Francisco "Chico" Rodríguez Ituarte (born 4 October 1943) is a Mexican former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

. He played during 20 seasons in the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

and the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (, or LMP), also known as the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons, is a professional baseball Winter league baseball, winter league based in Northwestern Mexico. The league comprises 10 teams. It wa ...

Early life

Rodríguez was born in

Cananea Cananea is a city in the Mexican state of Sonora, Northwestern Mexico. It is the seat of the Municipality of Cananea, in the vicinity of the U.S−Mexico border. The population of the city was 31,560 as recorded by the 2010 census. The po ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

on 4 October 1943. His father, Aurelio Rodriguez Sr. played baseball in the Mexican League and was a member of the Mexican team that played in the

1953 Amateur World Series The 1953 Amateur World Series was the 14th Amateur World Series and ended a run when one was held every year or every other year; it would be eight years until the Series was reinstituted. The 1953 Series was held in Caracas, Venezuela from Sep ...

. He is the brother of the late

Aurelio Rodríguez Aurelio Rodríguez Ituarte, Jr. (December 28, 1947 – September 23, 2000), sometimes known by the nickname "Chi Chi", was a Mexican professional baseball player, who spent the bulk of his Major League career with the Detroit Tigers. Know ...

, who spent the bulk of his Major League career with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

and died on 23 September 2000 in a traffic accident.

Career

Chico Rodríguez spent twenty seasons playing professional baseball in Mexico. He made his professional debut in the

in 1965 for the Tigres de México. In 1967, he was traded to

El Águila de Veracruz El Águila de Veracruz (English: The Eagle of Veracruz) is a professional baseball team that plays in the Mexican League. Based in Veracruz, Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico, they play their home games at the Estadio Universitario Beto Ávila. Histor ...

, where he was an important player on the infield, winning the 1970 season championship, defeating

Diablos Rojos del México The Diablos Rojos del Mexico (English: Mexico Red Devils) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Mexico City, Mexico. The team was founded in 1940 by Salvador Lutteroth and Ernesto Carmona. The Diablos Rojos play their ho ...

in the final series. In 1975, El Águila moved to Aguascalientes and became the Rieleros de Aguascalientes, but Rodríguez continued playing with the new franchise. In 1978, Chico won the Mexican League title with the Rieleros. Rodríguez also played winter baseball in the

with the

Naranjeros de Hermosillo The Naranjeros de Hermosillo () are a professional baseball team based in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. They compete in the Mexican Pacific League (LMP). The team plays at the Estadio Fernando Valenzuela with a capacity of 16,000 seated spectators. ...

and most notably with the Cañeros de Los Mochis. In 2004, Rodríguez was elected to the

Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame The Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Mexicano (in English, Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame), commonly called the Salón de la Fama (Hall of Fame) is a baseball hall of fame and museum located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, inaugurated on 10 ...

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodríguez, Chico 1943 births Algodoneros de Unión Laguna managers Cañeros de Los Mochis players El Águila de Veracruz players Naranjeros de Hermosillo players Rieleros de Aguascalientes players Tigres de Quintana Roo players Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame inductees People from Cananea Baseball players from Sonora