TEXAS RANGERS SIGN RUBEN SIERRA TO OKLAHOMA CONTRACT; WILL JOIN REDHAWKS ON TUESDAY
FOR RELEASE: 6:00 p.m. (CDT), Monday, May 1, 2000
The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has signed outfielder Ruben Sierra to a contract with Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League.
Sierra, 34, will join the Redhawks on Tuesday in Iowa.
A four-time selection as the Texas Rangers Player of the Year, Sierra was playing for Cancun in the class AAA Mexican League where he batted .355 with three homers and 12 rbi in 16 games. He was a non-roster invitee in the Cleveland Indians major league spring training camp before being released in late March.
“Ruben was very persistent in wanting to get another opportunity with the Texas Rangers organization,” commented General Manager Doug Melvin. “We feel this is a low-risk situation and we’ll evaluate him on the triple-A level over the next couple of weeks..”
Sierra has a career major league average of .269 with 239 homers and 1041 rbi in 1662 games with Texas (1986-92), Oakland (1992-95), New York Yankees (1995-96), Detroit (1996), Cincinnati (1997), Toronto (1997), and the Chicago White Sox (1998). He spent 1999 with Atlantic City in the Independent Atlantic League, batting .294 with 28 homers and 82 rbi in 112 games.
The switch-hitter has a .280 career average with 153 homers and 657 rbi in 1,033 games with Texas. He is the Rangers’ all-time leaders in triples (43), ranks second in rbi, places third in doubles (226), extra base hits (422), and total bases (1903), and ranks fourth in hits (1,132) and homers (153-tied). Sierra was selected as the A.L. Player of the Year by The Sporting News in 1989 when he led the league with 119 rbi and a club record 14 triples. He was the Rangers Player of the Year in 1987-88-89 and 1991. Sierra has appeared in four All-Star Games with 100 or more rbi four times.
His last major league action was with the White Sox in 1998 when he batted .216 with four homers and 11 rbi in 27 games.