On the eve of his induction, Pudge is full of stories

Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez is looking forward to this weekend, his official induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the fourth Puerto Rican and 13th Latino to earn a bronze plaque. You can see it in his smile, in his postings on social media, in his new T-shirt that blares in large type, “Legends Last Forever.”

It promises to be a big party. The Texas Rangers, his first team and the one that will be represented on his plaque, have rented a half-dozen homes in the area and are bringing at least 130 people. Pudge himself is arriving with an entourage of more than 100.

If the recent inductions of Roberto Alomar and Pedro Martínez are any indication, Cooperstown will be bursting at the seams and folks may be dancing in the streets.

For a little kid who loved to pitch and also play third base, it’s been a remarkable journey, all the way from the dirt fields of two neighboring small towns on the north coast of Puerto Rico: Manatí — where he was born on Nov. 27, 1971 — and Vega Baja, where he was raised.

The simple way to sum it up is that Pudge grew up on a tropical island where you lived down the street from the ballpark and played every day trying to emulate Roberto Clemente, the first Latino enshrined in the Hall of Fame. His passion for the game begat his defensive genius and his work ethic begat a powerful arm and quick release.

But like he has been telling everyone since his election was announced in January, it’s a little more complicated than that.

Papá knows best

“I liked to pitch,” Pudge told La Vida Baseball. “My father told me I was going to be a catcher. I cried.”

His dad José, a former catcher himself, clearly knew best.

And Pudge, who grew up on an island that has minted All-Star and Gold Glove backstops nonstop for the past four decades — Eliseo Rodríguez; rookie of the year Benito Santiago; Sandy Alomar Jr.; Jorge Posada; Javy López; the Molina brothers and so on — knew who to emulate back then.

“There are a lot of good catchers in Puerto Rico,” he says. “But I always liked Johnny Bench.”

Many short stories add up to make a legend. Pudge was a 14-time All-Star, won 13 Gold Gloves, and set records for most games and hits by a catcher.

But he almost didn’t make it to his first minor league team. As former Rangers executive Luis Rodríguez Mayoral recounted for La Vida in June, on his first trip to the States, Pudge ended up sleeping overnight behind a counter at Miami International Airport because he had no idea how to make a connecting flight.

they call him Pudge

Then there’s his nickname, which he shares with another Hall of Fame catcher, Carlton Fisk. Rodríguez got his from one of his first minor league managers, Aurelio “Chino” Cadahía.

“At that time, I was small and cocky — you know, like a strong and small guy — and he called me ‘Pudgy.’ The name just stayed with me,” Pudge told USA Today Baseball Weekly in 2001.

Pudge turned pro at 16 and was called up by the Rangers at age 19, the weekend he was supposed to get married. (Pudge and his first wife, Maribel, ended up tying the knot the following spring.) He flew to Chicago for his debut against the White Sox on June 20, 1991, and threw out the first two baserunners who tried to steal on him, fellow boricua Joey Cora and Warren Newson.

“Defense was the main part of my game. I loved to throw everybody out. I got mad when somebody tried to steal off me,” Pudge told La Vida at the Hall of Fame this spring.

Pudge is entering Cooperstown with two other players, Jeff Bagwell and base stealer extraordinaire Tim Raines, fifth all-time with 808 stolen bases — and a perfect 4-for-4 against Pudge.

Raines is one of the lucky ones, because Pudge led the American League in caught stealing percentage a record nine times and threw out 46 percent of the runners who tried to steal on him over his career. Interestingly enough, Pudge says that the player who gave him the most fits was Alomar, a fellow Puerto Rican who hit .300, stole 474 bases and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.

“He was smart,” Pudge said during an appearance on MLB Network this week. “He ran on the pitcher.”

Pudge claims that he won his share of battles against the all-time king, Rickey Henderson, who stole a record 1,406 bases. According to Baseball Cube, Pudge has the second-highest rating among catchers vs. the Man of Steal — 9-for-15, a 60 percent success rate — including throwing Henderson out in consecutive games in 1995.

“He told me, ‘I’m not running anymore today,’” Pudge said. “Those are very good stories about things that happen on the field. A lot of fans don’t know about them. We had fun on the field.”

An induction speech in two languages

Pudge has already prepared his induction speech. As has been the case with many of the Latinos who have preceded him into Cooperstown, it will be in two languages.

“I have to speak to my parents in Spanish so they can understand what I’m saying to them,” Pudge said. “I probably will read some of it… But I think that the fans want to hear stories, stories about Nolan and me, things like that.”

That’s Nolan as in Ryan, the all-time strikeout leader who authored seven no-hitters and entered the Hall of Fame in 1999. In his second game with the Rangers, on June 21, 1991, Pudge caught Nolan for five innings.

“So, this 19-year-old kid goes to the mound to talk to Nolan. He’s looking at me and I can’t say even one word. Ten seconds later he says to me, ‘Are you going to say something?’ I say, ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Okay, let’s go.’ I didn’t say another word. He comes back to me and says, ‘Do you want to say something to me? Are you okay?’ ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ ‘Okay,’ he says, ‘Go back.’ I probably had something to say, but I panicked when I saw him looking at me. He was a 44-year-old man, I was 19; what was I going to say to him? It was kind of funny.”

Besides being a defensive genius, Pudge was also quite the batsman, retiring with 2,844 hits, 311 home runs and a .296 average after a 21-year career. He credits his success to another Latino, Rudy Jaramillo, the longtime hitting coach for the Rangers.

“He was a very simple hitting coach. He preached stay back, stay inside of the ball, hit the ball the other way. And I did that,” Pudge said of the now-retired Jaramillo, who will be along for the Hall festivities.

“I never thought about hitting when I was a player. I thought about defense. Defense was my No. 1 priority,” Pudge added. “You know that I never walked. I was very aggressive. I would swing at everything that I could reach in front of me. It helped me in my career, not thinking too much.”

Work hard and keep it simple

That’s Pudge distilled to his essence: Work hard and keep it simple. What does he like today? When it comes to food, he loves rodízio, the all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouses; rice and beans; and the three most popular forms of plantains: tostones (green and fried), maduros (ripe and either fried or baked) and mofongo (green, fried, smashed and served in a broth or sauce).

When it comes to music, he prefers salsa from the ’80s, particularly anything by crooner Marc Anthony. When it comes to watching sports? Basketball, soccer and everything else in between.

“I would love to play basketball. But I’m not tall enough to play basketball. I would be J.J. Barea,” said Pudge with a chuckle while making a reference to the 6-foot guard from Puerto Rico who plays for the Dallas Mavericks.

Pudge has a new passion — golf. He plays so often that his handicap is down to five. What’s the best part of his game? “The wedge,” he said proudly.

It makes total sense. Behind the plate, Pudge needed soft hands, a good touch, balance and intuition — all requirements for an effective short game. Once a catcher, always a catcher.

Make that now a Hall of Fame catcher.

Featured Image: Kelly Gavin / MLB Photos / Getty Images

Inset Images: Texas Rangers