by
It’s official: Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rodriguez, Tim Raines and Jeff Bagwell are part of the 2017 Cooperstown class, as announced Wednesday night.
He makes a bit of history by becoming just the second catcher in history (Johnny Bench) to earn election as a first-ballot Hall of Famer. When you collect 2,844 hits, smack 311 home runs, win 13 Gold Gloves and an AL MVP in 1999, first ballot status begins to make quite a bit of sense. Each needed at least 75% of the votes from baseball writers to gain admittance. Rodriguez climbed just over that threshold, receiving a “yes” from 76% of the ballots cast.
Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez
The Detroit Tigers were floundering as baseball’s worst franchise until Rodriguez came aboard in 2004. He had just helped the Florida Marlins win the World Series the year before and it was a huge deal that a player of his caliber would sign on the dotted line in Detroit. In just his third season as a member of the Tigers, he would lead the team to the American League pennant, their first since 1984.
After 4.5 years, Dave Dombrowski shipped him to the Yankees in a deal for relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth. He spent a few months in New York, then bounced around the league for a few more years (HOU, TEX, WAS) before finally putting away the shin guards just prior to his 40th birthday. The five-year waiting period came and went, and Pudge got the call to the Hall as quick as the rules allow.
While the numbers unquestionably label him as a Hall of Fame player, there were some in the baseball community that felt his connection to performance-enhancing drugs might make it difficult for him to reach that 75% number. While Rodriguez never actually failed a drug test, he had random periods during his career where he would either bulk up in a major way or lose a significant amount of weight. Jose Canseco claimed in his tell-all book that he personally injected Rodriguez when they were teammates in Texas; when Pudge was asked about such allegations, he answered cryptically by saying, “Only God knows.”
It’s been quite a long time since any ex-Tiger has been inducted. The last Hall of Famer to suit up for the Tigers (prior to Rodriguez) was Al Kaline, who retired in 1974.
Magglio Ordoñez, in his first year on the ballot, received just three votes (0.7%) and will be removed from consideration going forward. The same goes for Carlos Guillen, who did not receive a single vote in his first year of eligibility. Gary Sheffield -- another former Tiger that has been connected to steroid use and that has seen his HOF chances diminish as a result -- fared slightly better, receiving 59 votes, but the 13.3% puts him well short of ever qualifying for entry to Cooperstown.
Rodriguez will become the second player to enter the Hall as a member of the Texas Rangers. The first was Nolan Ryan, though the flamethrower actually appeared in more games for both the Astros and Angels.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on July 29 in Cooperstown, N.Y..
