Rolando Audley Roomes (born February 15, 1962) is a former professional baseball player. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

primarily as an outfielder from 1988 to 1990. He played for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

, and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They p ...

Early life

Roomes was born in Kingston, Jamaica to Vincent and Enid Roomes. He has three brothers. Roomes played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

as a child, then graduated to baseball after his family relocated to

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Pa ...

, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He went to

Beach Channel High School Beach Channel High School (BCHS) (also known as High School 410 or H.S. 410), was a high school in the public school system of New York City, located at 100-00 Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway Park in the borough of Queens. The school opened in 1 ...

Rockaway Park Rockaway Park is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The area is on the Rockaway Peninsula, nestled between Jamaica Bay to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The neighborhood of Rockaway Beach lies on its easter ...

, where he was signed by the

(on July 14, 1980) as an amateur free agent. His minor league career featured high

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 i ...

and strikeout totals. In 1987, Roomes played for the AA

Pittsfield Cubs The Pittsfield Cubs, located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, were a minor league baseball team that played in the Eastern League (1938–2020), Eastern League from 1985 to 1988. They played their home games at Wahconah Park and were affiliated with ...

and had a .308 batting average with 135 strikeouts, and followed that up in 1988 with a .301 batting average and 134 strikeouts for the AAA

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. The Cubs play their ho ...

Major league career

Roomes remained in the minor leagues for 8 seasons until he made his Major league debut at age 26 on April 12, 1988 as a pinch runner for Jerry Mumphrey in a 7-5 Cubs road loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He finished the season with 17 games played for the Cubs. On December 8, 1988, he was traded to the

for Lloyd McClendon. On May 3, 1989, the Reds called up Roomes, who remained on the major league roster for most of the season, playing 107 games and hitting .263. In 1990 Roomes continued to struggle with strikeouts, and the Reds had acquired outfielders Billy Hatcher, then later Glenn Braggs. After hitting .213 with two home runs and seven runs RBI's in 60 plate appearances, he was released by the Reds, who went on to win the 1990 World Series. On the same day the Reds released him, June 18, 1990, he was claimed on waivers by the

. He appeared in 16 games for the Expos, hitting .286 in 15 plate appearances. It was his final year in the big leagues, with the Expos releasing him in December 1990. Roomes retired after the 1991, splitting time between the minor league

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

and Denver Zephyrs.

References

External links

Rolando Roomes SABR Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roomes, Rolando Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Montreal Expos players 1962 births Living people Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball players from Jamaica Nashville Sounds players Indianapolis Indians players Portland Beavers players Denver Zephyrs players Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Gulf Coast Cubs players Geneva Cubs players Iowa Cubs players Lodi Crushers players Pittsfield Cubs players Quad Cities Cubs players Winston-Salem Spirits players Beach Channel High School alumni Jamaican emigrants to the United States