Helton becomes 6th player to reach 2,000 games

It will be a year full of milestones if Todd Helton keeps this up. On Tuesday night, the longtime DMBLer became the sixth player in league history with 2,000 games played, and now only two other players stand ahead of him in career doubles.

Helton, drafted by the Hoboken Cutters in the 7th round this year, smacked two doubles in Monday night's win over Marietta, passing Edgar Martinez to move into third all-time. He started the year tied for sixth with Barry Bonds (487), and also passed Ivan Rodriguez (490) along the way. The only players left ahead of Helton are Chipper Jones (535), who is chasing Manny Ramirez (538).

A career-high 63 doubles in 2001 -- his first with Stanhope/Marietta -- kicked off a stretch of eight straight seasons of at least 38 doubles. That stretch also included eight out of nine seasons with at least 159 games played.

Helton has but one home run so far this year, 286 for his career, good for 26th all-time, although he recently was passed by current teammate Miguel Cabrera. The lefty slugger also overtook Jeff Bagwell (2,047) for 13th in career hits, and moved into 15th all-time in RBIs, passing Jim Edmonds (1,129), as he tries to compile a Hall Of Fame resume.

Pudge calls it quits

When Ivan Rodriguez announced his retirement last week, he bid farewell to the DMBL for good. He had 137 plate appearances in MLB last year, leaving him 67 short of DMBL eligibility for 2012.

He certainly will be on the ballot for the DMBL Hall of Fame by 2017, and as a longtime catcher, likely will get heavy consideration on his first try. If it's not Pudge leading catchers in a career batting category, it's Mike Piazza.

Pudge spent much of his career with his original franchise, the now defunct-Columbia Crusaders. He was the face of the franchise since being selected in the 6th round (50th overall) in the 1993 draft and spent 12 seasons with the Crusaders/Rattlesnakes. He was a two-time all-star (1996 and 2001) and appeared in a DMBL-record 18 seasons.

After Columbia left the DMBL, Pudge was a bit of a vagabond catcher -- left unprotected but usually being drafted -- playing for five different teams in his final six seasons. Much of his final three years was spent as a part-time player, logging 190 games with three different squads.

Most impressively, between breaking into the DMBL in 1993 and 2008, Pudge played no fewer than 130 games a year with the exception of one season (2002, 102 games, and of course, the strike-year of 1995). He leads catchers in career hits, at-bats, doubles and games played (tantalizingly close to 500 doubles, and 2,000 "official" games), and trails Piazza in most other categories.

Entering the 2012 season, he ranked 6th all-time in games played with 1,991 -- only Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, Manny Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero have "officially" played more. He also finishes 4th in doubles with 490 (surpassed only by Edgar Martinez, Chipper and Manny).

(Games played wasn't an official stat in the early days of the DMBL and many old-timers have incomplete records for the category. Rodriguez certainly played more than 2,000 games but the 1994 and 1996 seasons are incomplete, and he likely played as many as 300 games in those two years considering his number of at-bats.)

Other career stats for Pudge:

Batting average: .282
On-base: .313
Slugging: .439
OPS: .752
AB: 8,318 (7th)
H: 2,370 (7th -- ahead of Roberto Alomar, 2,207, behind A-Rod, 2,436)
HR: 263 (30th -- ahead of Javy Lopez, 260, behind Bobby Abreu, 264)
RBI:  1,100 (18th -- ahead of Rafael Palmeiro, 1,099, behind Larry Walker, 1,103)
Runs: 821 (29th)
Strikeouts: 1,359 (19th; only 378 career walks)

End of the road for Pudge?

Ivan Rodriguez's DMBL record 18-year career may have come to an end.

The catcher only had 137 plate appearances in MLB in 2011, leaving him 63 short of DMBL eligibility. Pudge had played in every season since 1993 and is the DMBL career record holder in most seasons played (18) and consecutive seasons played (also 18).

He's a career .282 hitter (.313 OBP, .439 SLG) with 490 2B, 263 HR and 1,100 RBIs. He has 8,401 career ABs in the DMBL.

Pudge had a great year last year as a platoon player, hitting .386 (.860 OPS), but in only 83 ABs. His best year came in 2001, when he hit .318/.350/.604 (.953 OPS) with 108 R, 200 H, 50 2B, 41 HR and 102 RBI.

He played most of his career with the Columbia Crusaders (later named the Rattlesnakes), playing with that now defunct organization from 1993 through 2005. He's since played for the D.C. Bushslappers, Sardine City Straphangers, New Jersey Team Buddah, Arkansas Golden Falcons and Amityville Ant Slayers.

I-Rod was released by the Nationals, but he hasn't officially hung up his catcher's mask just yet. There have been rumors he's being eyed by the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros. We'll see if he can get to 200 plate appearances next season and return in 2013 for a 19th DMBL year.

BUT WAIT... isn't there a chance Pudge could surface in the DMBL in 2012? Yes! Under the Tom Price Rule, if every eligible catcher is already on a roster, the player with at least 10 games started as a catcher and the most plate appearances will become eligible. Currently, that honor goes to Rob Johnson, who just missed eligibility with 199 plate appearances. But after Johnson is signed, and another team also needs a catcher... eligiblity would go to Hank Conger. But if Conger isn't available... and if injuries also strike Jose Molina, Buster Posey, Chris Stewart, Carlos Corporan, David Ross, J.R. Towles, Salvador Perez, Koyie Hill, Brett Hayes, Brian Schneider and Francisco Cervelli, then Ivan is eligible again! Here's hoping.