"Pudge" Set to Call it Quits

Unable to find a ride for the 2012 season, catcher Ivan Rodriguez is set to call it quits Monday in Arlington, Texas.

According to sources, the plan to retire was conceived after no decent playing opportunities presented themselves this past off-season.  "Pudge" had hoped to get a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers, but, well...we all know how that panned out.

The 40-year-old Rodriguez began his career 21 years ago with the Rangers.  Along the way, he made 14 All-Star appearances and brought home 13 Gold Glove Awards.  In 1999, he was named the American League MVP.

Rodriguez ends his career with a .296 batting average, 311 homeruns and 156 hits shy of 3000.

Read more here: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/foul_territory/2012/04/sources-ivan-rodriguez-to-retire-monday-in-arlington.html#storylink=cpy

"Pudge" Rodriguez Goes Deep...Makes History

Last May, Ivan Rodriguez hit his 300th career home run as a member of the Houston Astros.

Now, fourteen months and a pair of teams later, "Pudge" has become just the fifth catcher to surpass 300 home runs behind the dish. The other catchers with more than 300 dingers...Mike Piazza (396), Carlton Fisk (351), Johnny Bench (327) and Yogi Berra (305).

The second inning shot off Arizona's Rodrigo Lopez was just the future Hall of Famer's second homer of the season and the 307th of his career. He is baseball's career leader in games, runs, hits, doubles and extra-base hits by a catcher and after the game, said he doesn't see himself retiring any time soon.

"I think there is a lot of baseball in me," the 38-year-old told reporters following the game. "I know I can play two or three years more. I'll play this year and two more, and we'll see what God's plans for me are."

Rodriguez is batting .268 with just 2 home runs and 30 RBI in limited action for the Washington Nationals this season.

Michael Young...Hit King

Last September the countdown was on in the Big Apple as its current superest(?) of superstars Derek Jeter was just a few hits away from surpassing Lou Gehrig on the all-time Yankee hit list.

Last night, the Rangers brass apparently forgot to issue a memo that Michael Young entered the game within spitting distance of becoming their team's all-time hit king.

There was no fanfare, no countdown graphics on SportsCenter...no ceremonial chotchkies available over at MLB.com.

I guess that's the difference when your team's all-time king is the still active Ivan Rodriguez and the total is a seemingly paltry (yet, in Young's case, pretty impressive) 1747 hits.

Young collected two base knocks against the Florida Marlins Wednesday night to increase his career total to 1748 in just 1416 games. "Pudge" recorded his 1747 over two stints with the team and 1507 games.

Suffice it to say, Young was honored and humbled by the accomplishment.

"I knew it'd mean a lot, but now that it's finished, I kind of look back on the career I've had in Texas and the players I've passed, it means a lot," the six-time All-Star told reporters following the game. "I've played my whole career in one uniform. Hopefully I can finish it in this uniform."

And if you're curious, Young is now just the fourth active player to be his team's all-time hit leader joining the aforementioned Jeter, Todd Helton in Colorado and Carl Crawford in Tampa Bay.

Next season, there are two other players poised to become their team's all-time hit leaders. Ichiro Suzuki (2121) is 120 hits behind Seattle hit king Edgar Martinez (2241) and in Toronto, Vernon Wells (1436) is chasing Tony Fernandez for the top spot (1583).

It's your guess as to which one gets higher billing on the Worldwide Leader...but the smart money is on Ichiro.

The season that was...June

During batting practice in 1988, Randy Johnson, then with the Montreal Expos, collided head-first with outfielder Tim Raines. Because of Johnson’s height, Raines exclaimed, "you're a big unit!"

Suffice it to say, the nickname stuck.

At 82 inches tall (or 6’10”), “Unit” is the tallest 300 game winner in history. Before he reached the milestone on June 4, Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens and Gaylord Perry shared the distinction at 6’4”.

Another fun fact, since I assume you all know about the Cy Young Awards and strikeout totals, Johnson is one of only two (Jamie Moyer is the other) players born prior to the Kennedy assassination.

Coindentally…the same number of Major Leaguers (two) were born after Johnson made his big league debut September 15, 1988.

Continuing with the trend of sluggers hitting the 300 home run milestone, Johnson’s former teammate Lance Berkman reached the milestone June 13 against Arizona. Berkman ended 2009 with 313 home runs…good for sixth all-time among switch-hitters.

Mickey Mantle leads the pack with 536. The other switch-hitters with 300 or more homers are Eddie Murray (504), Chipper Jones (416), Chili Davis (350) and Reggie Smith (314).

Four nights later, the Astros saw their catcher Ivan Rodriguez squat behind the dish and caught his record-setting 2227th game against the very team that signed him as a 16 year-old back in 1988...the Texas Rangers.

Unfortunately, he had one of his worst nights in memory in front of his old team by going one-for-five, made two throwing errors and saw the Rangers steal three bases.

Yikes.

"I-Rod" is the all-time leader in hits among catchers and sitting at 2618, it remains to be seen if he's got enough in him to be the first to see 3000. As it is...he's also ranked first all-time among catchers in doubles, putouts and with his 13 Gold Gloves and 14 All-Star Games, he's poised to enter Cooperstown as the greatest catcher ever.

A week later…on the same night the "King of Pop" died...Omar Vizquel became the "Venezuelan Hit King".

I know, I know...dumb seque. But the fact remains...with a first inning single, Vizquel surpassed Luis Aparicio on the all-time list with 2678 hits. He closed out the season with 2704.

One of the fun things about previewing milestones at the start of the season was watching them unfold throughout the year.

With a 4-2 victory over the Mets on June 27, Mariano Rivera become only the second member of the 500 save club.

Trevor Hoffman is the all-time leader with 591 saves, so it remains to be seen if Rivera (who ended the season at 526), can actually reach whatever record ends up being set. What is certain is this...it's going to be a long, long time before someone gets near either one of them.

As it stands, the next active reliever is Billy Wagner with 385 and after that...you're looking at Troy Percival with 358. Thing is, Wagner might not hit 386 and Percival might stay stuck at 358 since both have been hampered with injuries and retirement might be on the horizon for both of them.

Who has a chance at joining Hoffman and Rivera in the 500 Club?

Even though he notched a quarter of his career total of 243 saves in one season, Francisco Rodriguez is young enough at 27 to give them a run for their money.

So congrats to Rivera as you continues to secure his spot in Cooperstown, and let's all meet back here in eight years to see where K-Rod is at.

Earlier in the week, we looked at April and May. As you can probably guess…July is next.

The season that was...May

If you read nothing more, leave now knowing that May brought with it two things…mustaches and Ron Villone.

I can explain.

The third annual Mustache May celebration kicked off on the first day of May (imagine that!) and with it came your “’stache of the Day”, an endorsement from The American Mustache Institute, an appearance on WGN Radio and interviews with Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins and the king of all lip sweaters…Rollie Fingers.

Villone lived up to his moniker “Suitcase” early in the month, when he suited up for the Nationals, his Major League record-tying twelfth team. After the call up from Syracuse, he tied fellow journeyman, pitcher Mike Morgan.

Close on their heels is Matt Stairs.

Stairs is currently enjoying another playoff run with Philadelphia, his eleventh team.

And while not exactly a “milestone”, the Cubs did something pretty cool and pretty monumental on May 3. Before the “North Siders” took the field against the Marlins, they retired number 31 for both Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux.

Each hurler won a Cy Young Award and combined for 300 victories while wearing the pinstriped 31. Maddux would have his 31 retired by the Braves in July.

On May 17, future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez became another in a seemingly long line of players that would circle the bases for the 300th time.

For his career, “Pudge” Rodriguez has hit 298 of his 305 homers as a catcher, good for seventh among backstops on the all-time list.

About a week later, Jason Giambi came out of hibernation to finally hit his 400th career home run.

When The Hall initially previewed American League West milestones, thought was that “the Giambino” would have surpassed 400 sometime in Mid-April. Unfortunately, a terrible slump pushed back the milestone to May 23.

Giambi finished up his season with 409 home runs and found himself with the Rockies. All-time, he is sitting at 43 on the career homers list, having passed up Hall of Famers Al Kaline (399) and Duke Snider (407) in 2009.

After six attempt to achieve the milestone, Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer locked down win Number 250 on May 31 against the Nationals.

Granted, Moyer finished up the year coming out of the bullpen and facing down the first surgery of his long career, could we be looking at a guy who, with 258 wins, could take up residency in Cooperstown?

Consider this, Moyer has fifteen seasons with double-digit wins and all but one was achieved after the age of 30. And of the 40 pitchers with more victories, only Phil Niekro (17) had more double-digit wins seasons after they turned 30.

What about the 10 other lefties with more than 250 wins?

All but four (Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Tommy John and Jim Kaat) are in the Hall of Fame. Glavine (with 305 wins) and Johnson (303) will get there and you certainly can make a case for John and Kaat making it in someday courtesy of Veterans Committee.

So let me know…does Moyer have what it takes to get enshrined?

I’m on the fence (hedging toward “no”) when you look at the big picture, but when you consider those he pitched against…you could do much, much worse.

Yesterday...we broke down April. Join me tomorrow when we look at, naturally, June.

Old faces...new places

Tired of hearing, reading, seeing the words "Brett Favre" every time you turn on the TV or computer or when you unfold whatever antiquated paper reading material you choose to unfold?

Yeah…me too.

Sorry.

A year ago, Brett Favre looked out of place suiting up for the Jets after playing 16 years in Green Bay. After re-unretiring for the second time in thirteen months, Favre looks just as out of place with the Vikings.

Friend of The Hall Andrew Katz, from over at No, You’re a Towel had a similar thought this week when it was announced that veterans (and future Hall of Famers?) Ivan Rodriguez and John Smoltz were going to be donning some new unis as well.

Take a gander.

Welcome Back!

How do you know that the acquisition of a veteran means something to his new teammates?

I’ve gotta think it is when they go bang their Twitter accounts and talk about it.

And no…I’m NOT talking about Brett Favre.

Tuesday afternoon, the Texas Rangers brought home one of their favorite sons (and possibly the greatest catcher ever) Ivan Rodriguez.

So what did his teammates have to say about "Pudge"?

Jason Grilli: Got an old teammate coming to the Rangers! More excitement here in Arlington! Welcome back Pudge.

CJ Wilson: Pudge? WOW! I think we hold the record for most gold gloves on one roster now

And yes, there is some merit to what Wilson has to say. With Rodriguez’s 13 Gold Gloves back into the fold, the Rangers now have a roster that boasts 35 Gold Gloves! That's 13 for "Pudge", 11 for Omar Vizquel, 10 for Andruw Jones and one for Michael Young.

"You always want to come back where you started," Rodriguez told reporters prior to Tuesday night's contest against the Twins. "It has been a long time. This would be a great place to finish my career. I'm very excited to be back."

But while Grilli and Wilson are applauding the return of the 37 year-old backstop…our friends over at Astros County think something is fishy about the economics.

For the record, Rodriguez is expected to back up Taylor Teagarden…but we’ll see how long that lasts.

A night of milestones in Texas

If you've been following The Hall at all, you know that the Lonestar State was poised to play host to to two milestones Wednesday.

First...Astros catcher Ivan Rodriguez did his part and squatted behind the dish for his record setting 2277th game.

Unfortunately, he had one of his worst nights in memory in front of his old team by going one-for-five, made two throwing errors and saw the Rangers steal three bases. Yikes.

"That happens," he said following the game. "I got a base hit...so it wasn't as bad a game as what you're saying."

Across the diamond, Omar Vizquel did his part by getting his first hit (a fifth inning single) since June 7th. With that hit, he tied Luis Aparicio's mark of 2677...the most by a Venezuelan born player.

"I never thought I'd be involved in a situation like that," Vizquel said. "So many good players have come from our country."

With only 11 starts at short this season...it is unknown when we'll actually see Vizquel break Aparicio's mark.

"Pudge"...meet "Pudge"

If you follow The Hall on Twitter (and if you aren't...why not?), you know that tonight was the night when Ivan Rodriguez tied Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk as the all-time leader in games played behind the dish.

That's right..."Pudge" is now tied with "Pudge".

The current Astros catcher caught his record-tying 2226th game against the very team that signed him as a 16 year-old back in 1988...the Texas Rangers.

"I'm very pleased," Rodriguez told reporters following the milestone game. "It's an unbelievable record to tie Carlton Fisk. I respect him a lot and to be able to get to his mark is an honor for me. I saw him and the way he works and takes care of himself and was able to play that many games, and I tried to follow his steps and tried to keep myself in good shape. Look where I am. I tied him, and it will be an honor to be able to break it and establish a new record."

"I-Rod" is the all-time leader in hits among catchers and sitting at 2650 hits, it remains to be seen if he's got enough in him to be the first to see 3000.

As it is...he's also ranked first all-time among catchers in doubles, putouts and with his 13 Gold Gloves and 14 All-Star Games, he's poised to enter Cooperstown as the greatest catcher ever.

Yes...ever. And to think, in March...Trevor Hayes wondered if the former MVP Rodriguez was going to find a job.

Welcome to the 300 Club, Pudge

Nearly lost in the hype surrounding Mustache May (by the way...how is YOURS coming?) is that fact that Ivan Rodriguez surpassed a milestone last night. Back in March, we mentioned "Pudge" as one of the many who were going for milestones this season and last night, he circled the bases for his 300th career home run.

"It's nice," said the catcher. "To be in 18 years in my career, to get to 300 and have the career that I've had and to be able to stay healthy pretty much my entire career, to be able to reach these kind of goals is very nice."

"It's a tremendous accomplishment, the man's a Hall of Famer," Lance Berkman added. "He's been around a long time, and that's a lot of home runs."

Rodriguez has hit 293 of his 300 homers as a catcher, good for seventh among backstops on the all-time list. He's 20 games away from tying the other "Pudge", Carlton Fisk, for the record for all-time games caught. Sunday marked the veteran's 2,206th game behind the plate.

Check out video of the monumental home run HERE. Thanks YouTube!

Cooperstown's Calling: Ivan Rodriguez

Let's face it...EVERYONE has a blog. Surf around the old interwebs and you'll find people talking about everything. And yeah...it has taken me about five or six years to come to that conclusion.

That being said, when I found out that this guy (pictured to the left) has his own column AND it was featured on the Hall of Fame's website AND that he was writing things that I thought MY audience would enjoy...I had to put it up here for mass consumption.

In his "Cooperstown's Calling" series, Trevor Hayes takes a look at potential Hall of Famers that are still on the free-agent market.

Part One looks at Ivan Rodriguez and you can read it HERE!