Pudge Retires

After a long and fantastic career Ivan Rodriguez retires. Collecting several honorable awards and a world series ring, Ivan Rodriguez is considered one of the best catchers of all time.

Ivan Rodriguez also known as Pudge by many is compared with catchers like Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra. I believe that's an excellent comparison. Pudge is a 14 time all star, a 13 time gold glove award winner, a 7 time silver slugger award winner, the 1999 AL MVP and a part of the 2003 Marlins world championship team. That's a nice resume.

The only thing Pudge couldn't get to was 3000 hits. It was a matter of time and perhaps 2 more seasons would have put him there, but there wasn't any teams requesting his service. He ends his career with 2844 hits, 311 home runs, and a .296/.334/.464 slash-line (batting average/ on base percentage/slugging percentage) over 21 seasons with 6 teams.

Most of Rodriguez's time was spent with the Texas Rangers, almost 60% of his games. He spent 5 seasons with the Tigers and was on the 2003
Florida Marlins. His 2427 games caught is the most all time.