Rangers History Today: Former Owner Brad Corbett Passes Away

Brad Corbett was the Rangers' second owner, and his tenure with Texas was never boring.

On this date in Texas Rangers history, former Texas Rangers owner Brad Corbett passed away.

On Dec. 24, 2012, Corbett died at the age of 75.

If the Rangers’ original owner, Bob Short, was a sports lifer—he owned the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, the Texas Rangers and attempted a move to buy the San Francisco Giants at various points—Corbett was an aggressive maverick who bought the Rangers from Short for $9.5 million on May 29, 1974.

Short was a lawyer and businessman. Corbett was an oilman who made his money in piping, and Corbett managed the Rangers like he was trying to find the next Spindletop.

The Rangers did have success, finishing second in the American League West during his ownership. He used free agency as a tool to try and improve the team, signing established players like Bert Campaneris, Doyle Alexander, Doc Medich, Richie Zisk and Mike Jorgensen. He also authorized trades for players like Bobby Bonds, Al Oliver and Jon Matlack.

He also traded away three future Hall of Fame pitchers in Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry and Bert Blyleven. He also famously consummated a trade with Cleveland executive Gabe Paul at a Fort Worth restaurant. Of course, the trade went down in the restaurant’s restroom while both were standing at their respective urinals, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

He also became one of the many team owners to fire Billy Martin, who was the manager Short inherited in 1974. In a precursor of the days when Martin would infamously clash with then-Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Martin once told Short that "you know as much about baseball as I do about pipe.”

In a period of two weeks in 1977, the Rangers had four managers in two weeks but still won 94 games. That mark held as the most wins in a season until 1999.

Corbett sold the team to another local oilman, Eddie Chiles, in 1980. Former Rangers catcher Jim Sundberg remembered Corbett fondly in an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"I loved Brad Corbett as a friend and as an owner," Sundberg said. "He loved baseball, he wanted to win and he was great to us."

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