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.
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.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to a Boston Globe item about it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/1973/05/25/bill-lee-leads-red-sox-rout-brewers/WHygFlQVRFAhSKm4TKIIyL/story.html