• Ibanez was born in Manhattan in 1972, and grew up in Miami. Raul's mother was pregnant with him when she, his father and two young sons left Cuba for the United States.
  
  His father was leaving a job as a chemist to work in the sugar-cane fields in order to win an exit visa for the family, even if it meant being branded a traitor by Fidel Castro, even if it meant embarking on a blue-collar life in a foreign land with a pregnant wife and two young sons.

"Guts" is the word Raul Ibanez uses when he speaks of the Freedom Flight his father pioneered for his family back in 1972.

"I'm everything I am today because of my parents," Ibanez said. "They busted their tails. They never complained. They were thrilled to be Americans and they loved this country. They instilled that view in me and in my brothers and no matter what, they always said that you can be anything in this country."

His father, Juan, a college-educated chemist in his homeland before Castro ruled Cuba, started a new life in the 1960s working in warehouses for various cruise lines. In the process, he instilled in his youngest son two characteristics: an intense work ethic (Raul's first job was as a fruit-basket-maker for Carnival Cruises), and an intense love for baseball.  (David Murphy-Philadelphia Daily News-12/17/08)

• When Raul was in junior high school, Fredi Gonzalez (now Braves manager) would work in school security in the offseason. He would work with Raul and the baseball players in his free time to help teach basic skills he was picking up in Triple A ball. Raul would do the same job at his old high school security coming up through the minors.

• Raul starred at Miami's Sunset High, eventually moving on to play for a year at Miami-Dade Community College, where he caught the eye of major league scouts, including current Phillies assistant general manager Benny Looper, who at the time worked in the Seattle Mariners organization.

  Ibanez wasn't a blue-chipper. He received some interest from four-year colleges. Miami assistant coach Turtle Thomas, for instance, who later recruited a young standout named Pat Burrell, tried to get him to play for the Hurricanes. But Ibanez was viewed more as a project by the professional ranks.
  
  In 1992, the Mariners selected him in the 36th round of the draft in the now-extinct draft-and-follow program, which involved junior college prospects. Ibanez might have waited until his draft stock improved, but earlier that season, he had suffered the biggest loss of his young career.

  His father, Juan Ibanez, died of a heart attack in 1992, two months before his son was drafted.

  "I was a 20-year-old kid and I felt like my Dad would have wanted to me to play," Raul said, "so I wound up going for it."

• Raul's first car was a 1983 gold Ford Thunderbird.

• Ibañez is to baseball what Kurt Warner was to the NFL, a late-blooming talent no one knew how to develop. The Mariners drafted him in 1992 but were unsure whether he was better suited to be a catcher or a first baseman. Neither, it appeared, and he was moved to the outfield, where the club had him sit behind the likes of Rich Amaral, Brian Hunter, Butch Huskey and Stan Javier.
  
  When Ibañez did get to play, he wanted so badly to prove himself that he developed an uppercut in his swing and a tendency to pull every pitch he saw.  (Lee Jenkins-Sports Illustrated-10/26/09)

• In 1995, Ibanez was one of the top players in the California League, finishing third in batting average and second in RBI. And he led the league in slugging percentage at .612.

• But before the 1995 campaign started, Raul suffered a broken wrist that cost him the first six weeks of the season when he was struck by a junior college pitcher while taking extra cuts in his native Miami in February, a few weeks before spring training.

• In 1995, he was the Mariners' minor league player of the year. He led the California League in slugging percentage (.612).

• In 1997, he had a 15-game hitting streak with Tacoma (PCL).

• He is a great guy and a hard worker. He is a great role model and positive influence for young players kids. Raul has great character.

• Raul's mother, Moraima, underwent quintuple bypass open-heart surgery September 29, 2000, at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

• Ibanez became a free agent in January 2001. Right away, he signed with the Royals.
  
  In June, 2001, Raul called former Royals third baseman Kevin Seitzer, who was giving hitting lessons in nearby Overland Park, Kansas. Before reporting to Triple A Omaha, Ibañez met with Seitzer, who instructed him to shorten his stroke and try to line every pitch the other way, at the shortstop's head.

• He is a hard-charging, hustling player.

• Ibanez credits time spent with sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman, author of "The Mental Game of Baseball," with helping his approach to the game.

• In the offseason, Raul, his wife, Teryvette, and their son, R.J. (Raul, Jr.), live in Miami. Their second child, a daughter, was born in January 2004. And another daughter, their third child, was born just before 2006 spring training.

  "I'm from Miami, Florida.," Ibanez said, "and I'm telling you, people just aren't as nice in South Florida. The only thing that keeps me attached to South Florida is the water—the ocean and the fishing. But you know, the school system in Johnson County is one of the best in the country, right? That's something I didn't worry about a few years ago.

  "I look at the kids who work in our clubhouse. I hope I don't embarrass them by saying this, but their mindset is so different than you see from the kids in South Florida. They all go to college. They all have a plan for what they want to do when they grow up. That's a credit to the schools in this area.

  "And I know this, when we land in Kansas City after a road trip, I feel like I'm home. You know what I mean? I get that feeling that, oh, I can't wait to get home to see my wife and my son. This area has everything you can imagine."

• Tery Ibanez was instrumental in several Royals charity projects, especially the Royals Cookbook, which raises thousands of dollars for The Children's Place in Kansas City. It is a home for abused and neglected children.

• Raul and Tery have been an item since high school. Tery has watched him develop into a Major Leaguer. Asked if he is unhappy after a loss, or really "up" after a win, Tery said, "Raul, honestly, never brings home anything. Sure, when we are in a pennant race, he likes to win. Once he leaves the field, he doesn't bring it home at all.
  
  "What you see is what you get with Raul. He could have a bad day or he could have a good day, but he is always the same when he comes home. He has been that way since high school. Don't get me wrong, he wants to win! If he goes 0-for-4 and we won, he prefers that to getting a hit, yet losing. He is definitely a team player."

• Raul is never down, always up. He maintains a good attitude. Fans are attracted to him as much for his approach, as for his willingness to sign autographs and smile at them.
  
  And Ibanez is a solid clubhouse presence, adding a lot of professionalism.
  
  "Raul is such a professional," former Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said in 2005. "He shows up every day, and you get the best of what he's got that day. It's especially important for our younger players. He's an extremely good role model, in how he goes about his work and his business.

• During the offseason before 2006 spring training, Ibanez worked on a running technique used by sprinters to help lessen the likelihood of a hamstring pull.

• Through his baseball connections and his passion for music, Ibanez has met members of Guns N' Roses, Creed, and one of his favorite bands, Seattle's own Pearl Jam. He almost met Bono and The Edge from another one of his most beloved groups, U2. And when he was playing in Toronto against the Blue Jays one night, he couldn't help but notice the presence of another one of his rock heroes.

  "I came close to meeting (Rush lead singer and bassist) Geddy Lee," Ibanez says. "He's one of my all-time musical idols and he was sitting in the stands. I was going to get him to sign my guitar, but the game went extra innings.

  "He stayed for a while, but then he took off. Hopefully one day that will happen."

  But as for the rock stars he has met, Ibanez has nothing but good things to say about Pearl Jam and its lead singer, Eddie Vedder.

  "It's been really cool to meet and get to know those guys," Ibanez says. "I got their tape in late 1991, so I've always been a fan. And it's even better when you spend a little time around them and they're just great human beings. That for me is the ultimate. If you meet somebody like that that you really admire and respect and they're jerks, it deflates the balloon. So it's been great to meet these guys and not be disappointed."

  As for his own musical journey, Ibanez says he'll continue work on his own guitar chops and possibly try out the piano. He says he's been playing guitar for the last five years, ever since he bought one "just because."

  Ibanez says having an accomplished guitarist such as former teammate Dave Hansen around helped too.

  "Those guys not only taught me songs, but they also taught me chord progressions and just kind of how to play," Ibanez. "Watching them do it makes it a lot easier for me."

  Ibanez owns several Taylor acoustic guitars, including a 12-string, plus the requisite electric rock guitar, the Fender Stratocaster, plus a cherry red PRS Carlos Santana model.  (Doug Miller-MLB.com-1/03/08)

• In 2008 spring training, Raul went over to the minor league camp and spoke to the minor leaguers for 45 minutes about maintaining a positive mind-set.
  
  "I told them, 'Always believe in yourself, even when everyone around you doesn't believe in you,'" Ibanez said. "'People are always going to say [negative] stuff about you, and you just have to ignore [them] and keep working hard and never give up, never give in.'"

  Former Mariners manager John McLaren said it was typical of Ibanez to take the time to share his experiences with the younger players.

  "He's a classy guy, a great person, and things like what he did this morning makes him what he is," McLaren said. "He can speak from personal experience. He broke in as a catcher with us, we moved him to first, then to the outfield. He was an extra guy who then went to Kansas City and look at him now."

• Ibanez has a relentless work ethic. He is one of the best-prepared players around. He leads by example.
  
  And current and former teammates praise Raul for being a tremendous teammate.
  
  "He's one of the best teammates I've ever had," lefthander Jarrod Washburn said during 2009 spring training. He added that Ibanez's departure was a "huge loss" for the Mariners.

  Veteran Mike Sweeney took it even further.

  "He's one of the best teammates, one of the best human beings, one of the best ballplayers I've ever played with in my Major League career," he said. He went on to say that the Phillies were "blessed" to have him.

• A far better hitter than talker, Raul's answers come in rapid-fire bursts of cautious, often cliché-riddled words, all intended to take the focus off himself.

• To stall his biological clock, Ibañez bought an $18,000 hyperbaric chamber, hired a chiropractor and a masseuse, and employed every physical therapy technique from joint alignment to muscle activation to Brazilian jujitsu. "Everything he does is as hard core as it gets," says his offseason trainer, Pete Bommarito, who also works out NFL running backs Frank Gore, Marion Barber, and Maurice Jones-Drew.

• Raul Ibanez isn’t so old that he doesn’t forget the feeling he had in the backyard as a kid.

  “You play the game to get in that situation,’’ Ibanez said of hitting with the bases full and the game on the line in the late innings. “When you play as a kid in the backyard, it’s the bases loaded and two outs.’’

• October 3, 2012: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ibanez became the first player in Yankees history to hit a game-tying home run in extra innings and then get a walk-off RBI in the same game. The last Yankees player to log a game-tying, ninth-inning RBI and then pick up a walk-off RBI in extra innings was Graig Nettles in 1973.

  Additionally, Ibanez became the first Yankee over the age of 40 to log a walk-off RBI in extra innings since Enos "Country" Slaughter on Aug. 4, 1957, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Indians.

• Ibanez is the father of five children. Ibañez and his wife, Tery (short for Teryvette), live in Issaquah, Wash., with their two sons, Raul Jr. and Luca, and three daughters, Sophia, Victoria and Carolina.

• Raul played one game behind the plate in his 18-year Major League career, that coming in 1999 during his first stint with the Mariners. In 2013, he was the team's emergency catcher.

• How good was June, 2013 for Raul Ibanez? Good enough that Barry Bonds is the only player since 1993 who was older than him at the time he led a team in home runs and RBIs in the same month.

  Ibanez, 41, led the Mariners with 10 home runs and 22 RBIs in his torrid June. The 10 home runs equaled his personal high for a month, having also reached double digits in May, 2009 with the Phillies. Raul became the first Mariner to hit 10 home runs in a month since Edgar Martinez in May 2003.

  Ibanez was red-hot for a player of any age. But a guy at 41? He became the oldest American League player to lead his team in both home runs and RBIs in a month since Dave Winfield topped the Twins in both categories in 1993 at 41.

  The only older player in either league to do better since 1993 was Bonds, who led the Giants in home runs (eight) and RBIs (17) at the age of 42 in April 2007.

• Ibanez was one of the co-chairs of the 2013 annual Mariners Care Cystic Fibrosis Golf Tournament, which raised $220,000. During his career with the Mariners, Ibanez has hosted the charity tournament six times and helped raise $1.176 million for CF research.

  Ibanez and his wife, Tery, have also been involved with the Page Ahead Children's Literacy Program that works to make books available to at-risk children throughout the state of Washington. In addition to personal donations, the Ibanezes hosted an assembly for local at-risk students and helped Page Ahead distribute books to each student. They also read to the students in both English and Spanish.

  Ibanez has also served as spokesman for the Mariners' Refuse to Abuse partnership with the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and is an active participant in Make-A-Wish, which grants wishes to kids with life-threatening medical conditions.

  Over his career, Ibanez has supported a number of local charities and nonprofits, including Boys & Girls Clubs, Seattle Children's Hospital, Esperanza, Volunteers of America, Teammates For Kids Foundation, Olive Crest, Treehouse, Canine Companions For Independence, Covenant House Pennsylvania and Project H.O.M.E.

• Ibanez, who remained a productive fan-favorite in his third stint with the Mariners in 2013, was been named the 2013 winner of the prestigious Hutch Award.
  
  The award goes each year to an MLB player “who best exemplifies the honor, courage and dedication” of its namesake, famed Seattleite and baseball great Fred Hutchinson. Ibanez joins the ranks of baseball legends Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax and Johnny Bench as the winner of the 49th-annual Hutch Award.

• In a poll a few years ago of 290 Major League players by Sports Illustrated, Ibañez was voted the second nicest major league player, after Jim Thome.
  
  
  TRANSACTIONS

• June 1992: The Mariners chose Raul in the 36th round, out of Miami-Dade Community College in Florida.

• January 22, 2001: He signed as a free agent with the K.C. Royals. 

• November 19, 2003: Ibanez signed a three-year, $13.25 million contract with the Mariners.

• March 1, 2006: Raul signed a two-year contract extension worth $11 million, a deal that ties him to the Mariners through the 2008 season. The pact calls for $5.5 million in both 2007 and 2008.

• October 30, 2008: Ibanez filed for free agency.

• December 12, 2008: Raul signed a three-year, $31.5 million contract with the Phillies.

• February 17, 2012: Ibanez signed with the Yankees, a one-year, $1.1 million contract with incentives. He can make as much as $4 million with the incentives.

• December 22, 2012: After being away for four seasons, Raul returned to the Mariners on a one-year, $2.75 million, with another possible $1.25 million in performance bonuses.

• December 19, 2013: Ibanez signed with the Angels, a one-year, $2.75 million base salary plus incentives that could increase the payout to $5 million.
  

• June 21, 2014: Raul was released by the Angels.
  
  June 30, 2014: Ibanez signed with the Royals.

• Raul came through the minor leagues as one of the best natural lefthanded hitters in the Mariners' organization. The Royals told him right away not to loft the ball and instead to go for line drives to the gaps. And now, some of those line drives are going over the fence, and he is back with the Mariners.
• Ibanez has a fine glove to go with that good lefthanded bat. He covers the plate well with a beautiful hitting stroke. He is a good fastball hitter and a good offspeed hitter, so he has no major weaknesses. And he has power to the gaps to hit a lot of doubles. He has a sweet, polished lefthanded swing and is aggressive at the plate. The ball jumps off his bat. But he needs to stop chasing so many pitches out of the strike zone.

• Ibanez is laying off bad pitches and driving the ball hard up the middle. Pitchers work him hard up and in and soft away. 

• Raul said his career turned around in June 2001 after being designated for assignment by the Royals for the second time in five weeks. Before reporting to the minors, he spent three days with ex-Royal Kevin Seitzer.
  
  "It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me," Ibanez said. "Kevin taught me how to hit. My whole life, I had just hit, but I didn't know how to hit." Ibanez said Seitzer's instruction helped him to shorten his swing and concentrate on hitting the ball to left-center field. "He gave me a solid foundation," Ibanez said. "He taught me how to be fluid with my hands, how to hit with my legs and most imprortant, to be stubborn with my approach, tryint to hit to left-center." Seitzer convinced Ibanez to ditch his 110 percent swing and forget about pulling the ball.

  "He taught me to swing with 70-80 percent effort," Ibanez said. "It was a lot of the same things that hitting coach Jeff Pentland now teaches here. The other thing is Seitz taught me to be stubborn in my approach, to stay in the middle of the field, no matter what."
  

• On September 21, 2004, Ibanez tied an American League record with six hits in a nine-inning game.

• Raul is basically a spray hitter, with power to right field.
  

• 2013 improvements: He tightened up his swing in May. He's been cranking away since.
  
  "We all have rhythm and timing and we want to have as little moving parts as possible," Mariners hitting coach Dave Hansen, a former teammate of Ibanez's, said. "When we are out of rhythm, the mechanics start to come apart. Really, he just worked to address that and simplify the swing."
  
  Ibanez will start the second half five homers short of Ted Williams' record 29 in 1960 for a player in his 40-plus age season. (Editor's note: Raul slowed down in the second half and ended up with 29.)
  

• June 2013: Raul became just the 11th player in Major League history to hit 15 or more home runs at age 41 or older. 
  
  And a month later, in mid-July 2013, Ibanez became the first MLB player to hit 20 or more home runs before the All-Star break at age 40 or older—Raul had 24 homers at the break.
  

• July 2, 2014: His solo shot of 377 feet into the right-field porch at Target Field -- was Ibanez's first blast for the Royals since Sept. 22, 2003. As a result, the 42-year-old outfielder became the oldest Royals player to hit a home run.

• Ibanez became the oldest player in team history to hit a triple late in July, 2014. Ibanez, 42, roped an RBI three-bagger and scored on the hit when a Cleveland throw went awry. He usurped former Royal Bob Boone, 41, who set the record on Sept. 22, 1989, in Kauffman Stadium against the Mariners.

  The 19-year veteran admitted to a bit of exhaustion after his mad dash around the bases. "Conditioning, you train for that stuff, so it was nice to be able to catch your breath in the dugout after it," he said. (7/25/14)
  

• July 25, 2014: Ibanez became the oldest in Royals history to hit a triple.
  He was 42 years old. 

• Ibanez entered the 2014 season with a career batting average of .276 and 300 home runs and 1,181 RBIs in 7,225 at-bats.

FORMER CATCHER

• In junior college, he was an outfielder, but was converted to catcher in instructional league ball after the 1992 season. But he didn't spend a full season as a catcher until 1995.

• At six-foot-two, 200 pounds, Raul doesn't really have the typical catcher's build, but he does have a strong arm.

• Then in 1996, the Mariners moved him back to the outfield to speed his rise to the Majors. He also can play some first base. He plays mostly outfield now.
  
  "I'm willing to make any changes. Anything. Anywhere," Ibanez said. "It doesn't matter. Whatever it takes to get to the big leagues is exactly what I'll do."

• Ibanez is an average outfielder. He gets rid of the ball quickly and accurately, having a fine arm.

• The worst outfield throw ever? Aug. 6, 2013: The Mariners’ loss to the Blue Jays got worse in the seventh inning when Toronto padded its six-run lead thanks to some throwing troubles by Ibanez in left field.

  It was the release point that got him all fouled up. Ibanez scooped up the ball, wound up and threw hard—but he ended up chucking the ball right into the ground. It landed just a few yards in front of him and rolled meekly toward the infield, allowing Jose Bautista to zip around third and score another run.

            POST-PLAYING CAREER POSITIONS

• 2016: Ibanez joined the Dodgers Baseball Operations Dept.

• 1996 season: Raul missed the first several weeks of the season with a broken wrist.
• December 1997: Ibanez cut short his Puerto Rican Winter League season in December because of soreness in his right shoulder. He injured it when he dove for a fly ball during a game. Arthroscopic surgery was required.

• 1998 season: Raul started the season on the D.L.

• May 19, 1999: Ibanez went on the D.L. with a pinched nerve in his neck.

• August 7-22, 2000: Raul went on the D.L. with a strained right groin. 

• July 25, 2003: Ibanez received antibiotics for a skin infection on his right leg, known as Cellulitis. When his legs rub together, the area swells up and gets worse, resulting in irritation and tenderness.

• June 2-July 10, 2004: Raul strained his right hamstring while beating out a bunt single, going on the D.L.

• May 2007: Ibanez missed a week of action because of back spasms. 

• June 2007: Raul missed about a week with a sore right hamstring.

• June 15-July 10, 2009: Ibanez was sidelined for a short time with what he described as a sore left Achilles tendon. He had been running with a slight limp. Trainers cut a slit in the back of his shoe to help alleviate the soreness.
  
  But he had to go on the D.L. with another injury, a strained left groin. That is what sidelined him for three weeks in June and July. And in reality, the groin was bothering him the rest of the season and through the post-season, also. It was a small but serious muscle tear near his abdomen.
  
  The groin injury affected his play the second half. Before the injury: .312 average with 22 homers, 59 RBI, and a 1.027 OPS in 62 games. After coming back: .232, 12, 34, and .771 in 72 games.
  
  "We all asked him if he would have the surgery," Phillies first base coach Davey Lopes says, "and he told everyone, 'I won't do that. I'll do anything but that.' "

  After consulting with a neuromuscular specialist in Toronto and a surgeon in Philadelphia, Ibañez chose the DL, followed by aggressive rehabilitation. 

• November 9, 2009: Ibanez had surgery to repair a sports hernia.

• July 1, 2012: Raul  suffered a lacerated lip (which required eight stitches to close) and a broken tooth (in three different places) while attempting to evade a foul ball.  He was in the dugout during the top of the ninth inning when he ducked away from a line drive, hitting his mouth on the Yankees' bench. He was immediately led away by head athletic trainer Steve Donohue, and taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital.