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Magglio Ordóñez

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Magglio Ordóñez
Detroit Tigers – No. 30
Right fielder
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
debut
August 29, 1997, for the Chicago White Sox
Career statistics
(through September 8, 2010)
Batting average.312
Home runs289
Runs batted in1,204
Runs scored1,043
Hits2,072
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Magglio Jose Ordóñez (Template:PronEng) (born January 28, 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball right fielder and right-handed batter who has played for the Chicago White Sox (1997–2004) and Detroit Tigers (2005–present). Ordóñez is six feet, one inch tall and weighs 215 lb.

Professional career

In a fourteen-year major league career (through the middle of the 2010 season), Ordóñez is a .312 hitter with 285 home runs and 1187 RBIs in 1,726 games. He has been selected for the All-Star Game six times (1999–2001, 2003 and 2006–07) and has won three Silver Slugger awards (2000, 2002 and 2007). In 2007, he won the batting title for American League with an average of .363. He also established a career high with 139 runs batted in, and finished runner-up to Alex Rodriguez in the AL Most Valuable Player award voting.

Chicago White Sox (1997–2004)

Ordóñez spent the first eight years of his major league career playing with the Chicago White Sox. In the five seasons prior to 2004, Ordóñez hit at least .300 with 29 home runs and 99 RBI, and reached the 30-home run, 100-RBI plateau in four of those seasons. He also collected over 70 extra-base hits from 2001–03, but a collision with second baseman Willie Harris on Omar Vizquel's popup to right field during a May 19, 2004 game in Cleveland, cost him two trips to the disabled list and two surgeries on his left knee. He finished with .292, 9 home runs, and 37 RBI in 52 games.

Detroit Tigers (since 2005)

Ordóñez in May 2010

After spending eight seasons in Chicago, Ordóñez signed with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent on February 7, 2005. His five-year, $85 million contract is the second largest the Tigers have ever paid a player. Because of Ordóñez's knee injury from the 2004 season, the contract included a clause stating that if he were to spend more than 25 days on the disabled list due to the same injury, the contract could be bought out for $3 million at the discretion of the Tigers' management.

After signing with Detroit, a minor war of words occurred between Ordóñez and Ozzie Guillén, his former manager and teammate in Chicago.[1] Their apparent mutual dislike for each other was a contributing factor to Ordóñez's departure from the White Sox. However, the rivalry appears to have cooled, as Guillén actually requested Ordóñez for the 2006 All-Star game.

In 2005, Ordóñez's first season for Detroit, he strained an abdominal muscle during the first week of the season and subsequently spent the next three months on the disabled list, as the strain turned out to be a hernia. This caused him to rest after corrective surgery for two months following the injury, after which he began a rehabilitation assignment at the Tigers' AAA minor league team in Toledo. He returned to the Tigers' lineup in early July, and has once again become a force to be reckoned with in the batter's box by hitting consistently over .300, while batting clean-up, since his return.

In 2006, Ordóñez has returned to the All-Star form. He was selected to the 2006 All-Star game as an injury replacement for Red Sox OF Manny Ramirez. At the All-Star break, Ordóñez was hitting .312 with 16 HR and 62 RBI, and was a mainstay for a Tigers team that was a major-league best 59-29 at the break.

On October 14, 2006, Ordóñez completed the Tigers' sweep of the ALCS with a three-run homer with two outs on a 1-0 count in the bottom of the 9th, the 8th time in MLB history that a post-season series has ended with a home run. The win sent the Tigers to their first World Series appearance since 1984. Coincidentally, it also happened 22 years to the day from when the Tigers won the World Series in that year.

2007 season

Ordóñez had the best season of his career in 2007. His .363 batting average, 28 home runs and 139 RBIs can be considered the second-best season by a Detroit Tiger batter in the past 60 years (with Norm Cash's .361-41-132 performance in 1961 being the best). Magglio's records and accomplishments in 2007 include:

  • His .363 batting average was the highest in Major League Baseball. He finished the season as the AL batting champion, and is the first Tiger player to accomplish the feat since Norm Cash in 1961. The last Tiger to hit for a higher average was Charlie Gehringer in 1937.
  • His 54 doubles was the most in Major League Baseball. It is the most by a Tiger since George Kell hit 56 in 1950.
  • His 139 RBIs was the highest by a Tiger since Rocky Colavito had 140 in 1961. Colavito is the only Tiger batter with more RBIs than Ordóñez in the past 60 years.
  • On August 12, 2007, Magglio hit two home runs in an eight-run second-inning of an 11-6 win over the Oakland Athletics, becoming the second batter in Tigers' history to achieve this feat; Al Kaline had done so on April 17, 1955 in a 16-0 win over the then-Kansas City Athletics.
  • Ordóñez had an on base percentage of .434; only two other Tiger batters in the past 60 years have hit for a higher on base percentage: Tony Phillips in 1993 (.443) and Norm Cash in 1961 (.487).
  • Only one Tiger in the past 60 years has had a higher slugging percentage than Magglio's .595: Norm Cash in 1961 had a slugging percentage of .662.

2008

2009

2010

On April 29th Ordonez got his 2000th career hit against the minnesota twins Carl Pavano.

On July 24, 2010, Ordoñez hurt his ankle sliding into home. X-rays revealed a fracture that will take 6–8 weeks to heal.A couple of weeks after the injury, it was reported that Magglio would miss the rest of the season.[2]

Nicknames and family

In Detroit's Comerica Park, some Tiger fans sported curly black wigs underneath their baseball caps in support of their long-haired right fielder. This ended in mid-2009 when he cut his hair. He is also sometimes referred to affectionately as "Maggs". In mid-2006, a group of bloggers began referring to Magglio as "The Big Tilde". This nickname has been referenced on Deadspin, MLB.com, and during a Fox Sports broadcast[3].

Magglio has three children: son, Magglio Jr. and daughters, Maggliana and Sophia. His wife's name is Dagly.

Political views

Ordóñez is a supporter of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and in early 2009 appeared in a televised political ad which assured the Venezuelan people that "the best of the revolution is yet to come."[4] As a result, during the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Ordóñez was booed by anti-Chávez Venezuelan fans, during his at bats, and while he was on the field.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Skipper: Ordonez 'better shut up and play'". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
  2. ^ Magglio fractures ankle, out 6-8 weeks MLB.com July 24, 2010
  3. ^ Today’s Tilde-quaintance: Fox Sports « The Big Tilde
  4. ^ Berardino, Mike (March 15, 2009). "Magglio Ordoñez booed by his own fans in WBC". Detroit Free Press. MediaNews Group. Retrieved March 17, 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Zuniga, Ricardo (March 16, 2009). "Cheers among the boos for Magglio Ordonez". Associated Press. Retrieved March 17, 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Magglio Ordóñez.
Preceded by American League Player of the Month
July, 2003
August, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by American League Batting Champion
2007 		Succeeded by
Joe Mauer

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