21 Best Rangers Ever: Johnny Oates

ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - Three names in, and North Texas fans have placed two managers on the 21 Best Rangers Ever list.

When you picture Rangers Ballpark in Arlington with its green grass-colored awning and its red basepath colored brick, you expect to see Johnny Oates stepping out of the dugout to have a chat with Kenny Rogers.

Johnny Oates WAS the Texas Rangers in the 1990's, leading them to their first postseason ever in 1996, then repeating the run in 1998 & 1999.  His 1996 run earned him the MLB manager of the year honors from the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Sporting News.

Oates left the Rangers in May of 2001.  He was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in August of 2003.  That day, he told the crowd at the Ballpark "I wouldn't be standing here without the coaching staff that I had, all of the players that I was provided with and their efforts on and off the field.  I really believe that not only did we try to do the right thing, we tried to do it the right way."

Oates died in 2004 after battling a brain tumor, and his number 26 jersey was retired in 2005.  And while we haven't seen him coming out of the dugout in over a decade, we'll always think of Johnny Oates as one of the best Rangers ever.