Our fourth random former player played for 14 seasons for 4 different teams. He played three of the four infield positions, but he is most known for his days playing the most important defensive position in the game.Without further ado:
Remember Me? I’m Mike Bordick
Years Played: 1990-2003.
Debut: April 11, 1990.
Last Game: September 28, 2003.
Teams Played For: Oakland Athletics (90-96), Baltimore Orioles (97-00; 01-02), New York Mets (00); Toronto Blue Jays (03).
Position: SS, 2B, 3B
Bats/Throws: Right/Right.
Career Line: .260 AVG, 676 R, 1500 H, 257 2B, 30 3B, 91 HR, 626 RBI, 96 SB, .323 OBP, .362 SLG, .685 OPS., 7788 defensive chances, 137 E, .982 Fld%
Best Season: 2000 (BAL/NYM) - .285 AVG, 166 H, 30 2B, 20 HR, 80 RBI, 9 SB, .341 OBP, .443 SLG, .783 OPS., 646 defensive chances, 16 E, .975 Fld%
Awards/Honors: 1 All-Star Game (2000).
Career Highlights: Bordick was a 5-foot-11 inch shortstop, whose team played 12 games a year in high school in Maine. He didn’t receive any offers from national powerhouses, but Maine coach John Winkin liked his quickness and offered him a partial scholarship. Developing as a hitter, Bordick raised his average from .201 as a frosh to .364 his junior season when the Black Bears made a crazy run to the College World Series.
Despite his good season and defensive prowess, Bordick went undrafted and unsigned until the Oakland A’s couldn’t come to terms with another college shortstop they had drafted. Then A’s first-year scout and current Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi was the only one who was interested in Bordick and got the team to give him permission to offer and sign the slick fielder.
After working his way through the farm system, Bordick played for Oakland for 6 seasons, appearing in the World Series his rookie season when Walt Weiss went down with an injury, but played playoff baseball with the A’s only once more in 1992.
He wouldn’t return to the postseason until 2007, his first season after joining Baltimore when he was charged with the task of taking over the shortstop position from a legend — the player who had manned the middle infield for 16 consecutive seasons and had played in over 2000 consecutive games at the spot — the Iron Man Cal Ripken Jr, but Bordick did it seamlessly using his glove to do the talking. While he only hit. 236, he fielded 14.1 runs above the league average, his first of three consecutive seasons with double digit fielding average above the league average.
In the division series that year, though, against Seattle, Bordick hit .400, led the team with a .571 on base percentage, and tied for the team lead with four RBIs. The O’s won but would lose to the Cleveland Indians in 6 games.
In 2000, Bordick had his career year making his only All-Star game and was rewarded by getting traded at the deadline to the New York Mets. In his first at bat with the Mets, Bordick blasted a homer and later singled to set up the tying run. The Mets would go onto the World Series in the infamous Subway Series before losing to the Yankees.
However, it was the shortstop’s remarkable defense that will best be remembered. Following the 2000 season, he went back to the O’s as a free agent, and in 2002, Bordick broke Ripken’s American League records and then the major league records by going 110 games and 543 defensive chances at shortstop without an error.
After Baseball: After playing one season with Toronto, Bordick retired, but he has never gone far from the game. He was the head baseball coach at Boys’ Latin School in Baltimore for a time, and now is a member of the Blue Jays organization as a minor league roving infield instructor.
Shotgun Spratling
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