In 2003 the Detroit Tigers finished the season with 43 wins and 119 losses.
Motown was 'No Man's Land.' It wasn't exactly a coveted destination for free agents.
That all changed in 2004 when Pudge Rodriguez signed a 4-year, $40 million contract with the Detroit Tigers.
Suddenly, Detroit was a cool place to play ball. Make no mistake about it - Pudge paved the path for Magglio Ordonez, Kenny Rogers, Miguel Cabrera, Johnny Damon and Prince Fielder.
Pudge will soon be in the Hall of Fame.
A 21 year career in MLB.
Surpassed Carlton Fisk's record of 2,226 games caught - Pudge caught 2,427 games.
A career batting average of .296 with 311 home runs and 1,332 RBIs in 2,543 games overall with Texas (1991-2002, 2009), Florida (2003), Detroit (2004-08), the Yankees (2008), Houston (2009), and Washington (2010-11).
His 13 Gold Gloves were the most for a catcher.
Selected to 14 All-Star games.
Won 7 Silver Slugger Awards.
Most pickoffs by a catcher - 81.
Most doubles by a catcher in a season - 44.
Caught Kenny Rogers' perfect game (1994)
Caught Justin Verlander's no-hitter (2007)
American League MVP Award (1999)
National League Championship Series MVP (2003)
World Series Championship with Florida Marlins (2003)
No comments:
Post a Comment