Pudge Rodriguez Calls it a Career

Thumbs Up from Pudge!

After 21 seasons in the Majors, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is retiring. Out of those 21 seasons, 12 (and some change in 2009) were spent in Texas with the Rangers from 1991 to 2002, one year with the Marlins in 2003, 4 years with the Tigers 2004-2008, some time with the Yankees in 2008, one year with the Astros in 2009, and lastly two years with the Nationals from 2010-2011. Wow, talk about some serious playing some with true contenders. Pudge played in two World Series, his first in 2003 with the Marlins against the Yankees to win his first ring, and then lost to the Cardinals in 2006 with the Tigers. He is a lifetime .296 hitter, with .255 batting average in the playoffs. The funny thing about his batting average in the playoffs is that Pudge played the Yankees in every single post season, so realistically, 5/9 of that average is from Yankees pitching, which isn't that bad. If you don't think Ivan Rodriguez is an amazing catcher, well then you apparently haven't seen his stats. Yes I understand that in his later years with the Astros and Nationals his numbers faded, but he's been catching longer than I've been alive, and a 40 year old catcher is nothing to shake a stick at. I mean those knees must be tired! "I-Rod" has racked up 13 Gold Gloves (10 with the Rangers), 7 Silver Sluggers, 14 All-Star games, and one MVP award. Of active players, Rodriguez leads all of MLB in doubles with 527, which greatly outnumbers such players as Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Chipper Jones. Pudge also leads all of Major League Baseball history with 2,427 games started as a defensive catcher, which outnumbers the next highest catcher (Carlton Fisk) by over 200 games. Other things Rodriguez leads all of MLB history in is: Putouts as a catcher, caught stealing as a catcher, caught stealing %, assists as a catcher, and total zone runs as a catcher. Phew! Those are Hall of Fame statistics in my book, and hopefully he will make it there some day. Pudge has decided to retire with the team that he was most successful with and made a name for himself with, and the Rangers have not made a formal announcement, but should do so soon. What a great career Ivan, I'm glad I was there to see possibly the greatest catcher of Major League Baseball play during my lifetime.