Batting average .237 Role Baseball player Name Aurelio Rodriguez | Runs batted in 648 Home runs 124 Inducted 2002 | |
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Died September 23, 2000, Detroit, Michigan, United States | ||
1979 wdiv detroit we re 4 promo featuring aurelio rodriguez milt wilcox
Aurelio Rodríguez Ituarte, Jr. (December 28, 1947 – September 23, 2000), was a Mexican professional baseball player. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball for the California Angels (1967–70), Washington Senators (1970), Detroit Tigers (1971–79), San Diego Padres (1980), New York Yankees (1980–81), Chicago White Sox (1982, 1983) and Baltimore Orioles (1983). Rodríguez also played with the Obregon Yaquis and Cañeros de Los Mochis of the Mexican Pacific League. He batted and threw right-handed.
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Los caneros recuerdan a aurelio rodriguez
Biography
A native of Cananea, Mexico, Rodríguez made his major league debut at the age of 19 with the California Angels in 1967. He was traded to the Washington Senators early in the 1970 season. Rodríguez went to Detroit with shortstop Ed Brinkman and pitchers Joe Coleman and Jim Hannan before the 1971 season in an eight-player trade that brought Denny McLain to the Senators along with Don Wert, Elliott Maddox, and Norm McRae.
Rodríguez was a model of consistency at third base for the Tigers during the 1970s. Though a below-average hitter, he was sure-handed and blessed with a strong, accurate arm. In 1976, he earned Gold Glove Award honors, becoming the first American League third baseman since 1959 to beat out Brooks Robinson. He made only 9 errors in 409 chances in 1976, leading all AL third basemen with a .978 fielding percentage. He again led AL third basemen in fielding percentage during the 1978 season. Playing for the Yankees in the 1981 World Series, he hit .417 (5-for-12). He played in his final major league game on October 1, 1983 at the age of 35.
Rodríguez was a .237 hitter with 124 home runs and 648 RBI in 2,017 games. His most productive season was 1970, when he posted career highs in home runs (19), RBI (83), runs (70) and stolen bases (15).
He played in the Mexican League as late as 1987, and coached in the minors for Cleveland. He returned to the Mexican League as a manager in 1995.
The picture on Aurelio Rodriguez's 1969 Topps baseball card is actually a photo of Angels' batboy Leonard Garcia.
Death
On September 23, 2000, Rodriguez was visiting Detroit from his home in Mexico. While he was walking with an unidentified woman on Detroit's southwest side at 2:00 p.m., a car jumped the curb and ran over him. The woman driver of the car was driving with a suspended license and had been ordered not to drive due to a prior brain aneurysm; she was charged with felony manslaughter but received only probation. Rodriguez, who had to be pulled from under the car, was 52 at the time of his death. Thousands attended his funeral in Mexico, including the president of that country, Ernesto Zedillo.
His tomb is located in the stadium Emilio Ibarra Almada, in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and his cross stands atop that stadium.
There have been three players in major league history named Aurelio (two of whom played for the Detroit Tigers), and all three were killed in car accidents between the ages of 44 and 53. See also Aurelio López and Aurelio Monteagudo.