The End of An Era

Future Hall of Fame Catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez has announced his retirement after 20 major league seasons. Pudge hit .296 with 311 home runs and 1,332 runs batted in over his career. He compiled 2,844 hits in 20 seasons. In 1999, he was awarded the American League MVP award for hitting 30 homers, collecting 100 RBIs and scoring 100 runs in baseball hitory. In 2003, he was part of the dramatic home-plate collision with J.T. Snow that sent the Florida Marlins to the World Series and an evenual victory over the Yankees. He was named that year's NLCS MVP. He also caught two no-hitters and was consistently ranked as one of the best defensive backstops of all-time. On July 30, 2008, Pudge was traded to the New York Yankees for pitcher Kyle Farnsworth. Pudge filled in for Jorge Posada that year, starting just 26 games of a possible 55 for them. Overall for the Yankees Pudge hit just .219 (21-for-96) with two home runs and three runs batted in. In 1996, 1998, and 1999 he played against the Yankees in the ALDS, losing all three series. He hit.273 against the Yankees in the World Series as Florida took the championship in six games, (which began my ongoing hatred of the Florida/Miami Marlins). In 2009, he surpassed Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk as the player who has caught the most games in major league history with 2,227. He had a 45.68% of runners caught stealing, a major league record. I first heard of him during the 2003 NLCS against the Giants and his dramatic collision with JT Snow to send the Marlins to the World Series. After defeating the Yankees, I grew to love Pudge, and when he eventually became a Yankee in 2008, despite his lackluster performance and replacing a fan favorite and Hall of Famer himself in Jorge Posada, I loved him even more. He will officially retire as a Texas Ranger on Monday. Now, with the most games caught in history, and with a reputation as one of the greatest all-around catchers of all-time, he will certainly be inducted to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2017, no doubt as either a Ranger, Tiger, or Marlin. Which team do you think Pudge should be inducted as a member of? The Marlins...

The Rangers...

Or the Yankees? (Did that get a laugh out of you?)