Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Pudge Rodriguez Budges Pudge Fisk

Tonight, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez of the Houston Astros set a new major league record by catching his 2,227th career game surpassing Carlton "Pudge" Fisk who set the record in 1993. Fittingly, he achieved the mark against the Texas Rangers which is where he spent the first 12 years of his big league career. In fact, his achievement comes three days shy of the 18th anniversary of big league debut when he came to the Rangers as a 19-year-old. He has certainly come a long way. Rodriguez has also played with the Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees before joining the Astros prior to the 2009 season.

Ivan Rodriguez has been named an All Star 14 times, won 13 Gold Gloves behind the plate, selected as American League MVP in 1999, earned a World Series ring with the Marlins in 2003 and was part of the AL champion Tigers in 2006. He is undoubtedly the greatest catcher of his era and will be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

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