Blue Jays to raise Carlos Delgado to Level of Excellence
Posted December 7, 2012 9:23 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – He was impressive on the field, and now first-baseman Carlos Delgado will be honoured off the field by having his name inducted on the Level of Excellence.
A top player for the Jays for twelve years, Delgado will be the tenth member of the organization to be raised to the Level of Excellence.
The Level of Excellence is an award given to members of the organization who showed exceptional individual achievement. Previous recipients of this prestigious award are Dave Stieb, George Bell, Joe Carter, Cito Gaston, Tony Fernandez, Pat Gillick, Tom Cheek, Roberto Alomar and Paul Beeston.
“Not only was he one of the best hitters in club history, he was one of the finest first basemen of his generation,” said Blue Jays President Paul Beeston.
“More importantly, Carlos was a tremendous ambassador for the Blue Jays organization and the city of Toronto.”
Fans are being encouraged to come out to Rogers Centre early on July 21 to honour Delgado, and the first 20,000 fans will receive a commemorative Carlos Delgado baseball.
“This is a tremendous honour. When I became a Blue Jay I never thought an honour of this nature would be possible. I am grateful to the Blue Jays organization and feel truly honoured to receive this recognition,” Delgado said.
Delgado made his debut in 1993 and would remain with the club for 12 seasons finishing as the franchise leader in home runs (336), RBIs (1,058), walks (827), slugging percentage (.556), OPS (.949), runs (889), total bases (2,786), doubles (343), extra base hits (690), times on base (2,362), hit by pitch (122), intentional walks (128) and at bats per home run (14.9).
The two-time All-Star (2000 and 2003) holds several Blue Jays single-season and career records. He won the Hank Aaron Award and Sporting News Player of the Year Award in 2000 and the Silver Slugger Award in 1999, 2000, and 2003.
