Yadier Molina marks 10 years with St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina became a 10/5 man today in Major League Baseball. What the 10 and 5 rule means is that baseball players cannot be traded without consent if they have been with the same team for five consecutive seasons and have been in Major League Baseball for ten seasons.

Molina made his debut on this date in 2004 when then-catcher Mike Matheny went on the DL. Batting seventh in the Cardinals lineup, Molina went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and run scored when the Cardinals were on the road to play the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

Molina’s first hit came in the top of the fifth inning when he hit a single on a liner to left-center off of pitcher Oliver Perez.

Molina doubled in the top of the seventh for his second hit of the night, advancing to third on So Taguchi‘s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Woody Williams‘ sacrifice fly to right-center for the first run of his career.

Molina finished the 2004 season hitting .267/.329/.356 in 51 games.

It was not until the 2008 season in which Molina earned his first Gold Glove and hit over .300 for the first time. Molina has been hitting over .300 since the 2011 season and is well on the way to being selected to his sixth consecutive All-Star Game.