Eliseo Rodríguez Delgado (born May 24, 1946) is a Puerto Rican 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 ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) from 1968 to 1976 for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

, and

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Early life

Rodriguez was born on May 24, 1946, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. His family moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1953, growing up within walking distance of

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

. His boyhood idol was Yankee's catcher

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born Lorenzo Pietro Berra; May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of Manager (baseball), manager and Coach (baseball), coach. He played 19 seas ...

. He was an amateur boxer as a teenager. Rodriguez attended James Monroe High School in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, graduating in 1964.

Baseball career

Minor league

His professional baseball career began in 1964 when he was signed by the

Kansas City Athletics The Kansas City Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1955 to 1967, having previously played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the Philadelphia Athletics. After moving in 1967, the team became the ...

as an amateur free agent after graduating from James Monroe High School. He spent the 1964 season in the rookie and A-class

Minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

teams of the Athletics, playing

. At the end of the season, on November 30, 1964, he was drafted by the New York Yankees from the Athletics in the 1964 first-year player draft. Rodríguez spent the next few years moving up the Yankees farm system, eventually making it to the AAA-level

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

in 1967. In 1966, he was named to the Southern League All-Star team with the Double-A Columbus (Georgia) Confederate Yankees. In 1968, Rodríguez made his major league debut for the Yankees.

Major league

Rodríguez debuted for the Yankees on May 26, 1968, against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

, starting at catcher. He played nine games over the course of the season while also spending time in Syracuse as well, where he had a .291

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. On October 15, 1968, Rodríguez was drafted by the Kansas City Royals from the New York Yankees as the 13th pick in the

1968 MLB expansion draft The 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft was conducted to stock up the rosters of four expansion teams in Major League Baseball created via the 1969 Major League Baseball expansion and which would begin play in the 1969 season. The expa ...

. In his first season with the expansion Royals (1969), he made his first all-star appearance, though he did not play in the game. He finished the season with a batting average of .236 in 95 games. The following season he split time at catcher with Ed Kirkpatrick. On February 2, 1971, after the end of the 1970 Kansas City Royals season, the Royals traded Rodríguez to the Milwaukee Brewers for Carl Taylor. He regained his starting role as the 1971 Milwaukee Brewers season began. Rodríguez played 115 games in 1971, yet only had a batting average of .210. He played 116 games the following season en route to his second all-star game, which he also did not play in. He finished the season with a career high batting average of .285 and over 100 hits. After splitting time at catcher with Darrell Porter the following season, Rodríguez was involved in a nine-player transaction when he was sent along with Ollie Brown, Joe Lahoud, Skip Lockwood and Gary Ryerson from the Brewers to the

for Steve Barber, Clyde Wright, Ken Berry, Art Kusnyer and cash on October 23, 1973. Rodríguez ended up having a breakout year in 1974. He had a

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

of .992 (second best in the AL), played a career high 140 games, and hit a career high seven

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s. During the 1974 California Angels season, Rodríguez tied an

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

record with 19 putouts in a nine-inning game and set another with 21 in an extra-inning game, while catching in games pitched by

Nolan Ryan Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed "the Ryan Express", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sports executive. Over a record 27-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB), Ryan pitched for the New Yo ...

. He also led the league in putouts by a catcher, throwing out attempted base stealers (with 10 more than the next closest catcher), and tied Thurman Munson for the league lead in assists by catchers. On May 27, 1974, he threw out four Milwaukee Brewers trying to steal second base, and Angels record. The following season (1975), he played 90 games as catcher, and caught

's fourth

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

. On March 31, 1976, he was traded by the California Angels to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Orlando Alvarez and cash, and spent one season with the Dodgers, starting only 21 games, before being released on May 2, 1977. He started the 1977 season on the disabled list after breaking his collar bone during winter ball in Puerto Rico, and did not play major league baseball again.

Post major league

In 1977, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed Rodriguez to play Triple-A minor league baseball with their affiliate the

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, merch ...

, where he played 49 games. He played and/or managed in

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 ...

baseball from 1978 to 1982. He managed the Triple-A Cafeteros de Córdoba team in 1985. Rodríguez became a player development consultant for The

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

and in charge of scouting Latin America for the league. He was later announced as manager for the 2018 Road Warriors, a traveling team that temporarily replaced the folded Bridgeport Bluefish in the Atlantic League. He has also been a coach at the Roosevelt Baseball School in San Juan, teaching baseball fundamentals to children from ages 6 to 18.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Ellie 1946 births Living people Acereros de Monclova players American League All-Stars Binghamton Triplets players Cafeteros de Córdoba players California Angels players Columbus Clippers players Columbus Confederate Yankees players Daytona Beach Islanders players Greensboro Yankees players Kansas City Royals players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Milwaukee Brewers players Mexican League baseball managers New York Yankees players Sportspeople from Fajardo, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Mexico Saraperos de Saltillo players Syracuse Chiefs players Wytheville A's players