Special Assistant
Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, has been with the Texas Rangers as a Special Assistant since February 2013.
Rodríguez is involved in community and marketing endeavors on behalf of the club while undertaking special assignments in baseball operations. He also spent several years as part of the Rangers’ broadcasting team on Bally Sports Southwest.
One of the top catchers in Major League history, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot on January 18, 2017, and was inducted into the Hall in Cooperstown, New York on July 30 of that year. The Rangers held a ceremony to retire Rodríguez’ uniform number 7 on August 12, 2017, prior to the club’s game against the Houston Astros. He had previously been inducted as the 16th member of the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame on July 20, 2013. He announced his retirement as an active player after a 21-year All-Star career on April 23, 2012, at Globe Life Park and was honored in a ceremony that evening prior to the Rangers game with the New York Yankees. There is a life-size statue of Rodriguez located outside the Southwest Entrance of Globe Life Field.
Rodríguez, who made his Major League debut with Texas on June 20, 1991 at the age of 19, had a career average of .296 with 311 home runs and 1332 RBI in 2543 games with the Rangers (1991-2002; 2009), Marlins (2003), Tigers (2004-08), Yankees (2008), Astros (2009) and Nationals (2010-11).
He joins Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, George Brett, Miguel Cabrera, Stan Musial, and Albert Pujols as the only players in Major League history with career minimums of a .295 batting average, 2800 hits, 550 doubles, 300 home runs and 1300 RBI.
The all-time Major League leader with 2427 games caught, Rodríguez earned an all-time record 13 Rawlings Gold Gloves for his defensive work behind the plate, including 10 in a row from 1992-2001 while throwing out nearly 42% of runners attempting to steal in his career. The right-handed hitter batted .300 or better in ten different seasons with five years of 20+ home runs. Rodríguez is a 14-time All-Star who started a Major League record 12 Midsummer classics, including nine straight from 1993-2001.
Signed by Texas as an amateur free agent in 1988, the native of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico batted .304 with 217 homers and 842 RBI in 1507 career games as a Ranger. He is second in club history in hits (1747), doubles (352), and multi-hit games (490), ranks third in homers, and places fourth in triples (28), RBI, total bases (2806), and extra base hits (597).
Rodríguez was the 1999 American League Most Valuable Player, when he batted .332 with 35 homers and 113 RBI as he helped lead the Rangers to the third of three consecutive A.L. West Division titles. His 1999 performance remains the only time that a catcher has posted minimums of a .330 average, 35 homers, 110 RBI and 110 runs scored in a single season.
Signed as a free agent by Florida after the 2002 season, he batted .297 and drove in 85 runs for the 2003 World Champion Marlins and was the MVP of the NLCS. He played in his second World Series with Detroit in 2006. Rodríguez was acquired by the Rangers from Houston in August 2009 and played in 28 games the rest of that season. He concluded his career with two seasons in Washington, hitting .218 in 44 games in 2011, when he spent nearly two months on the disabled list with a strained oblique muscle.
Rodríguez started the Iván Rodríguez Foundation in 1993 to assist with a number of charitable endeavors. In 2018, he hosted a disaster relief drive for Unidos Puerto Rico, raising over 1.5 million pounds of goods and $300,000 in funds. As part of the drive, he also made personal visits to Puerto Rico and delivered 160,000 pounds of donations to six different towns that were affected or destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Iván also enjoys donating and giving his time to many different communities and non-profit organizations because giving back is a virtue he holds close.
Iván is married to Gloria Patricia “Patry” Gomez. He has three children, Iván Dereck, Amanda Christine and Ivanna Sofia. Dereck has pitched in 57 career Major League games for San Francisco (2018-20), Minnesota (2022-23), and Atlanta (2023). Iván was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in February 2014 and the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame in December 2015. He released his autobiography, They Call Me Pudge, in 2017.