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Magglio José Ordóñez Delgado ("or-DOH-nyez" in English, born January 28, 1974) is a retired Major League Baseball right fielder and right-handed batter born in Caracas, Venezuela who has played for the Chicago White Sox (1997-2004) and the Detroit Tigers (2005-2011). Ordóñez is exactly six feet tall and weighs 215 lb.
Career overview[]
Ordóñez hits the ball with authority to all fields. He has good strike-zone judgment and a short, quick stroke. He pulls the ball against left-handed pitchers but with opposite-field power against right-handers. As a fielder, he has a decent arm, a quick release and good accuracy. In an eleven-year career (through the 2007 season), Ordóñez is a .311 hitter with 250 home runs and 1002 RBIs in 1395 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 (2005-2011)[]
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 that many thought he would never come close to again in his career. 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 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.
Ironically, the one Tiger hitting season in the past 60 years that exceeds Ordóñez's 2007 season is that of Norm Cash in 1961. In 1961, the AL MVP award was given to New York Yankee slugger Roger Maris who hit 61 home runs. In 2007 the AL MVP award again went to a New York Yankee slugger, Alex Rodriguez.
Nicknames and family[]
In Detroit's Comerica Park, some Tiger fans sport curly black wigs underneath their baseball caps in support of their long-haired right fielder. 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[2]. Magglio also has a nickname on poster boards as Magg-nificent
Magglio has three children: son, Magglio Jr. and daughters, Maggliana and Sophia. His wife's name is Dagly.
Highlights[]
- 6-time All-Star (1999-2001, 2003, 2006, 2007)
- 3-time Silver Slugger (2000, 2002, 2007)
- 2-time American League Player of the Month (July 2003, August 2007)
- American League Batting Champion (2007)
See also[]
- Magazine covers - Magazine covers featuring Magglio Ordonez.
- List of Major League Baseball batting champions
- List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
- Players from Venezuela in MLB
- Top 500 home run hitters of all time
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
References[]
External links[]
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
| Preceded by: Jason Giambi |
American League Player of the Month July, 2003 |
Succeeded by: Alex Rodriguez |
| Preceded by: Joe Mauer |
American League Batting Champion 2007 |
Succeeded by: incumbent |