The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award. However, following the strike-shortened 1994 season, Oates was dismissed by new owner Peter Angelos. He finished his Orioles managerial career with a record of 291 wins and 270 losses. Despite being let go by the Orioles, Oates was quickly hired by the Texas Rangers, who had just fired their previous manager, Kevin Kennedy. Oates proceeded to lead the Rangers to their first playoff appearance in team history during the 1996 season. Despite the team's poor ERA (the team averaged 4.65 collectively), the Rangers' batting lineup was incredibly potent, featuring Iván Rodríguez, Will Clark, Mark McLemore, Dean Palmer, Rusty Greer, Juan González, and Mickey Tettleton; the team finished 90–72. Oates won the 1996 American League Manager of the Year Award that year, sharing honors with the Yankees' Joe Torre. Oates continued to lead the Rangers for several more seasons, leading them to American League West titles in 1998 and 1999. However, the Rangers would win just one playoff game in that span (winning Game 1 of the 1996 American League Division Series), and the latter two ALDS appearances saw the Rangers score only one run each time, all at the hands of the New York Yankees, who won the World Series in those respective years. Oates' record of 1–9 (.100) is the worst for any manager with multiple postseason appearances. Following a fourth-place finish in 2000 and beginning the 2001 season with an 11–17 record, Oates resigned as manager and third base coach Jerry Narron replaced him. Many fans, however, blamed Rangers management for the team's woes, saying that team management placed unreasonable expectations on Oates, especially after spending $252 million on free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez. He finished his Rangers managerial career with a record of 506 wins and 476 losses. Career statistics Playing In an 11-year major league career, Oates played in 593 games, accumulating 410 hits in 1,637 at bats for a .250 career batting average along with 14 home runs, 126 runs batted in and a .309 on-base percentage. A good defensive player, he ended his career with a .987 fielding percentage. Managerial record Honors Oates was named American League Manager of the Year in 1996 when he led the Rangers to their first playoff berth in franchise history, winning the American League West Division. He won the Sporting News American League Manager of the Year Award that year