Guilder Rodriguez is 31 -- young for most people, and even younger than many major leaguers. But he's ancient for a player who had never made his MLB debut. His 1,095 games in the minors were the most without an appearance in the majors and the most of any player in the minors. Rodriguez has been up in the big leagues for a few weeks, and Tuesday night, he finally got his first hit:
After 13 years in minor leagues, Guilder Rodriguez gets 1st hit, game-winning RBI for Rangers
Guilder Rodriguez persevered for 13 years and 1,095 games waiting for a night like Monday.
Tom Pennington
Rodriguez’s parents (whoops -- dad and wife, we were going off what the local announcers said) were emotional in the stands:
The show didn’t end there -- Rodriguez had a RBI single in the seventh that turned out to be the winning run in a 4-3 Rangers win. That explains why he got the Gatorade dump pictured at the top of the post.
We can’t promise Rodriguez will be long for the majors -- he hit .269 at AA Frisco this year, just .167 in 30 at-bats in Triple-A and had struck out in four of his first six MLB at-bats. But after 13 long, long years of long bus rides and low pay, he’ll have this moment forever.
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