Editing Alex Rodriguez (section)

====2001–2002====
Rodriguez's power-hitting numbers improved with his move to the Texas Rangers. In his first season there, Rodriguez produced one of the top offensive seasons ever for a shortstop, leading the American League with 52 home runs, 133 runs scored, and 393 total bases.<ref name="b-r" /> He became the first player since 1932 with 50 homers and 200 hits in a season, the third shortstop to ever lead the league in homers, and the second AL player in the last 34 seasons (beginning 1968) to lead the league in runs, homers, and total bases; his total base figure is the most ever for a major league shortstop. His 52 homers made him the sixth youngest to ever reach 50 homers and were the highest total ever by a shortstop, surpassing [[Ernie Banks]]' record of 47 in 1958, and also the most ever for an infielder other than a first baseman, breaking Phillies 3B [[Mike Schmidt]]'s mark of 48 in 1980.<ref>{{cite web|title=Single-Season Leaders & Records for Home Runs|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_season.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620135024/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_season.shtml|archive-date=June 20, 2007|access-date=July 20, 2007|website=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|publisher=[[Sports Reference]]}}</ref> It was his fifth 30-homer campaign, tying Banks for most ever by a shortstop. He also tied for the league lead in extra-base hits (87) and ranked third in RBIs (135) and slugging (.622). He was also among the AL leaders in hits (fourth, 201), average (seventh, .318), and on-base percentage (eighth, .399). He established Rangers club records for homers, runs, total bases, and [[hit by pitch]]es, had the second-most extra-base hits, and the fourth-highest RBI total. He led the club in runs, hits, doubles (34), homers, RBI, slugging, and on-base percentage and was second in walks (75), stolen bases (18), and game-winning RBI (14) while posting career highs for homers, RBI, and total bases. Rodriguez started 161 games at shortstop and one as the [[Designated hitter|DH]], the only major league player to start all of his team's games in 2001.

Rodriguez followed the previous year with a major league-best 57 home runs, 142 RBIs and 389 total bases in 2002,<ref name="b-r" /> becoming the first player to lead the majors in all three categories since 1984. His nine home runs in April matched a team record that was shared (through 2008) with [[Iván Rodríguez]] (2000), [[Carl Everett]] (2003), and [[Ian Kinsler]] (2007). He had the sixth-most home runs in AL history, the most since [[Roger Maris]]' league record 61 in 1961 and the most ever for a shortstop for the second straight year. He won the [[Babe Ruth Home Run Award]] for leading MLB in homers that season.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sanchez|first=Jesse|date=May 23, 2003|title=Notes: Strength in the message|work=[[MLB.com]]|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030523&content_id=334171&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null|url-status=dead|access-date=November 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114070315/http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030523&content_id=334171&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null|archive-date=November 14, 2012}}</ref> He also won his first [[Gold Glove Award]], awarded for outstanding defense.

His 109 home runs in 2001–02 are the most ever by an American League right-handed batter in consecutive seasons. However, the Rangers finished last in the [[American League West|AL Western division]] in both years. He finished second in the MVP balloting to fellow shortstop [[Miguel Tejada]], whose 103-win [[Oakland Athletics]] won the same division.<ref>{{cite web|title=2002 Awards Voting|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_2002.shtml|access-date=April 8, 2020|website=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|language=en}}</ref>