Birthday wishes go out today to Eliseo Rodriguez Delgado, better know to baseball fans as Ellie Rodriguez, a major league catcher from 1968 to 1976 who played for five teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers.

Rodriguez was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico on May 24, 1946 to Francisco Rodriguez and Juana Delgado. Francisco farmed and Juana cared for Eliseo, his older brother Jimmy (who owned Jimmy’s Bronx Café in the 1980s) , and two sisters – Daly and Iris. Today, only Eliseo and Daly survive. In 1953, Francisco moved his family from the depressed economy of Puerto Rico to New York City. He worked primarily on tomato farms in New Jersey to support the family, which lived at 174th Street and Boston Rd., 10 streets from Yankees Stadium.  While at PS 61 in the Bronx, Rodriguez recalled playing stickball with a pitcher, batter and outfielder. They drew the strike zone with chalk on the wall of the building and used brooms and a red rubber ball. “We’d get up in the morning and be in the schoolyard,” he said.

Rodriguez played sandlot baseball but fought in the New York Daily News Golden Gloves competition after learning to fight while in middle school.  Some kids in a rough neighborhood were pushing him around and his brother convinced him that he had to learn how to defend himself.  Baseball became his number one sport after he broke a middle finger in a sparring session.

After graduating from James Monroe High School in 1964, Rodriguez’s Spanish League team, El Gardel – which had won 16 games in a row – defeated an amateur team from Puerto Rico for the championship.

Catcher Rodriguez threw out “four or five” base stealers and former Kansas City Athletics scout Felix Delgado told him, “When you get back to New York, I’m going to send a scout there to sign you.” Two days later, Tommy Giordano signed Rodriguez to a contract that carried a $4,000 bonus and a progressive bonus of $7,500.

He made his major league debut on May 26, 1968 with the Yankees and played nine game for them that season, mostly filling in for Frank Fernandez, who was called to military duty on weekends and for a two-week stretch. When the Yankees drafted Thurman Munson, Rodriguez was placed on the American League expansion list and became the regular catcher for the brand-new Kansas City Royals in 1969.  The team’s only All-Star selection as a rookie, Rodriguez ended up sharing catching duties with John “Buck” Martinez and Ed “Spanky” Kirkpatrick for two seasons, basically because Rodriguez – a solid defensive catcher with a good throwing arm – did not hit for power.

Rodriguez consistently played in the Puerto Rican winter league. During the 1970-71 season, Rodriguez momentarily returned to boxing when he punched Mayaguez pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee outside the Caguas ballpark on November 20, 1970, causing Lee’s face to strike a hand rail on a stairway leading into the ballpark, breaking four front teeth. Earlier in the season, Rodriguez had homered and doubled off Lee, who warned, “Next time, I’ll stick it in your ear.”

On November 16, Lee surrendered a home run to Caguas first baseman Willie Montanez. The Mayaguez catcher warned Rodriguez to watch out. Lee hit Rodriguez with a pitch. Rodriguez charged the mound and took a swing at Lee, who blocked the punch and decked Rodriguez with a left hook.  The umpire ejected Rodriguez from the game. On the 20^th, Rodriguez saw Lee get off the Mayaguez team bus. Rodriguez recalled, “He was the first guy I saw and I hit him with one shot.” Lee went back to Boston to get his teeth fixed that weekend.  The feud reached the major leagues on May 24, 1973 when Lee hit Rodriguez with a pitch at Fenway Park. Rodriguez charged the mound and the Boston fans booed. The Red Sox won, 10-1.

In the winter of 1971, the Royals traded Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers.  He was the number one catcher for most of the next three seasons, leading the American League in runners caught stealing in 1971 and posting the Brewers’ best average in 1972 (.285) and making his second All-Star team.  Ellie emerged as the team leader in 1973 under manager Del Crandall. The Brewers led the Eastern Division in June and won 14 of 15 games. On June 2, he caught all 13 innings and drove in all three runs in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox at County Stadium. With Rodriguez catching every day, the 15^th victory on Sunday, June 17 at White Sox Park gave Milwaukee six straight wins over the A. L.  West leaders and put the Brewers one game up in the East. A crowd of 6,000 fans greeted the team bus in Milwaukee. Rodriguez and A. L. Rookie of the Year second baseman Pedro (Pete) Garcia were carried off the bus to start a two-hour celebration. “He was my roomie,” Rodriguez said. “(Our team) had good chemistry that year.”

A post-All Star break slump ended what sportswriters called the “second Milwaukee Miracle,” the first being the 1957 Milwaukee Braves world championship.  In October 1973, the Brewers shipped Rodriguez to the California Angels in a multi-player deal.  Though Ellie led the American League in several defensive categories and played in a career-high 140 games, his manager Dick Williams accused him of being dumb and lazy. “He never did like Latinos,” Ellie recalled.

Ellie’s greatest thrill was catching Nolan Ryan’s fourth n-hitter on June 1, 1975.  He said it was better than going 4-for-4 with a home run at the plate. “I hope I catch his fifth,” he added. Ryan praised Rodriguez’s abilities. “He’s a good thinking catcher,” Ryan said. “Like most good catchers, he wants to win. He has that drive behind him.”  “The thing I like about him,” Ryan continued, “is the way he picked up my pitching pattern. He takes command. You’ll see him moving infielders around all the time.”

In 1976, Williams finally got his way and unloaded Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom Ellie started a handful of games. Suffering a fractured collarbone in the Puerto Rican League, Ellie got his release from the Dodgers on May 2, 1977.  He continued to play in the Mexican League, even co-managing a team with former Angels teammate Winston Llenas.

After retirement  from active playing, former major league general manager Joe Klein recruited Rodriguez to sign Latin American players as player development director and chief Puerto Rican scout for the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Eight teams (four in the Liberty Division and four in the Freedom Division from Connecticut to Texas) play a 128-game schedule in cities with ballparks seating 6,000 or more fans and located outside of major or minor league markets. Beginning April 12, 2018, Rodriguez began managing the Road Warriors, a traveling Atlantic League team that replaces the former Bridgeport (Connecticut) club and awaits construction of a new stadium in Texas.

Rodriguez still coaches at the Roosevelt Baseball School, located within walking distance of Hiram Bithorn Stadium.  Approximately 135 kids from age six to 18 learn the basics of playing the game – throwing, catching, hitting, base running.  Major leaguers AAngel Pagan and Rene Rivera both came out of Roosevelt, Rodriguez said.

Puerto Rican baseball even survived Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that tore through the island of Puerto Rico at 115 miles per hour on September 20, 2017.  Puerto Rican League owners suspended the 2017-18 season in November but resumed play on January 5 after negotiating a $500,000 pool to be shared equally among four teams – Caguas Criollos, Gigantes de Carolina, Indio de Mayaguez and Cangrejeros de Santurce.   Fans got free admission and parking to games.  Evaristo “Varo” Roldàn Stadium in Gubaro, capacity 2,500 and a half-hour south of San Juan, was jammed for the opening pitch of the season on January 5. Vendors sold beer out of paint buckets.  Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan and Isidoro Garcia Stadium in Mayaguez hosted games without lights. The teams played single games on Thursday and Friday and doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, completing an 18-game schedule in three weeks. In the two-round playoffs, Caguas defeated Cangrejeros two games to one in the finals that ended January 27.

As he embarks on his 55^th season in professional baseball, Rodriguez is grateful and amazed at baseball’s role in his life journey. “It changed my whole life,” he told the author. “If I hadn’t signed that (bonus) contract, I don’t know if I’m talking to you right now.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Most of the article came from two interviews with Ellie Rodriguez in January and February 2018.  Other sources included The Sporting NewsNewspapers.com provided articles from Milwaukee and other newspapers. Statistical verification was completed through Baseball Reference.com.  Photos courtesy of Yahoo and Google Web searches.