Magglio Ordonez

Lore & Background

Ordóñez spent the first eight years of his major league career with the Chicago White Sox. In the five seasons prior to 2004, he 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. A collision with second baseman Willie Harris on May 19, 2004, cost him two trips to the disabled list and two surgeries on his left knee. He signed with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent on February 7, 2005. In 2006, he completed the Tigers' sweep of the ALCS with a three-run homer against Huston Street of the Oakland Athletics, sending the Tigers to their first World Series appearance since 1984. He had the best season of his career in 2007, finishing second in the American League MVP race behind Alex Rodriguez, with a .363 batting average, 28 home runs, and 139 RBIs. He retired on June 3, 2012.

In Their Own Story

The lights at Comerica Park hummed their low, electric note. It was late September, 2006, and the air smelled like popcorn and the faint metallic tang of the outfield grass. Ordonez stood in the batter's box, hands on the bat, eyes half-closed. The pitcher wound up. The ball left the hand. Ordonez's swing was almost lazy—a slight turn, a flick of the wrists—and the crack it made was the kind that silences a crowd for a half-second before the roar swallows everything. The ball rose. It rose. It was gone. He didn't even break into a run. He jogged. The mustache caught the stadium light. And somewhere in the left-field seats, a kid in a Tigers cap was already crying, not knowing he'd just witnessed the best thing his city had given him in years.

Reader's Guide

Ordóñez was a .309 hitter with 294 home runs and 1,236 RBIs in 1,848 games. Other career totals include 1,076 runs scored, 426 doubles, .369 on-base percentage, and .502 slugging percentage. He was selected for the All-Star Game six times (1999–2001, 2003, and 2006–07) and 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. On April 29, 2010, he got his 2000th career hit against the Minnesota Twins' Carl Pavano.

Did You Know?

• Ordóñez was a supporter of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and appeared in a televised political ad in early 2009.
• In 2013, Ordóñez became co-owner of the Venezuelan professional baseball team Caribes de Anzoátegui.
• His son, Magglio Ordóñez Jr., was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 2014 Major League Baseball draft.
• Ordóñez is sometimes referred to affectionately as 'Maggs' or 'The Big Tilde'.