ADDENDUM: The header has been updated from the printed catalog. Batting helmet style dates to 1992-93.

There may be no nickname more suitable in baseball than "Pudge" forrecent Hall of Fame inductee Ivan Rodriguez. The stout 5' 9" 205-lb.backstop from Puerto Rico was the pillar at his position for the betterpart of two decades earning 13 Gold Gloves and 14 All-Star appearancesbetween 1992 and 2007 including the American League MVP in 1999. Amongcatchers Pudge ranks first all-time in hits (2844) RBI (1332)Doubles (572) and Total Bases (4451) and has the 4th most home runswith 311 while hitting a shade below .300 for his career. But it washis defensive prowess and ability to throw guys out from his knees thatreally put him in the upper echelon of the greatest ever.

This lot includes a plethora of Pudge game-used items stretching from the early 1990's with the Texas Rangers to his World Series winning season with the Florida Marlins in 2003. Let's start with his Rangers game-used batting helmet in a style that dates to 1992-93 his second and third MLB seasons. The Rawlings battinghelmet is designed for a right-handed batter like Pudge with a left ear flap and is fully padded on the inside. It includes the early 90's Texas “T” decal onthe front and Pudge’s famed uniform number “7” white decal on the rear. Thehelmet has a customized curved design on the right side allowing Pudge to discard it quickly when playing defense. The crown shows a ton of game use with scuff marks and scrapes all over.

Also from his Rangers days is a batting practice worn jersey fromthe 2000 season according to MeiGray. The light-weight blue 100% nylon button-down jersey reads“RANGERS” across the front in white and gray tackle twill lettersoutlined in blue and red. Proper Majestic tagging appears on the leftfront tail with a “48” flag tag to indicate size. Directly beneath thattag rests a second separate tag that reads: “TEXAS RANGERS COLLECTION –MeiGray Group.” On the inside left seam is a small tag reading “100%NYLON.” The Rangers red white blue and gray embroidered team patchadorns the left sleeve. On the outside rear collar is the official MLBred white and blue embroidered logo. See Getty 636319 for style match.

Now to his Marlins gear. On April 22 2003 his first year in Florida Rodriguez belted his fourth home run of the season to lead his team to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers. In fact Rodriguez’s two-run blast was the difference as it came in the eighth inning off of Valerio De Los Santos when the score was tied 2-2. That season the 31-year-old would hit 16 home runs and drive in 85 runs to help the 91-71 N.L. Wild Card winners win the World Series over the Yankees. This lot has Pudge’s game-used cleats from that very 4/22/03 game. The black Nike cleats complete with white swooshes on either side of both shoes show considerable game use with embedded dirt still residing between the metal cleats. Rodriguez has signed and inscribed both cleats above the toes in silver paint pen: “H.R. 4 2003.”

Also from that 2003 championship season are the following: 1) Pair of Rodriguez’s signed and inscribed (“GU 03”) white and gray Nike Dri-Fit game-used batting gloves that include special “PUDGE 7” tagging on the inside wrist areas. 2) Pair of his game-worn signed and inscribed black sweat socks upon which Rodriguez has signed his name and “GU 03” in silver paint pen. Both socks even come with an ironed-on “7” decal in white. 3) Pair of his game-worn red Nike wrist band.

Includes signed LOA from Ivan Rodriguez and Authentic Sports Investments (Rodriguez’s sports marketing representatives) regarding the 2003 cleats.

Separate LOA from The MeiGray Group verifying the jersey’s batting practice use in 2000.

Autographs pre-certified by PSA/DNA.