CLEVELAND — In the grand scheme of the 2026 MLB season, an early April contest between the Guardians and Royals doesn’t register as especially significant. But for José Ramírez, this chilly Monday night at Progressive Field meant history.
While a 4-2 defeat against a divisional foe wouldn’t have been the preferred script, the completed contest ensured a new reality: Ramírez is the all-time leader in games played for the Cleveland baseball franchise. Having played in his 1,620th game with the only major-league team he has ever known, the third baseman now stands alone in franchise lore, passing previous record-holder Terry Turner, who appeared in 1,619 games for Cleveland across 15 seasons from 1904 to 1918. The milestone also makes Ramirez the only active player to hold the title of games-played leader for a franchise.
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Turner’s claim to fame was popularizing the head-first slide, a baserunning technique that, more than a century later, few players utilize more frequently than the man who just seized Turner’s longstanding record. For more than a decade, Ramírez has bounded around major-league basepaths with breathtaking confidence, turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples and swiping bags with a delightful blend of baseball IQ and bravado.
Turner too racked up his fair share of steals during his lengthy tenure, but the similarities between the two end there. Turner stuck around forever on the basis of his speed and defense in an era when all-around dynamism was rare; his most notable statistical achievement is a staggering career total of 268 sacrifice bunts. Ramírez, meanwhile, is one of the most complete ballplayers of his generation, a full-blown star on both sides of the ball who continues to climb every other leaderboard the Cleveland franchise has to offer.
At the conclusion of the fifth inning Monday, with the game considered official, the Guardians held a brief ceremony to celebrate Ramírez. He took the field alone as the scoreboard proclaimed his achievement and then was awarded the third-base bag, an appropriate tribute to the area on the diamond where he has spent so much of his life. Of his 1,620 games played, 1,160 have been starts at third. He has also stolen the bag 45 times, a healthy portion of the 289 swipes he has tallied in his career, which rank second in franchise history behind only Kenny Lofton.
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There to gift Ramírez the base was Guardians first-base coach Sandy Alomar Jr., another popular stalwart of Cleveland baseball who racked up 985 games played with the franchise.
“He’s one of the coaches that has been here the longest,” Ramírez said postgame through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “So it’s very special that he was the one who was there.”
Across the field, even with a divisional game on the line in a 1-1 tie, the Royals’ dugout also paused to applaud Ramírez’s achievement. Standing on the top step was manager Matt Quatraro, wholly familiar with Ramírez not only as a primary opponent as the Kansas City skipper the past four years but also from his time as a hitting coach with Cleveland from 2014 to 2017, just as Ramírez’s ascent to stardom was beginning.
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“His confidence in himself,” Quatraro said pregame of what stood out about Ramírez early in his career, as well as the current version he’s now tasked with slowing down several times a year. “His belief that he can help his team win on any given night.”
Without the obvious standout physical tools that tend to equal high-end prospect pedigree, Ramírez generally flew under the radar on his climb to the majors. Even as he racked up hits in the minors, he was often projected as a utility type, something exemplified by the fact that his major-league debut in 2013 — game No. 1 of 1,620 and counting — came as a pinch-runner. It would take a few more seasons of bouncing around the Cleveland infield with minimal offensive production before Ramírez entrenched himself as a no-doubt superstar at the hot corner. Quatraro saw that glow-up up close and recalled the turning point well.
“I think the one thing that really stands out, in 2015, when he got sent down earlier in that season, he was swinging at just about everything,” Quatraro said. “When he came back up, I believe we were in Anaheim, and he, all of a sudden, was taking pitches, taking walks.”
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Quatraro’s not wrong. After debuting in 2013, Ramírez struggled to stick in the majors his first few seasons. He spent most of June and July 2015 with Triple-A Columbus. Called back up in early August, he drew two walks in each of his first three games, indeed in Anaheim against the Angels. Ramírez hasn’t played a minor-league game since.
“And then as that confidence grew, as he started swinging at better pitches, he started driving balls more,” Quatraro continued. “And then the next year is when the power started to come.”
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Ramírez hit just 13 homers in 335 career minor-league games, with his stocky, 5-foot-8 frame seemingly a limiting factor in his ability to drive the ball with authority. But once in the majors, he learned how to translate his special bat-to-ball skills into certified slugging prowess, even if he rarely produces tape-measure shots. Today, only Jim Thome (337) remains ahead of Ramírez (286) on the all-time Cleveland home run list — and likely not for much longer.
“I remember him and [Francisco Lindor] both saying, like, ‘Why are we trying to hit so many balls to center when it’s 325 over here? Let’s start pulling balls.’ And then they started hitting a bunch of homers,” Quatraro said. “And you know, his game has obviously grown a lot since I was here, but he’s never missed a fastball, I know that — and that’s one of those things that all the good hitters possess.”
On Monday, the Royals were able to hold Ramírez hitless, but he did draw a pair of walks, an unknowing hat tip to his old hitting coach’s memory. With the games-played record secured, Ramírez’s pursuit of Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie’s franchise record of 2,047 hits will have to continue Tuesday, with Ramírez’s total of 1,674 putting him several seasons away from that specific glory. But after he signed another contract extension with Cleveland this past winter that ensures he will remain a Guardian through 2032, Lajoie’s hits mark, like so many other franchise totals, will likely be Ramírez’s, too, eventually.
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“What Hosey has accomplished and will accomplish tonight is something truly special that I know he’s excited about,” manager Stephen Vogt said pregame. “I’m just fortunate that I get to be here in attendance to see it. And I’ve been a small part of being able to watch him play during this run that he’s had, but it’s a special night for Cleveland and for the franchise.”
For one night, it was about Ramírez, without question. But the larger picture is the focus for the face of the franchise. He recognizes that snagging all these franchise records means he is on a promising track to one day be enshrined in Cooperstown.
Even more importantly, he knows that if he continues to play at an elite level, he can give his beloved franchise its best chance of returning to postseason glory. Having come agonizingly close to a drought-ending championship early in his career in 2016, Ramírez is still hoping to lead his team back to the Fall Classic.
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“It feels good. Obviously it’s something fun to accomplish,” Ramírez said of his games-played record. “But that’s not my ultimate goal with the team.”
“Those are the two main things that I’m focused on: Work to get to the Hall of Fame and also win a World Series. Those are the two things I really want to accomplish with this team.”