Former Yankees Catcher, 2-Time All-Star, Dies After Historic Career

The New York Yankees have had many legendary backstops don the pinstripes over the course of franchise history, from Yogi Berra to Jorge Posada.

And this week, news surfaced that one member of that fraternity of former Yankees catchers died at age 79.

“The former Puerto Rican Major League catcher Eliseo ‘Ellie’ Rodriguez, who was part of the exclusive group of seven catchers to receive a no-hitter from Nolan Ryan, passed away this Thursday at the age of 79,” according to a translated version of a Spanish-language report from ESPN Digital. “In his nine-year career, Rodríguez batted .245, with 16 home runs and 203 RBIs. More significant than his offensive numbers is that he threw out 41.3 percent of the runners who attempted to steal against him.”

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Rodriguez was born in Puerto Rico and debuted with the Yankees in 1968, with that rookie campaign marking his only one with the franchise. He slashed .208/.296/.208 in just nine games with the Yankees’ big-league club before being drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.

In his debut season with the Royals, he earned the first of two career All-Star nods. He was eventually traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, then sent to the California Angels as part of a nine-player transaction. In the 1974 season with the Angels, Rodriguez matched the American League record with 19 putouts in a nine-inning game, and set another one with 21 putouts in an extra-innings game.

Throughout his career, Rodriguez also tied the league lead for assists by catchers and set an Angels record for throwing out runners trying to steal second base in a single game. In the 1975 season with the Angels, he caught the fourth no-hitter of Ryan’s career.

In 1976, Rodriguez was traded from the Angels to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he started just 21 games before he was released. That would mark the end of his major-league career, though he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization to play in Triple-A in 1977, then joined the Mexican League as a player and manager from 1978 to 1982.

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Before his death, Rodriguez also served as a scout and manager for the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and as a coach at the Roosevelt Baseball School in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Though he might be best remembered for his role in Ryan’s fourth no-hitter, Rodriguez was a standout defensive catcher who left his mark on the game in many ways. And Yankees fans will note that, before beginning his big-league career with their favorite team, he played in the Bronx Federation League.

“From about age 12, Eliseo walked to Yankee Stadium with (his older brother) Jimmy to watch Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard and Yogi Berra, who became Rodriguez’s boyhood idol,” according to the Society For American Baseball Research (SABR). “‘When you’re young, you watch and learn,’ Rodriguez said. ‘I used to watch all those good catchers,’ naming Berra, Howard, Cleveland’s Jim Hegan and Brooklyn’s Roy Campanella among those he learned from.”