I remember Rodriguez as the guy who seemingly had a blood feud with Bill "Spaceman" Lee with the pair getting into altercations in Winter Ball and in the big leagues which was detailed in Lee's 1984 autobiography The Wrong Stuff.
Of course, there was more to Rodriguez's life than those altercations.
Born in Puerto Rico, he moved to New York City with his family as a child and grew up in the Bronx only blocks away from Yankee Stadium. Rodriguez dreamed of being a Yankee and idolized Yogi Berra. He played high school baseball at James Monroe High School. On a personal note, my Dad also attended this same institution.
Rodriguez was signed by the Kansas City A's prior to the 1964 season. After a single year in the A's organization, the Yankees would select him in the player draft. Rodriguez would earn a cup of coffee with the Bronx Bombers playing 9 games with them in 1968.
In 1969, Rodriguez would find himself back in Kansas City although this time with the Royals who picked him in the expansion draft. While a light hitter, his defensive prowess particularly his ability to throw out runners was enough to earn him a selection as the team's lone representative to the All-Star Game which was held in Washington, D.C. that season though he did not play in the game.
After one more season with the Royals, Kansas City would trade him to the Milwaukee Brewers for fellow catcher Carl Taylor. Rodriguez would hit a career best .285 in 1972 and earn his second AL All-Star Team selection as the Brewers' lone representative to the mid-summer classic that season in Atlanta. But once again, Rodriguez did not get to play.
By 1973, Rodriguez's lack of offensive production and injuries cost him to lose playing time to the up-and-coming Darrell Porter. Following the season, Rodriguez was sent to the California Angels in a 9-player deal which included pitcher Skip Lockwood, outfielder Joe Lahoud joining him in going west in exchange for pitchers Steve Barber and Clyde Wright.
Rodriguez would play in a career high 140 games in 1974 with career bests in HR (7) and RBI (36). However, during the season the Angels would fire manager Bobby Winkles and replace him with Dick Williams who had led the Oakland A's to back-to-back World Series title until he had a falling out with Charlie Finley. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, Williams took a disliking to him and played him sparingly. Rodriguez attributed this to racial bias on the part of Williams.
Despite a terse relationship with Williams, Rodriguez did have one feather in his cap. On July 1, 1975, Rodriguez was behind the plate when he caught Nolan Ryan's fourth career no-hitter as the Angels bested the Baltimore Orioles 1-0.
Prior to the 1976 season, the Angels dealt Rodriguez to the crosstown Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for his fellow countryman, outfielder Orlando Alvarez. Unfortunately, injuries limited Rodriguez to 36 games. As it turned out, those would be his final games in the big leagues. In 775 career games over 9 seasons, Rodriguez collected 533 hits for a lifetime batting average of .245 with 16 HR and 203 RBI.
Rodriguez would play in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1977 before joining the Mexican League where he played between 1978 and 1982. He would later work as a scout and manager in the semi-independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball while also coaching youth baseball in Puerto Rico. R.I.P.
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