Thursday, October 30, 2014

no. 344 - ellie rodriguez


Who is the man: Ellie Rodriguez completed his second season as a part-timer catcher for the 1970 Royals, splitting time with Ed Kirkpatrick and hitting a paltry .225

Can ya dig it: A batting cage, from photo corner to photo corner! That's glorious.

Right on: I'm curious as to what that man in the background is doing. Conducting a sliding drill?

You see this cat Rodriguez is a bad mother: Rodriguez was the Royals' first All-Star representative, being chosen for the 1969 game in Washington. He didn't play.

Shut your mouth: Rodriguez had already been traded to the Brewers by the time most kids were pulling this card out of packs.

No one understands him but his woman: Rodriguez once held the American League record for putouts by a catcher in a game with 19. But that was surpassed by Rich Gedman in 1986 when he caught Roger Clemens' 20 strikeouts in a game against the Mariners.


(A word about the back): Other MLB players from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, include White Sox/Mariners slugger Ivan Calderon, 1960s infielder Julio Gotay and Royals/Phillies '90s reliever Jose Santiago.

2 comments:

  1. One of my all time favorite cards. The helmet on top the cap is so cool. Didn't see that on many cards. Ellie looks so intense. Which I guess he was. Bill Lee and he had a beef that went back to a Puerto Rican league incident in 1970 and later on in 1974. Lee writes of it in his book and told of Ellie being really angry.

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  2. Here is a link to a Boston Globe item about it.

    http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/1973/05/25/bill-lee-leads-red-sox-rout-brewers/WHygFlQVRFAhSKm4TKIIyL/story.html

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