Ragland threw and batted right-handed, stood and weighed . His professional baseball career began when he was selected by Washington in the 15th round of the first-ever amateur draft. He would not reach the

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Senators until 1971, when he had early and late season auditions for the team, which was playing its final season in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. In 1972, the club's first year as the Texas Rangers, Ragland spent the first four months of the campaign at Triple-A

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

before his recall in late July. He appeared in 25 games through the end of the year, struggling at bat, collecting only ten hits. On November 30, 1972, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians for

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Vince Colbert. He spent the full 1973 season with Cleveland, appearing in 67 games and starting 50 as the club's second baseman. He batted a respectable .257 with 47 hits. But during the off-season, his contract was sold to the Houston Astros' organization. With the veteran

Tommy Helms Tommy Vann Helms (born May 5, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. Over a 14-year Major League Baseball career (–), Helms played for four teams, including eight seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, four with the Ho ...

entrenched at second base, Ragland played the entire year back at Triple-A Denver before retiring from the field. In his 102 MLB games, Ragland collected 61 total hits, with nine doubles and one

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

. He was credited with 14

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

and batted .231 lifetime. He returned to the Detroit area, where he worked for a local milk-processing plant and scouted for the Texas Rangers. He's a member of the Detroit High School Hall of Fame.LeMoine, Bob, ''Tom Ragland,''

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

Biography Project

References

External links

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1946 births Living people African-American baseball players Baseball players from Alabama Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Burlington Senators players Cleveland Indians players Denver Bears players Geneva Senators players High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms players Major League Baseball second basemen People from Talladega, Alabama Baseball players from Detroit Texas Rangers players Texas Rangers scouts Washington Senators (1961–1971) players Wytheville Senators players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{US-baseball-second-baseman-stub