Former Texas Rangers Infielder Has Reportedly Died

Former Texas Rangers first baseman Pat Putnam, a first-round draft pick who spent six seasons with the club during its early years in Arlington, died Aug. 25. He was 72.

A report published Sunday, Sept. 6, in Florida Weekly first confirmed the news. Putnam died of natural causes.

Andy Hill, who played with Putnam in Fort Myers (Fla.) Little League and remained friends with him into adulthood, said a neighbor found Putnam in his bedroom.

Putnam appeared in 677 major league games across eight seasons. He spent the bulk of that time with the Rangers from 1977 through 1982 before later stints with the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins.

He finished his big-league career with a .255 batting average, 63 home runs and 255 RBIs.

The New York Mets originally drafted Putnam out of Miami-Dade College, but he did not sign. After transferring to the University of South Alabama, the Rangers selected him 22nd overall in the 1975 amateur draft.

That selection marked the start of his professional path with the organization that would become his longest major league home.

In 1976, while playing for the Asheville Tourists in the Class A Western Carolinas League, Putnam hit .361 with 24 home runs and 142 RBIs. He captured the league’s first Triple Crown and was named its Player of the Year.

Those numbers accelerated his climb through the Rangers’ system and set the stage for his arrival in Texas.

Putnam’s first full major league season came in 1979 with the Rangers. He batted .277 with 18 home runs and 64 RBIs in 139 games. That performance earned him downballot votes in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting, where he finished fourth.

The Rangers later traded Putnam to the Mariners in December 1982 for Ron Musselman.

In his first season with Seattle in 1983, Putnam hit .269 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs. His teammates selected him as the club’s MVP. An August 1984 trade sent him to the Minnesota Twins during a division title race. The Twins ultimately fell short.

Putnam spent the entire 1985 season with the Kansas City Royals’ Triple-A affiliate as his major league opportunities wound down. He then signed with the Nippon-Ham Fighters and slugged 27 home runs over two seasons in Japan’s top league from 1986 to 1987.

After returning to the United States, Putnam eventually left the baseball industry. He settled in Fort Myers, where he owned a business that specialized in air and water purification.

Rangers fans who followed the team through the late 1970s and early 1980s remember Putnam as a reliable left-handed bat at first base during a period when the franchise was still establishing itself in Texas.

His 1979 campaign remains one of the more productive rookie-year stretches in club history from that era.

The news of his passing closed a chapter that began when Texas drafted him out of South Alabama and watched him develop into an everyday player at Arlington Stadium.

Putnam’s path from amateur standout to first-round pick to six seasons in a Rangers uniform defined the core of his baseball story.