Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez tonight has broken the major league record for games caught.
His 2,227th game behind the plate came where it all began -- in Arlington, Texas. He caught some 1,400 games with the Texas Rangers, his original team, with assorted games for the Marlins, Tigers and Yankees before he signed with the Houston Astros for this season.
On Tuesday, Pudge tied the record of 2,226 by Carlton "Pudge" Fisk. The Hall of Famer retired after catching one game more than Bob "Not Nicknamed Pudge" Boone.
Rodriguez seems likely to join Fisk in the Hall of Fame, unless he gets caught up in steroids controversy.
In the same Astros-Rangers game tonight, Texas shortstop Omar Vizquel tied the career record for hits by a Venezuela native with his 2,677th hit. That tied the makr of another Hall of Famer, Luis Aparicio. For a guy considered a defensive whiz, one of the best ever, Vizquel has had a reasonably good hitting career for a middle infielder. There have been no hints of steroids during his career.
Vizquel missed a chance to break the record by flying out in the seventh inning to Astros right fielder Hunter Pence. But then Pence tied the game with a homer in the eighth, so Omar might have another at-bat.
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