1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Outfielder Magglio Ordóñez

The unlikely path that lay before Magglio Ordóñez was that of a 15 year MLB veteran. He was a late bloomer who became a smash hit in two AL Central cities. Magglio joined Mark Kotsay and Ben Grieve in the Topps All-Star Rookie outfield for the 1998 season after being left unprotected in the Rule V Draft the year before. Ordóñez had solid if not spectacular numbers in his rookie season, including 14 homers and 9 stolen bases. 

  Ordóñez was signed as an international free agent by the White Sox out of Caracas, Venezuela - the same hometown as former White Sox great Chico Carrasquel. He would spend 5 mostly uneventful seasons in the minor leagues before having a breakout campaign for AAA Nashville. He was the 1997 MVP of the American Association, thanks to a meaty .329 average and an OPS of .840. He did consistently rise in the minor league ranks each after after 1994, and showed glimpses of the power he'd later display at the big league level. 

Once he made it to the big leagues, Ordóñez was hitting his prime baseball years. With the White Sox, he made it to 4 All-Star games, and clubbed 30+ homers and 110+ RBI in four straight seasons starting in 1999. He earned the first of 3 career Silver Slugger awards in 2000, when he hit .315/.371/.546 with 32 homers, 126 RBI, 102 runs scored and led the AL in sacrifice hits. Things were going great for Ordóñez until a collision with an infielder on a pop up in short right field in 2004, which led to 2 surgeries on his knee. He'd play in just 52 games that season. Following that tough luck season, Ordóñez became a free agent and signed with the rival AL Central doormat, the Detroit Tigers.

Magglio's arrival in the motor city coincided with the team's renaissance from an afterthought to a juggernaut. During his first season in Detroit, he was still rehabbing and recovering from the knee injury that decimated his 2004 campaign. He'd play in 82 games in 2005, and crept back above .300 with a .302 average. This came with a bitter aftertaste - the White Sox would win the 2005 World Series without his bat in the lineup. But 2006 would be a different story. Ordóñez played his first full season since 2003, and helped the Tigers make a deep playoff run of their own, including some heroics in the 2006 ALCS. In game 4 of the series, Ordóñez hit a pair of homers - one to tie the game in the 6th inning and the next to walk off as a winner in the ninth. The Tigers would fall in the World Series to the Cardinals, with Ordóñez hitting just 2-19 with 4 Ks in the five game series. Then in 2007, he had one of the more remarkable offensive seasons in recent memory. He won the AL batting title, for starters, with a .363 average. He had 54 doubles, taking advantage of Comerica Park's spacious outfield alleys, also leading the league. Combined with his 28 homers, he managed to hit the most extra base hits in a season in MLB history without hitting a Triple. It would prove to be his 6th and final All-Star nod, and his 3rd and final Silver Slugger award. 

For his career, Ordóñez slashed .309/.369/.502 for an OPS of .871 and an OPS+ of 125. His 294 career homers trail only Miguel Cabrera and Andres Galarraga for the most by a Venezuelan born player in MLB history. 

Do you have any Magglio memories? I'd love to read them in the comments below. 

Thanks for reading!