CLEVELAND — Terry Turner was born in Sandy Lake, Pa., on Feb. 28, 1881. He debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1901, spent a few years with the Columbus Senators of the American Association, and then landed in Cleveland, where he became a big-league staple.
Turner played in Cleveland for 15 years and appeared in a franchise record 1,619 games, the last of which came on Sept. 1, 1918.
More than a century later, a guy born in Baní, Dominican Republic, on Sept. 17, 1992, will break that record. When he jogs to his station at third base on Monday evening, Ramírez will begin his 1,620th game, all in a Cleveland uniform.
“How freaking cool is that?” said first baseman Rhys Hoskins.
“One hundred twenty-five years of (Cleveland) baseball, and how freaking lucky am I to be a part of that guy’s career, just along for the ride?” said reliever Erik Sabrowski. “I can’t wrap my head around that.”
On the franchise leaderboards, Ramírez ranks second in homers, third in doubles, seventh in hits, second in RBIs and ninth in walks.
“Every single one,” said catcher David Fry, “it’s just, ‘José passes some guy with seven names from 1842.’ Everybody’s in black-and-white pictures. He’s unbelievable.”
After Ramírez, the five players in team history with the most games played were born in 1881 (Turner), 1874 (Nap Lajoie), 1917 (Lou Boudreau), 1920 (Jim Hegan) and 1888 (Tris Speaker). Ramírez will be the only active player in the majors to lead their franchise in games played.
“Of all the records,” Ramírez said, “I feel like that’s one of the most important.”
Before first pitch Sunday, Ramírez collected the hardware for his sixth Silver Slugger Award. He’s a seven-time All-Star. He has six top-five finishes in the American League MVP balloting, plus a sixth-place finish and a 10th-place finish.
Every day, it seems, there’s a new milestone.
“It’s just a Tuesday,” Sabrowski said. “It’s another day of José doing something no one else can do and probably no one else will. … If they haven’t started building the statue yet, what are we waiting for?”
Game 1: The shoeless 20-year-old
Terry Francona’s bunch needed a September surge to make a playoff push. On Sept. 1, 2013, the club promoted a 20-year-old Ramírez from Double A to serve primarily as a pinch-runner. All he had to do was be fearless on the bases. To do that, he needed shoes.
Ramírez forgot his cleats for his debut, so he had to borrow from the Detroit Tigers’ clubhouse staff, and the white pair they gave him was two sizes too big. He replaced Carlos Santana as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning of a scoreless game and trotted home on Mike Aviles’ grand slam.
That month, Clevelanders got their first glimpse of the guy who, 13 years later, ranks second in team history in stolen bases and third in runs scored.
Game 41: The first long ball
Ramírez was initially considered an aspiring utility infielder and a placeholder at shortstop until Francisco Lindor’s arrival. On Aug. 9, 2014, he socked his first big-league homer off Brandon McCarthy at Yankee Stadium. He went 3-for-4 that afternoon, his first of six three-hit games and 15 multi-hit games the rest of the way, as he found his major-league footing.
Game 464: The extra-base-hit machine
On Sept. 3, 2017, Ramírez went 5-for-5 with three doubles and two homers, tying a major-league record with five extra-base hits, to fuel Cleveland’s 11th straight win — halfway along their march to an American League record 22 in a row. Ramírez was the 10th player to collect five extra-base hits; six others have since matched the record. He had help on both homers. Left fielder Mikie Mahtook couldn’t cleanly field a carom with his bare hand after the ball bounced off the wall, and he knocked it over the fence. Right fielder Alex Presley couldn’t squeeze the second homer, and it rolled out of his glove and over the wall.
During the winning streak, Ramírez had two other games in which he went 4-for-4, including win No. 22. “In that 2016-2017 time,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, “it was like, ‘How do you get this guy out? There’s just no good way.’”
Game 768: The triumphant (and expedited) return
Ramírez broke his hamate bone in late August 2019. He was expected to miss five to seven weeks, but he was back in the lineup in one month, in time for the final week of the season as the club jockeyed with the A’s and Rays for a wild-card spot. That injury tends to sap hitters of their power for a while, but Ramírez smacked a grand slam and a three-run homer in his first two trips to the plate upon his return. He tacked on another homer the following night.
Game 823: The playoff clincher
Ramírez’s best chance to win an MVP award came in 2020, when he finished runner-up to José Abreu after a pandemic-shortened season. Ramírez’s lasting highlight from that abbreviated season, though, was a walk-off, three-run homer on Sept. 20 against Abreu’s White Sox that secured Cleveland a playoff berth. Francona, who was away from the team to deal with health issues, heard the fireworks from his downtown apartment before the broadcast showed the home run. The Guardians’ brass walked over to his residence after the game with celebratory drinks.
That September, Ramírez had nine doubles, 10 homers, 11 walks and only 10 strikeouts, as he posted a 1.294 OPS.
Game 893: The master of chaos
Ramírez homered in his first at-bat on June 16, 2021. Then, he flaunted the other side of his game. If you glance at a box score, you’ll be puzzled. Baseball Reference reads: Ramírez recorded a “single to RF,” two runs scored, “Ramírez to 3B.” Wait, huh? How? It’s one of those sequences you need to watch to believe — or even understand.
With runners on second and third, Ramírez lined a two-run single to right. The throw to the plate was cut off on the infield as the Orioles caught Ramírez in a rundown. He backtracked toward first, then scooted away from a couple of infielders to slide safely into second as his helmet came dislodged. He popped to his feet and noticed the third baseman was nowhere near the bag, so he dashed another 90 feet.
Game 1,137, sort of: The October blast
Playoff games don’t count toward Ramírez’s total, so it’s worth noting he has appeared in 45 of those as well. He hasn’t compiled a ton of memorable postseason moments. Still, he muscled a game-winning homer to center during a masterful pitcher’s duel between Shane McClanahan and Shane Bieber in Game 1 of the 2022 Wild Card series.
“I didn’t play against him for a few years there just because I was in the National League,” Vogt said, “and coming back and seeing him in 2022, it wasn’t fair. There was nowhere to get him out. There were no holes.”
Unmistakably goated. 🐐#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/J5MxVYwPk3
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) October 7, 2022
Game 1,196: The trifecta
On June 8, 2023, Ramírez became the 27th player in franchise history with three home runs in a game, and the first since Edwin Encarnacion five years earlier. His third came against former teammate Corey Kluber. The next day, Ramírez went 3-for-4 with three walks and a game-tying homer. He recorded a second three-homer game against the Los Angeles Angels on April 4, 2025.
Game 1,213: The steal of home
First, who even ponders whether to try to steal home? And then, who considers such a daring act with two outs, two strikes on the hitter and in a tied score in extra innings? Well, the Royals’ bench was prepared on June 29, 2023. Their manager, Matt Quatraro, knows Ramírez well from his days as Cleveland’s assistant hitting coach, and he actually thought Ramírez might be just brazen enough to attempt it. There’s the risk of injury, the risk of a third strike, the risk of the batter swinging, the risk of the pitcher stepping off. Not to mention, Aroldis Chapman, whose heater touched 102 mph that day, was pitching for the Royals. As former teammate Will Brennan put it: “You have to be a little bit out of your mind.”
Ramírez executed the steal, with the umpire’s out call overruled by a replay challenge.
Game 1,244: The right hook
Ramírez landed a right hand to Tim Anderson’s face as the two squared off near second base on Aug. 5, 2023. Ramírez was the last man standing. Anderson has stumbled ever since. Since that fateful night, Anderson has been cut loose by the White Sox, Marlins and Angels, while compiling a .223/.257/.254 slash line with zero homers and 140 strikeouts in 479 plate appearances. The 5-foot-8 Ramírez apparently packs a career-altering punch.
Game 1,566: The multi-homer king
On Aug. 12, 2025, Ramírez hit a game-winning shot against the Miami Marlins, his second homer of the game. In doing so, Ramírez set a franchise record with his 27th career multi-homer game, passing Jim Thome and Albert Belle.
Game 1,599: The homer to keep the historic comeback brewing
On Sept. 18, 2025, the Guardians worked Tarik Skubal’s pitch count, pushed him out of the game, and then pounced on the Tigers. Cleveland had already erased seven games from its AL Central deficit in a span of two weeks, and to sweep the Tigers and pull within 3 1/2 games in the division, they needed to win on Skubal Day. The Cy Young Award winner exited, though, and Ramírez delivered a two-run shot to break a seventh-inning tie. The Guardians completed the sweep and the record-setting comeback to win the division.
Game 1,619: The record-tying appearance
Ramírez debuted in front of 41,557 fans at Comerica Park on a 73-degree summer day in 2013. The conditions for his record-tying appearance Sunday in the second game of a doubleheader against the Cubs were a bit different, with several thousand brave souls wrapped in blankets in the Progressive Field stands.
Cleveland is 905-714 in games in which Ramírez appears. And he’s under contract through the 2032 season, so he has plenty of time to pad his lead in various statistical categories and chase down first place in others.
“He’s proud of it,” Hoskins said. “It means something to him. I don’t know him that well yet, but I can tell that he loves this place and loves that he’s leaving his mark on it.”