Rodríguez sets record with 35th homer in 1999
Iván Rodríguez reached the 30-homer mark only once in his 21-year big league career.
But when he did, he made history.
Rodríguez hit his 35th home run of the season on Oct. 1, 1999, setting what was then a new American League standard for catchers. Terry Steinbach had held the record previously with 34 homers while appearing as a catcher in 1996 for Oakland.
“In all phases of the game, along with being durable…I would argue with anyone that he’s the best,” Rangers manager Johnny Oates told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “In my lifetime, I’ve never seen anyone better.”
At 27 years old, Rodríguez powered the Rangers to the American League West title. Following the season, he became the ninth catcher to win the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s MVP Award. He finished the season with a .332 batting average, 35 home runs, 113 RBI, 116 runs scored and 25 stolen bases – making him the first catcher to post a 20-homer/20 stolen base season.
Of his 199 hits, 198 came while he was catching – the most ever by a catcher in one season.
Defensively, Rodríguez had long been considered one of the best in the game. He maintained his excellence behind the plate in 1999, leading the AL by erasing 54.7 percent of runners who tried to steal en route to his eighth Gold Glove Award.
“This puts him further on the path to the Hall of Fame,” said Rangers general manager Doug Melvin.
Rodríguez appeared en route to another MVP season in 2000 when he broke his right thumb in a game against the Angels on July 24. With Kevin Stocker on first base with one out, the Angels’ Mo Vaughn swung and missed at strike three while Stocker took off for second. Rodríguez’s thumb smashed into Vaughn’s bat as he made the throw to second base, resulting in the break.
At the time, Rodríguez was hitting .347 with 27 home runs and 83 RBI through 97 games for the Rangers. At that pace, Rodríguez would have finished the year with 45 home runs and 138 RBI.
Rodríguez would play in the majors through the 2011 season, finishing with 14 All-Star Game selections, 13 Gold Glove Awards and seven Silver Slugger Awards. He helped the Marlins win the 2003 World Series and powered the Tigers to the 2006 AL pennant.
Rodríguez was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017.
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
