Ivan Rodriguez caught his 2,227th major league game Wednesday night, passing legendary backstop and all-around ornery bastard Carlton Fisk, to become the all-time leading catcher in games started behind the plate.
And he did so against the team who raised him.
Pudge, 37, began his career at the tender age of 19 way back in 1991, when steroids were super cool. He began his first of 12 seasons with the Texas Rangers, calling games for the likes of Nolan Ryan, Goose Gossage, and Kenny Rogers. The Rangers recognized his illustrious career with a video tribute, highlighted by images of Rodriguez as a youngster in a Texas uniform.
He's been an All-Star 14 times, a World Series Champ in 2003, a seven-time Silver Slugger, 13-time Gold Glover and was selected as the American League's most valuable player back in 1999.
In his first season with the Houston Astros, he received a few standing ovations from the Rangers crowd, mostly because he had his sixth career two-error game, his first since 2004. Both of those blunders led to Texas runs.
Nice work on the milestone, Pudge.
[AP] | [Knuckle Curve] | [Baseball Musings]
2 comments:
I was almost kind of nervous he wasn't going to get picked up by anyone this year! Way to blow your milestone, buddy.
Haha! You could'nt have chosen a better picture for this post. That just completely exemplifies his personality.
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