Primarily a second baseman as a professional player, he batted left-handed and threw right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg).
The following year, he joined to the Rangers for the first time, as manager of their Tri-Cities affiliate in the Short Season-A Northwest League.
In 1985–86, he returned to managing, this time at the Triple-A level, as pilot of Texas' top affiliate, the Oklahoma City 89ers of the American Association, leading them to a first-place finish in the Association's Western Division in 1985.
He was then promoted to the Major Leagues as a coach for the Rangers (1987–94) and the Boston Red Sox (1995–96), working as a third-base coach after 1987 under managers Bobby Valentine, Toby Harrah and Kevin Kennedy.
He spent the 2001 season in professional baseball as manager of the Stockton, California-based Mudville Nine, a Class A California League farm team of the Cincinnati Reds, but largely worked in private business in the Stockton area until he rejoined the Rangers as special assistant for baseball operations in 2011, hired by Ranger CEO and former Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan.