MSL to MLB: Hall of Fame Libertyville Baseball Coach Jim Panther an Original Texas Ranger
His Three Years in Majors Included the Team's Inagural Season in 1972 and Numerous Connections to Baseball Legends
Clayton Moore was the Lone Ranger and Chuck Norris was Walker, Texas Ranger.
But neither of those screen stars can make the claim to fame of retired Libertyville baseball coach Jim Panther as an original member of the Texas Rangers in 1972.
It was Panther’s one full season in the big leagues as a pitcher and the Rangers had just settled in Arlington after the second version of the Washington Senators had an unsuccessful 11-year run in the nation’s capitol.
In 2011, it was fun to catch up with Panther about his Texas experience when the Rangers were in the World Series for a second consecutive year. With the Rangers back in the American League Championship Series and currently tied at 2-2 with the Astros (and ultimately winning in seven games), I thought it would be fun to look back at an amazing number of brushes brushes with fame Panther experienced in his time in the majors. His 7-13 record and 5.26 ERA in 85 big-league appearances included stints with the Oakland A’s in 1971 and the Atlanta Braves in 1973.
The right-handed Panther pitched in 58 games for the original Rangers and was 5-9 with a 4.13 ERA for a team that finished 54-100 and in last place in the American League’s Western Division. A players’ strike delayed the start of the season and shortened it by 8 games. They hit .217 with 56 homers and led the major leagues in errors with 166.
“It was a good place and the fans were great,” Panther told me 12 years ago. “It was a lot of fun even though we weren’t very good.”
His season in Arlington was part of some unique connections to some of baseball’s biggest names for the three-sport star at Highland Park High School and standout pitcher at Southern Illinois.
His manager in Texas was Hall of Famer Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, and one of his coaches was Hall of Fame White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox. “I got along with (Williams) well and I liked him,” Panther said of his fourth and final season in charge of the team. “It was tough for him to manage. We were behind in too many games.”
Panther’s first major league victory in 2⅔ innings of relief was against the California Angels. The losing pitcher was Hall of Fame strikeout and no-hit king Nolan Ryan. “I happened to be in at the right time,” Panther laughed about the big moment.
Panther also got a victory against Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven and twice beat the three-time defending AL champion Baltimore Orioles with Hall of Famers Brooks and Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer and manager Earl Weaver in 1972.
He was traded by Oakland to Texas in early March 1972 for pitcher Denny McLain. McLain’s career crash was nearly complete - in 1969 he had won a second consecutive Cy Young Award and in 1968 he was MLB’s last 30-game winner with 31 for the World Series champion Detroit Tigers.
Panther made 4 appearances in early April 1971 for a budding A’s dynasty that would win three consecutive World Series (1972-74) and five consecutive AL West titles (1971-75). His teammates included Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers, 1971 AL MVP and Cy Young winner Vida Blue, 1972 World Series MVP Gene Tenace, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando and Campy Campaneris. The manager was Hall of Famer Dick Williams and the owner was controversial maverick Charlie Finley. “The trade was an opportunity for me to possibly play in the big leagues,” Panther said. “If I had stayed with Oakland I probably wouldn’t have had that chance. They were just loaded.”
A month after the 1972 season ended he was traded by the Rangers to the Braves straight up for 1970 NL batting champion Rico Carty. That gave Panther a chance to witness Hank Aaron’s push to break Babe Ruth’s home run record of 714. Aaron finished the 1973 season with 713, broke the record early in 1974 and finished his career with 755. “It’s no secret the Braves want more pitching and the Rangers need more hitting, so the trade wasn’t surprising,” Panther said in his Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography by Chad Moody.
Panther was managed by another Hall of Famer in Atlanta in Eddie Mathews, who hit 512 career homers and was the only person to play for the Braves in all three of their homes (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta). His teammates included Hall of Fame knuckleballer and 300-game winner Phil Niekro and current Astros manager Dusty Baker.
Panther went 2-3 in 23 games and both of his wins were in relief of Niekro. He was called up to the Braves in mid-May and had an 0.98 ERA in his first 11 appearances (18 ⅓ innings). But arm trouble cropped up around the all-star break and his ERA rose to 7.63 before he went back to Triple-A Richmond to finish his pro career at age 28. “I felt something in my shoulder,” Panther said in his SABR biography. “It was right before the All-Star break, so I had three days off. I kept my mouth shut, but after that I couldn’t throw hard. I finished that year, but the next year I couldn’t play. I’ve had two surgeries on that shoulder for labrum tears. I was one of those bottom-of-the-line guys. If you had 10 pitchers, I was eight, nine, or 10. In Oakland they had 10 pitchers, and I was 11. If you got hurt, you kept your mouth shut. At least I did.”
In his final big-league appearance against Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine, the hitters he faced included Hall of Famers Tony Perez, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan and all-time hit leader Pete Rose.
Panther would have a very successful teaching and coaching career at Libertyville that would bring hall of fame acclaim (Libertyville High School, Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association and Lake County High School Sports). He was 528-169 as a head baseball coach from 1983-2002. He also coached one of the school’s most famous alums in 1975 graduate Brett Butler, who hit .290 with 2,375 hits and 558 stolen bases in a 17-year big-league career.
Panther has lived in Fort Myers, Fla., for 20 years and in February the avid golfer got his first hole-in-one. Panther’s neighbors include my aunt Mary (who shared the hole-in-one news a few months ago) and longtime big-league catcher Phil Roof.
Panther was thrilled in 2011 to see the Rangers’ success and had fond memories of his short stay in Texas.
“Once we played the White Sox there and I’ll never forget, at 7:30 (p.m.) it was 105 degrees,” he said a dozen years ago. “We would still do a lot of running no matter how hot it was.
“I played with a lot of good guys and I wish we would have stayed there. We really enjoyed ourselves down there.”
One of the first times I ever officiated at Libertyville, Jim was the Boys Freshman A coach. Total class! We talked often when I was on Wildcats games. I'd tell other officials he played in the bigs and many didn't believe me.