Magglio Ordonez

Magglio José Ordóñez Delgado, born January 28, 1974, is a Venezuelan former Major League Baseball right fielder. Over 15 seasons, he played for the Chicago White Sox from 1997 through 2004 and the Detroit Tigers from 2005 through 2011. Standing 5 feet 11 inches and weighing 215 pounds, Ordóñez compiled a career batting average of .309. He officially retired as a Tiger on June 3, 2012, during a pregame ceremony at Comerica Park. In 2013, he entered politics in his native Venezuela and was elected mayor of the Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality on December 8 of that year.

Over his major league career, Ordóñez hit .309 with 294 home runs and 1,236 RBIs across 1,848 games. He also scored 1,076 runs, notched 426 doubles, and posted a .369 on-base percentage and .502 slugging percentage. A six-time All-Star (1999–2001, 2003, 2006–2007), he won three Silver Slugger Awards (2000, 2002, 2007). In 2007, he led the American League with a .363 batting average, drove in a career-high 139 runs, and finished second in AL Most Valuable Player voting to Alex Rodriguez.

Ordóñez began his career with the Chicago White Sox, where from 1999 through 2003 he hit at least .300 with 29 home runs and 99 RBIs each season, reaching 30 homers and 100 RBIs in four of those years. He also collected over 70 extra-base hits from 2001 to 2003. His 2004 season was cut short after a collision with second baseman Willie Harris on a popup on May 19, leading to two disabled list stints and two surgeries on his left knee; he finished the year with a .292 average, 9 home runs, and 37 RBIs in 52 games. During the 2001 season, teammate Jose Canseco claimed he injected Ordóñez with steroids. In the 2003–2004 offseason, Ordóñez was nearly traded to the Boston Red Sox as part of a complex deal involving Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez, but the trade fell through when the Rodriguez-for-Manny Ramirez swap collapsed.

Ordóñez signed a five-year, $85 million contract with the Detroit Tigers on February 7, 2005, the second-largest deal in team history at the time. Due to his 2004 knee injury, the contract included a clause allowing the Tigers to buy out the deal for $3 million if he spent more than 25 days on the disabled list for the same injury. After signing, he had a public dispute with former manager and teammate Ozzie Guillén, which contributed to his departure from Chicago, though the tension later eased when Guillén requested Ordóñez for the 2006 All-Star Game. In 2005, Ordóñez strained an abdominal muscle in the first week, which turned out to be a hernia, and spent three months on the disabled list. After corrective surgery and a rehab assignment with the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in Toledo, he returned in early July and hit consistently over .300 while batting cleanup.

In 2006, Ordóñez returned to All-Star form, replacing Manny Ramírez on the AL roster. At the break, he was hitting .312 with 16 home runs and 62 RBIs, anchoring a Tigers team that had a major-league-best 59–29 record. On October 14, he ended the AL Championship Series with a three-run homer off Huston Street in the bottom of the ninth inning, completing a sweep of the Oakland Athletics and sending Detroit to its first World Series since 1984—exactly 22 years after the Tigers won that championship.

Ordóñez’s best season came in 2007, when he finished second in AL MVP voting. He led MLB with a .363 batting average, becoming the first Tiger to win a batting title since Norm Cash in 1961 and the first to hit for a higher average since Charlie Gehringer’s .371 in 1937. His 54 doubles led the majors and were the most by a Tiger since George Kell’s 56 in 1950. His 139 RBIs were the highest by a Tiger since Rocky Colavito’s 140 in 1961. On August 12, 2007, he hit two home runs in an eight-run second inning against the Athletics, becoming only the second Tiger to do so in a single inning, after Al Kaline in 1955. His .434 on-base percentage was the highest by a Tiger in 60 years, surpassed only by Tony Phillips.