Former MLB All-Star Magglio Ordoñez was elected mayor of Juan Antonio Sotillo, a municipality in the Venezuelan state of Anzoátegui.Sotillo, in coastal northeastern Venezuela, is home to about 250,000 people — about the population of Orlando, Fla.
Ordoñez was among the winners in the 335 elections Sunday across Venezuela. He’s a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which boasts more than five million members, and is a backer of President Nicolas Maduro.
Maduro became president in April after the death of Hugo Chavez. Ordoñez’s victory was announced on the party’s Spanish language website at psuv.org.ve. It did not list the ballot totals.
Ordoñez, 39, earned $133.4 million in his major league career, according to baseball-reference.com.
The former American League batting champion returned to Venezuela after his retirement from baseball in 2011, and has been positioning for a career in politics.
Ordoñez was a six-time all-star and played for the Tigers from 2005-11. He played for the Chicago White Sox from 1997-2004. In his 15 seasons, he hit 294 home runs, 426 doubles, and 21 triples, and had 1,236 RBI, 651 walks and 94 stolen bases. He was a career .309/.369/.502 hitter over 1,848 career games.
Ordoñez is perhaps best known in Detroit for his walk-off home run in Game 4 of the 2006 American League Championship Series against the Oakland Athletics, a blast that sent the Tigers to the World Series.
