Rangers Baseball Legend Pudge Rodriguez Visits Methodist Mansfield NICU

Hall of Famer and Texas Rangers legend Pudge Rodriguez visited babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center on Tuesday, June 11. Surrounded by his youngest fans, the babies wore Rangers onesies and oversized baseball caps to meet Pudge.

“Our babies are our MVPs—our most valuable princesses and princes,” says Juan Fresquez, President of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. “With the help of their parents and our amazing nurses, we thought it would be fun to dress them up for the baseball legend’s big visit.”

Each family went home with a special souvenir, a baseball signed by Pudge and stamped with their baby's footprint.

Afterward, Pudge hosted the 2019 All-Ellis County All-Star Preps awards banquet at the Waxahachie Civic Center, an event sponsored by Methodist Midlothian Medical Center. The evening celebrated the accomplishments of more than 300 county athletes and coaches across 19 sports and 15 campuses.

About Methodist Health System

Guided by the founding principles of life, learning, and compassion, Dallas-based Methodist Health System (Methodist) provides quality, integrated health care to improve and save the lives of individuals and families throughout North Texas. Ten hospitals and more than two dozen Methodist Family Health Centers and Medical Groups are among the facilities served by the nonprofit Methodist Health System, which is affiliated by covenant with the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the fastest-growing health systems in America, Methodist continues to add facilities and services to enhance patient care along the entire continuum. Additional information is available at MethodistHealthSystem.org. Connect through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter at MethodistHealthSystem.org/SocialMedia.

Texas law prohibits hospitals from practicing medicine. The physicians and other health care providers who may provide care through the MethodistNow platform are employees or independent practitioners of Methodist Medical Group and are not employees or agents of Methodist Health System, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Methodist Charlton Medical Center, Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, Methodist Richardson Medical Center, or any other Methodist affiliated institution.