page_title: Yadier Molina
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Yadier Molina / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of the 2018 National League All-Star Team during the 2018 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby at Nationals Park.
context_page_description: Yadier Benjamin Molina, nicknamed "Yadi", is a Puerto Rican professional baseball catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. He has played his entire 17-year major league career with the Cardinals since his debut on June 3, 2004, and also for the Puerto Rican national team in four World Baseball Classic tournaments. Widely considered one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time, Molina is the recipient of a number of accolades, including nine Rawlings Gold Gloves and six Fielding Bible Awards. A two-time World Series champion, he is a paramount figure in ten Cardinals playoff appearances and four National League pennants, and a two-time silver medalist with Puerto Rico. Molina bats and throws right-handed, stands 5 feet 11 inches tall, and weighs 205 pounds.
  Molina ranks second all-time among catchers with 130 Defensive Runs Saved, and first among active catchers with 845 assists, 40.21% of runners caught stealing which is 213 all-time, and 55 pickoffs. He also ranks in the top 70 among catchers in history in each of fielding percentage, games played, double plays turned, and assists.
context_section_description: Molina resides in Vega Alta and stayed in Caseyville, Illinois, during the baseball season until 2015. He married his wife Wanda Torres in 2007 and the couple have three children. On September 4, 2008, they had a son named Yanuell; on July 4, 2010, a daughter named Arianna; and on February 6, 2016, a son named Daniel Benjamin. After signing his $75 million contract in 2012, Molina purchased a home on a four-acre property in Jupiter, Florida, for $7.15 million. His agent is Melvin Roman of MDR Sports Management, who has represented him since he signed his first professional contract with the Cardinals shortly after being drafted in 2000. Molina's charitable organization, named Foundation 4, has helped to raise donations for childhood cancer patients in Puerto Rico. Molina is an avid fan of the St. Louis Blues, and attends games frequently. He is close friends with Vladimir Tarasenko.
  Molina's two older brothers, Bengie and José Molina, played a combined 28 seasons in the major leagues. Each of the three brothers has won at least one World Series ring, making them the only trio of brothers with such a distinction (Bengie and José both won their first while with the Anaheim Angels in 2002). They are also the only trio of brothers to play as catchers in the major leagues. Of a total of nineteen trios of brothers who have played in the Major Leagues – including the DiMaggios and the Cruzes – only one other trio of brothers has all appeared in a World Series: Matty, Félipe and Jesús Alou.
  Even while the Molina brothers still lived in the United States playing professional baseball, their parents stayed in the same home near the park where the brothers grew up playing ball, Jesús Rivera Park. Benjamín Molina organized youth teams. On October 11, 2008, Molina's father died from a heart attack. At the moment it occurred, he was tending to a baseball field that he had built for the youth in Bayamón.
  Spurred by absences from autograph shows for which he was paid to appear, Steiner Sports Marketing filed a lawsuit for $175,000 against Molina in the New York state supreme court in Manhattan on October 2, 2009. Steiner Sports allegedly paid him $90,640 in advance when they renewed their contract with him in July 2008. The firm stated that he ignored their agreement to make public and private appearances to sign autographs and did not return the money.
  After Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico in September 2017, Molina and Wanda started a GoFundMe page for the victims on September 21 with a goal of $1 million. It raised $20,000 in the first seven hours. More than three million Puerto Ricans were left without power, and The New York Times had reported that over 95% of cell service was unavailable. Drone video coverage on The Weather Channel described Bayamon as looking "like a war zone." Former New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, also a native Puerto Rican, launched a similar relief fundraiser, which raised $76,000 of its $100,000 goal by late Thursday (September 21) afternoon. Continuing with relief efforts, Molina was consequently named the recipient of the annual Roberto Clemente Award on October 24, 2018.
caption: Molina with his older son at the 2018 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby
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