Even on a day that ended in a loss, Jose Ramirez found a way to cement his place in Cleveland baseball history.
The Guardians dropped a 5-3 decision to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium, a frustrating conclusion to a 2-4 road trip that exposed real concerns in the bullpen. Ramirez himself dealt with a painful shin injury after fouling a ball off his right leg in the sixth inning, clearly not running at full capacity for the remainder of the afternoon.
But before any of that happened, in the very first inning of the game, Ramirez quietly stepped into one of the most significant moments in the history of this franchise.
“With his fielder’s choice grounder in the first inning Wednesday against St. Louis, Ramirez took over the club’s all-time lead in at-bats with 6,040, breaking a tie with Nap Lajoie, who compiled 6,039 at-bats in parts of 13 seasons from 1902 to 1914,” Noga wrote.
Nap Lajoie.
That is not a name that gets passed in the record books lightly. Lajoie is one of the most celebrated players in the history of professional baseball, a Hall of Famer who played parts of 13 seasons in Cleveland from 1902 to 1914 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest second basemen the game has ever seen. His .338 career batting average remains one of the highest in baseball history. The franchise was literally nicknamed the Naps in his honor during his time in Cleveland. He is the standard by which all Cleveland hitters have been measured for over a century.
Jose Ramirez just passed him.
The shin injury he suffered on Wednesday is worth monitoring as Cleveland returns home to open a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles. Ramirez stayed in the game after being checked by trainers, which says everything about the kind of competitor he is, but running was clearly compromised for the remainder of the afternoon.
The health of Ramirez matters more to the Guardians than almost any other variable on this roster.
But even on a day when he was hurting, playing in a game Cleveland ultimately lost, the man set a franchise record for at-bats that had stood in the name of Lajoie for over a century.
That is Jose Ramirez in a nutshell.
The records fall whether anyone is watching or not.
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