Position Catcher Team Detroit Tigers Years of Experience 14 years Age 34 Height 5 ft 9 in Weight 205 lb Bats Right Throws Right College N/A 2005 Salary $8,000,000 Place of Birth Manati, Puerto Rico Selection Amateur free agent, 1988. Drafted by Texas Rangers Major League Debut June 20, 1991 Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 30, 1971 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico), nicknamed "Pudge" or "I-Rod", is a professional baseball player. He has a career batting average of .304 and has won eleven Gold Glove Awards as a catcher, as well as the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1999. Ivan is considered by many to be the greatest catcher of his era, his world series ring with the Marlins in 2003 solidifed this belief for many.

When Rodríguez made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers in 1992, he became the youngest person to play catcher in a major league game. He immediately established himself as an excellent hitter who was also proficient in throwing out would-be base-stealers. In fact, no other catcher in the past 35 years has been as succesful at this aspect of the game, with Rodriguez nailing 48f wouldbe-basestealers through May 2006, far more than the runner-up in this period, the late Thurman Munson.

Although he had the nickname "Pudge" since his youth, Rodríguez was often compared early on to the veteran catcher Carlton Fisk, who was also called "Pudge." Fisk retired early in Rodríguez's career, and fans and sportswriters viewed it as the passing of the torch from one Pudge to another.

When his contract with Texas ran out following the 2002 season, Rodríguez signed with the Florida Marlins for one year. By then a major-league veteran of over a decade, he helped lead a team of talented youngsters to victory in the World Series. In the off-season, he left Florida to sign with the Detroit Tigers. On October 26, 2005, Major League Baseball named him the catcher on their Latino Legends Team. He recently played first base for the first time in his career in a game for the Tigers