Rey Ordóñez
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Reynaldo Ordóñez Pereira (born November 11, 1971 in Havana, Cuba) is a minor league shortstop in the Seattle Mariners organization who previously played for the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball.
In 1993 in Buffalo, New York, Ordóñez became the second Cuban baseball player in history to defect to the United States. Ordóñez was a promising young player for the Havana Industriales club in Cuba at the time.
In 1994, Ordóñez signed with the Mets as an undrafted free agent. While in the minors, he was constantly compared to future hall-of-fame shortstop Ozzie Smith. Rey Ordóñez made his major league debut in the 1996 season. On opening day in 1996, Ozzie Smith and the Cardinals faced the Mets in Ordóñez's major league debut. After Ordóñez's stunning relay throw to home plate from his knees during his first major league game, Ozzie Smith responded "I can definitely say he is the second-coming of me." Ordóñez went on to win three consecutive Gold Glove Awards for his outstanding defensive play with the Mets. During 1999 and 2000, Ordóñez set a Major League record for shortstops by playing 101 consecutive games without committing a fielding error.
Ordóñez's defensive play never truly recovered after breaking his left arm on 29 May 2000 when attempting to tag the Dodgers' F.P. Santangelo out at second base, an injury that prevented the perennial Gold Glove contender from playing in the 2000 World Series (the Subway Series) against the Yankees. Taunted by unhappy Mets fans throughout the 2002 season, particularly because the much-heralded double play combination of Ordóñez and Roberto Alomar failed to produce, Ordóñez lashed out in a year-end interview calling the New York fans "too stupid." Later in the year, Ordóñez was traded to Tampa Bay. Ordóñez missed most of the 2003 season due to injuries and played briefly for the Chicago Cubs before being given his release.
In August 2004, Ordóñez became a U. S. citizen. He was unsure at the time whether he would ever play Major League Baseball again, and in fact did not play for any MLB organization during the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
On November 14, 2006, Ordóñez was signed to a minor league contract by the Seattle Mariners.[1]
Highlights
- Gold Glove (1997, 1998, 1999)
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/ , Nov 14, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Career statistics at Baseball Reference
- Career statistics at The Baseball Cube
- 2004 daily statistics at ESPN
- Rey Ordonez Acrobat In Spikes
See also
