Iván Rodríguez
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| Image:Iván Rodríguez (baseball).jpg |
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|---|---|
| Detroit Tigers — No. 7 | |
| Catcher | Born: November 30 1971 |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| June 20, 1991 for the Texas Rangers | Selected MLB statistics (through 2007) |
| Batting Average | .303 |
| Home Runs | 288 |
| RBIs | 1,182 |
| Hits | 2,495 |
| Gold Gloves | 13 |
| All-Star Appearances | 14 |
| Teams | |
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Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 30, 1971, in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a professional baseball player for the Detroit Tigers. Iván is considered by many to be the greatest defensive catcher ever.[1][2] He won the World Series with the Florida Marlins in 2003, and again reached the World Series as the starting catcher for the 2006 Detroit Tigers. Rodriguez has caught two no-hitters for two different pitchers. The first one was in 1994 when he caught a perfect game by Kenny Rogers. The most recent one was on June 12, 2007 when he caught the no-hitter thrown by Justin Verlander.
Contents |
[edit] Personal life
Early in his life Iván's first job consisted of delivering flyers in the shooping malls in Puerto Rico.[3] Rodríguez married his wife, the former Maribel Rivera, on the morning of June 20, 1991 after being called up from triple-A by the Texas Rangers.[3] He made his major league debut that same night, throwing out two White Sox would-be base stealers. The couple has three children, Iván Dereck born on June 6, 1992, Amanda Christine born on June 21, 1995 and Ivanna Sofia born on January 12, 2000.[3] The couple and they children divide their time living between Colleyville, Texas, Miami, Florida and Puerto Rico.[3] in 1993 Ivan and Maribel founded the Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez Foundation, with the intended purpouse of helping families in Puerto Rico, Dallas and Forth Worth, Texas.[4] Rodriguez has also expressed that the Make-a-Wish Foundation is one of his charities of choice.[3]
[edit] Playing career
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[edit] Minor leagues
Rodriguez made his professional debut in 1989 at the age of 17 as catcher for the Gastonia Rangers of the South Atlantic League. In his first game, Rodriguez went 3-for-3 against Spartanburg. He made his first Major League hit against the White Sox. In 1990 playing in the Florida State League, Rodriguez was scelected the best catcher in the league and named to the all-star team. He placed 15th in the league in batting at .287, and led his team in runs batted in, with 55. He also played in the Puerto Rican Winter League over the offseason. [5]
[edit] Major Leagues
[edit] 1991-1993
When Rodríguez made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers on June 20, 1991, he became the youngest person to catch in a major league game that season.[6] He immediately established himself as an excellent hitter who was also proficient in throwing out would-be base-stealers. In fact, no other catcher in the past 35 years has been as successful at this aspect of the game, with Rodríguez throwing out 48% of attempted basestealers through May 2006, far more than the runner-up during this period, the late Thurman Munson.[7] He started many of the Rangers games at the end of the season, the last 81 out of 102. He became the youngest player in the history of the Texas Rangers to hit a home run, on August 30, 1991 in a game facing the Kansas City Royals. He hit the home run off of right-hander Storm Davis. He was named to the MLB Rookie all-star team by both Topps and Baseball America and finished in fourth place in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. He also placed first in throwing out runners, catching 48.6% of runners attempting to steal.[8] In 1992, Rodriguez started 112 games behind the plate, and was the youngest player in the major leagues for the second year in a row. Playing in the Puerto Rico Winter League, he had a .262 batting average playing in 17 games for Mayaguez. [9] In the 1993 season, Rodriguez batted .273, had 66 runs batted in and 10 home runs, ranking 4th, 5th, and 5th on his team respectively. He had a stretch of eight straight hits over two games facing the KAnsas City Royals on July 26 and July 28. He played the final month of the regular season in the Puerto Rican Winter league, where he had a .425 batting average and 14 runs batted in for Mayaguez. He was named to the Puerto Rican Winter League all-star team and was also the league MVP. [10]
[edit] 1994-1997
In 1994, Rodriguez led the American League in batting average among catchers, at .298. He placed high on his team in many stats, placing second in batting average (.298), tied for third in doubles (19), and fourth in hits, total bases, runs, home runs, walks, games, and at bats. Rodriguez played in the Puerto Rican Winter League over the winter, but suffered a severe knee injury which kept him on the bench for the rest of the season. [11] During the 1995 season playing for the Rangers, Rodriguez led his team in batting, total bases, and doubles, at .303, 221, and 32 respectively. He was names the Texas Rangers player of the year. Rodriguez also had his first multi-home run game while playing the Boston Red Sox on July 13, hitting both off of all-star pitcher Roger Clemens. He also played in the Puerto Rican Winter League during the offseason, playing for Caguas. [12] In 1996, Rodriguez set a MLB record for most doubles by a catcher, amassing 44 doubles over the course of the season. This broke the previous mark of 42 set by Mickey Cochrane in 1930. He also set the major league record for at-bats by a catcher in a single season, with 639, which surpassed Johnny Bench's record of 621 in 1970. He led the Texas Rangers in doubles, at bats, hits, and runs scored. He was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star team that played a series in Japan against the Japanese all-stars after the season was over. He again played in the Puerto Rican Winter League this season. [13] In the 1997 season, he also placed first among catchers in many categories in Major League Baseball. These categories were hits, runs, runs batted in, and doubles. He placed second in home runs among catchers, below only Sandy Alomar of the Cleveland Indians, who had 20 home runs. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated the week of August 4. This marked the 4th time a player from the Texas Rangers has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He yet again played in the Puerto Rican Winter League, where he had a .285 batting average, 4 home runs, and 18 runs batted in over the course of 32 games playing for Caguas. [14]
[edit] 1998-2002
In the 1998 season, Rodriguez led the Texas Rangers in batting average at .325, which placed 8th in the American League. He also had 75 multi-hit games and 186 hits, finishing 7th and 9th in the MLB respectively. He finished second on the Rangers in hits, total bases, triples, total bases, and slugging percentage. Rodriguez was third on the team in doubles, home runs, and stolen bases, and fourth in runs batted in. He had his 1000th in a game facing the Cleveland Indians on May 10 of that season. Rodriguez also became the first catcher in the history of Major League Baseball to have two or more seasons with 40 or more doubles. HE was selected to the American League All-Star Team again, and was also named to all-star teams by the Associated Press, The Sporting News, and Baseball America. [15] In 1999, Rodriguez was selected American League MVP by Major League Baseball. This season he set a new record for home runs in a single season among catchers, with 35. This record was later broken by Javy Lopez of the Atlanta Braves in 2003, who hit 42. [16] He was also the first catcher to have more than 30 home runs, 100 runs batted in, and 100 runs scored in the history of Major League Baseball. He was also the first catcher in the history of the league to amass more than 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. From May 8, 1999 to June 1, 1999, Rodriguez had a career high 20 game hitting streak. He had 25 stolen bases, which was fifth most in the history of the league. He led the league in times grounded into a double play, with 31. Rodriguez was only the ninth catcher in the history of Major League Baseball to win the Most Valuable Player award, and was the first to win it since Thurman Munson in 1976. He was named on all of the ballots, getting 7 first place votes and 6 second place votes. Rodriguez was the sixth Puerto Rican to win the award, and the fourth player from the Texas Rangers to win it. He also won the Silver Slugger Award for the sixth time in a row, and was selected Most Valuable Player by Baseball Digest. He was again named to all-star teams by the Associated Press, The Sporting News, and Baseball America. [17]
[edit] 2003
[edit] 2004-present
He is famously successful at pick off plays at first base. Rodríguez was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1999. He ranked fourth in the AL among catchers in batting average, at .260.
Although he has had the nickname "Pudge" since his youth, Rodríguez was often compared early on to the veteran catcher Carlton Fisk, who was also called "Pudge." Fisk retired early in Rodríguez's career, and fans and sportswriters viewed it as the passing of the torch from one Pudge to another.
When his contract with Texas ran out following the 2002 season, Rodríguez signed with the Florida Marlins for one year. By then a major-league veteran of over a decade, he helped lead the young team to victory in the World Series. In the off-season, he left Florida to sign with the Tigers. On October 26, 2005, Major League Baseball named him the catcher on their Latino Legends Team.
On May 9, 2006, Rodríguez played first base for the Tigers. That game, a 7-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, was the first time that he played a position other than catcher in his 1,914 Major League games. [18] On August 15, 2006, he also made his first Major League appearance at second base, after regular second baseman Plácido Polanco was injured in a game in Boston.
On April 16, 2007, he batted in 6 runs on the way to a 12-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals. In 2007, Rodriguez walked only 1.8% of his plate appearances, the lowest percentage in the major leagues. [19]
On October 9, the Tigers announced that they were picking up the fifth-year, 13-million-dollar option on Rodríguez's contract, keeping him in a Tiger uniform through at least the 2008 season. The team could have bought out the option for three million dollars and allowed him to become a free agent.
[edit] World Baseball Classic
Rodríguez represented Puerto Rico in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Iván was part of a team that was mostly consisted of Major League baseball players among which were: Carlos Beltrán, Javier Vázquez, Bernie Williams and Carlos Delgado.[20] Rodríguez was one of several Major League Baseball players that announced commitment to represent their native countries prior to the organization of the tournament.[21]
[edit] See also
- List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
- Florida Marlins all-time roster
[edit] References
- ^ "Marlins stunned by Pudge signing", MLB.com, dated 22 January 2003, retrieved 2 February 2007
- ^ "Q & A With Pete Rose", Time.com, dated 19 January 2004, retrieved 2 February 2007
- ^ a b c d e Personal tid-bits. Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Quick Facts About the Foundation. Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1990). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ "1991 American League Expanded Leaderboards", baseball-reference.com, retrieved 2 February 2007
- ^ "Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers - Stolen Bases", "bb_catchers.tripod.com, retrieved 30 September 2007
- ^ Career biography (1991). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1992). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1993). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1994). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1995). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1996). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1997). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Career biography (1998). Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Baseball Almanac home run records. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Career biography (1999). Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Kerzel, Pete, "Notes: Pudge nudged to first", MLB.com dated 9 May 2006, URL retrieved 6 March 2007
- ^ http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2007
- ^ Puerto Rico Roster. Major League Baseball. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Barry M. Bloom (2005-12-05). WBC picture becomes clearer in Dallas. Major League Baseball. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
| Accomplishments | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Florida Marlins 2003 World Series roster |
|---|
| 1 Luis Castillo | 7 Iván Rodríguez | 9 Juan Pierre | 11 Alex González | 14 Todd Hollandsworth | 18 Jeff Conine | 19 Mike Lowell | 20 Miguel Cabrera | 21 Josh Beckett (World Series MVP) | 25 Derrek Lee | 31 Brad Penny | 35 Dontrelle Willis | 38 Rick Helling | 41 Braden Looper | 43 Juan Encarnación | 45 Carl Pavano | 49 Chad Fox | 52 Mike Redmond | 55 Mark Redman | 74 Ugueth Urbina Manager 15 Jack McKeon |
fr:Iván Rodríguez ja:イバン・ロドリゲス sv:Iván Rodríguez zh:伊凡·羅德里奎茲
Categories: Articles to be expanded since July 2007 | All articles to be expanded | Articles actively undergoing construction | 1971 births | Living people | American League All-Stars | Major league catchers | Texas Rangers players | Florida Marlins players | Detroit Tigers players | Puerto Rican baseball players | Puerto Rican sportspeople | Gold Glove Award winners
