Magglio Ordóñez

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Ordóñez and the second or maternal family name is Delgado.

Magglio Ordóñez
Free Agent
Right fielder
Born: January 28, 1974 (1974-01-28) (age 37) Caracas, Venezuela
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 29, 1997 for the Chicago White Sox
Career statistics (through 2011)
Batting average	.309
Home runs	294
Runs batted in	1,236
Runs	1,076
Hits	2,156
Teams
Chicago White Sox (1997–2004) Detroit Tigers (2005–2011)
Career highlights and awards
6× All-Star (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007) 3× Silver Slugger Award winner (2000, 2002, 2007) Luis Aparicio Award (2007) Led AL in batting average in 2007 Led AL in doubles in 2007

Magglio José Ordóñez Delgado ( /ɔrˈdoʊnjɛz/; born January 28, 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball right fielder. He has played for the Chicago White Sox (1997–2004) and Detroit Tigers (2005–2011). Ordóñez is six feet, one inch tall and weighs 215 lb (98 kg).

Professional career

In a 15-year major league career (through the end of the 2011 season), Ordóñez was a .309 hitter with 294 home runs and 1,236 RBIs in 1,848 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 American League batting title 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 against the Cleveland Indians, 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)

Ordóñez in May 2010

Ordóñez signed with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent on February 7, 2005. His five-year, $85 million contract was the second largest the Tigers had 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 he signed 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 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 once again became a star by hitting consistently over .300 while batting clean-up.

In 2006, Ordóñez returned to the All-Star form. He was selected to the 2006 All-Star game as an injury replacement for Red Sox OF Manny Ramírez. 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 against Huston Street of the Oakland Athletics, 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.

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 was 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 was 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.

On April 29, 2010, Ordóñez got his 2000th career hit against the Minnesota Twins' Carl Pavano.^{[citation needed]} On July 24 Ordóñez hurt his ankle sliding into home. X-rays revealed a fracture that was expected to heal in six to eight weeks, but some weeks after the injury it was reported Magglio would miss the rest of the season.^[2] Following the season, the Tigers declined Ordóñez's $15 million option for 2011.^[3]

On December 16, 2010, the Tigers re-signed Ordóñez to a 1-year, $10 million contract.^[4]

On October 8, 2011 during a playoff game with the Texas Rangers, Ordonez re-fractured the ankle that he had fractured in 2010, he was then ruled out for the rest of the 2011 postseason.

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.^[5]

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."^[6] 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.^[7]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 2000 hits

References

1. ^ "Skipper: Ordonez 'better shut up and play'". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2043978. Retrieved August 5, 2008. 
2. ^ Magglio fractures ankle, out 6–8 weeks MLB.com July 24, 2010
3. ^ "Tigers Blog". Apps.detnews.com. October 3, 2010. http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/tigersblog/index.php?blogid=2333. Retrieved October 9, 2011. 
4. ^ Ordonez returns to Detroit with one-year contract MLB.com December 16, 2010
5. ^ "Today’s Tilde-quaintance: Fox Sports « The Big Tilde". Thebigtilde. April 29, 2008. http://thebigtilde.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/todays-tilde-quaintance-fox-sports/. Retrieved October 9, 2011. 
6. ^ Berardino, Mike (March 15, 2009). "Magglio Ordoñez booed by his own fans in WBC". Detroit Free Press (MediaNews Group). http://www.freep.com/article/20090315/SPORTS02/90314060/1050/Magglio+Ordo%C3%B1ez+booed+by+his+own+fans+in+WBC+. Retrieved March 17, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ Zuniga, Ricardo (March 16, 2009). "Cheers among the boos for Magglio Ordonez". Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iU0PU071-lAjfwonq-LzLlyaThzAD96VG3D81. Retrieved March 17, 2009. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Preceded by Jason Giambi Hideki Matsui	American League Player of the Month July, 2003 August, 2007	Succeeded by Alex Rodriguez David Ortiz
Preceded by Joe Mauer	American League Batting Champion 2007	Succeeded by Joe Mauer

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Persondata
Name	Ordonez, Magglio
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 28, 1974
Place of birth	Caracas, Venezuela
Date of death
Place of death