Mike Bordick: 2000 NL Champion Mets Short Time Short Stop (2000)

Michael Todd Bordick was born July 21, 1965, in Marquette Michigan. His father was in the Air Force & the Bordick family moved around during Mike’s youth. They went from Michigan to upstate New York, finally settling in Maine.

Bordick attended the University of Maine, playing for the school’s team, the Black Bears. He signed with the Oakland A’s in 1986 spending four seasons in the minor leagues.

Oakland A's Career: He came up with the 1990 A.L. Champion Athletics, eventually taking over the shortstop position from Walt Weis the next year. Weis had been their main short stop starting 1988 taking over for Alfredo Griffin. Weis won three straight pennants & a World Series with the A's.

Bordick would spend the next seven years in Oakland, mostly as their main shortstop through the 1996 season. 

1990 Post Season: In the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays he only hit .053 going 1-19 in six games. 

In 1992 he batted .300 with 151 hits 19 doubles 48 RBIs & 62 runs scored.

During those years with the Athletics he twice led the league in put outs, once in games played & assists. He was a consistent player and very solid defensively, always among the tops in the league at shortstop in fielding.

Orioles Career: In 1996 he signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles, taking over at short stop when Cal Ripken moved over to third base. Bordick played in Camden Yards as the main short stop for six seasons, getting to the post season in 1997.

1997 Post Season- NLDS: In the ALSA win over Seattle, Bordick hit .400 (4-10). In Game #1 he doubled off Randy Johnson bringing in the O's first run in their 9-3 win. In Game #2 he hit an 8th inning two run single bringing in Cal Ripken & Harold Baines, in another O's 9-3 win.

1997 ALCS: in the loss to the Cleveland Indians he had three hits including two RBIs in the Game #2 loss.

As the league’s hitting numbers increased in the late nineties so did Bordick’s. He would hit 13 HRs in 1998 while leading the league in sacrifice hits with 15. In 1999 he batted .277 with 10 HRs & 77 RBIs.

In 1999 he hit 35 doubles with 77 RBIs having career highs in hits (175) & runs scored (93). That
season he also led all AL shortstops in fielding & assists. He also was in the top ten of getting hit by pitches three times, doing it 227 times in his career (#67 all time). 

 He had his best season in 2000 with career highs in HRs (20) RBIs (80) making his only All Star team, batting .285 with 30 doubles.

Mets Career: That summer, the Mets lost short their stop Rey Ordonez for the remainder of the season & had to make a move. Ordonez was an excellent fielder but was only batting .188 at the time he went down. 

The only other short stop on the club at the time was the little used Kurt Abbott & the team was not confident enough in him to take over the role.

Melvin Mora was still being used as an outfielder at the time. On July 28th they traded Melvin Mora, Mike Kinkade, Leslie Brea & minor leaguer Mike Kinkade to the Orioles in exchange for Bordick for the stretch run.

It was a good move for the Mets, receiving a solid defensive veteran player who was also hitting well to fill the gap, even though it was just for the season. 

Mets Debut HR: On July 29th, Mike Bordick debuted as a Met in a game at Shea Stadium vs. the Cardinals. In his first Mets at bat, Bordick hit a solo HR off St. Louis' Andy Benes tying up the game, leading the Mets to an eventual 3-2 win. 

Bordick contributed to the Mets Wild Card chase with three HRs & 11 RBIs in the month of August keeping his average at .300. 

On August 1st, Bordick's 6th inning RBI single turned out to be the game winning run in the Mets 3-2 win over the Reds. It was the eleventh victory of the year for pitcher Mike Hampton.

On August 6th, he hit his first Mets HR, coming in a loss at Arizona. On August 12th, he homered off the Giants Shawn Estes in a 3-2 Mets win. On August 17th, in a 13-2 win at Coors Field, Bordick collected three hits, including a two run HR off the Rockies Craig House, for his 20th HR of the season, third as a Mets player. From August 22nd to August 25th, he drove in runs in three straight games.

On September 10th, Mike drove in two runs, one on a force play, the other getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, coming in a 3-0 Al Leiter complete game shutout. On the last day of the regular season, Bordick had two RBI singles leading the Mets to a 3-2 win over the Montreal Expos. 

In September, Bordick's average tailed off as he batted .186 but still finished the year hitting .285. In 56 games with the Mets, Bordick batted .260 with 4 HRs 8 doubles 18 runs scored & 21 RBIs. He posted a .321 on base % & .685 OPS for the 2000 NL Champion Mets. At shortstop he posted a .968 fielding % making 7 errors & turning 24 double plays.

2000 Post Season: This season Bordick was playing in his third post season. In the 2000 post season, he was 4-33 (.123), never hitting above .200 in any of the three Series. 

2000 NLDS: In the NLDS win over the San Francisco Giants, Bordick collected hits in the first two games going an overall 2-12. In Game #1- thru Game #3 he drew three walks & scored three runs.

2000 NLCS: In the NLCS win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Bordick was held hitless in the first four games. 

In Game #4, Bordick drew a 6th inning leadoff walk. He would advance on a sacrifice bunt, then a throwing error, scoring when Piazza reached on an error at third base by Fernando Tatis.

In the 5th inning of the final pennant clinching Game #6 at Shea Stadium, Bordick singled.  In the 7th inning he led off with a walk & would eventually score on pitcher Rick Ankiel's wild pitch. Ankiel threw two wild pitches in a row to Edgardo Alfonso who was batting while Mike was on base.

2000 World Series: In the Subway World Series Bordick went 1-8 playing in the first four games. In the Game #3 victory, he collected a 5th inning base hit off Orlando Hernandez.

After the Pennant: The following season he went back to Baltimore, signing as a free agent. Bordick played two more seasons in Baltimore having his best defensive season in 2002, when he set the MLB records for fielding% (.998%) fewest errors (one) consecutive errorless games (110) & consecutive errorless chances (543).

In 2003 he closed out his career in Toronto with the Blue Jays, hitting .274 in 103 games.

Career Stats: In a 13-year career Bordick played in 1720 games hitting .260 with 1500 hits 257 doubles 30 triples 91 HRs 676 runs scored & 626 RBIs. He struck out 800 times walked 500 times drew a .323 on base % & .685 OPS. Defensively he made 128 errors with 2606 put outs (64th all time) 4410 assists (65th all time) with a .982 fielding %.

Retirement: In 2005 he was invited to the White House to honor the Little League Champions from Toms River, NJ. 

Bordick has worked as a minor league instructor for the Blue Jays & Orioles since his playing days.

Starting in 2012 he began working as a commentator for the MASN network as a color analyst for Orioles games. Bordick has alternated that position with O's Hall of Fame pitcher, Jim Palmer

Honors: In 2011 Bordick was elected to the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.

Family: Mike & his wife Monica have six children.