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Steven Howell Jones
Kansas City Royals
Pitcher
Born: April 22, 1941, Huntington Park, CA
Signed: Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams: Chicago White Sox 1967; Washington Senators 1968; Kansas City Royals 1969
Eliseo Rodriguez
Kansas City Royals
Catcher
Born: May 24, 1946, Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Signed: Signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1968; Kansas City Royals 1969-1970; Milwaukee Brewers 1971-1973; California Angels 1974-1975; Los Angeles Dodgers 1976
Ellie Rodriguez caught for nine seasons in the majors, seeing the most action with the Brewers in the early 1970s. Left unprotected by the Yankees in the expansion draft, Rodriguez was the 13th pick by the Royals. He was the club's sole representative at the 1969 All-Star Game, although he didn't see any game action. Rodriguez assumed regular catching duties for the Brewers in 1971, and he was named to his second All-Star team in 1972. His career year came in 1974 as the regular catcher for the Angels. Rodriguez appeared in a career-high 140 games, batting .253 with seven home runs and 36 RBIs. Rodgiuez led all catchers in runners caught stealing in 1971 with 41 and in 1974 with 56, and he also led all catchers with 75 assists in 1974. On June 1, 1975, Rodriguez was behind the plate for Nolan Ryan's (#533) fourth career no-hitter, with the Orioles as the victims. Rodriguez last played in the majors in 1976, but he continued his career by playing in Mexico through the 1982 season. Rodriguez batted .245 in the majors with 16 home runs and 203 RBIs.
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 27th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298. The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me $1.25. If I stick to composing posts five times a week, and I'm already slipping off that pace a little, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the week of January 22, 2024!
The Card / Royals Team Set / Jones Accuracy Index -3 / Rodriguez Accuracy Index -8
There are two versions of this card available, and I have the error version featuring Rodriguez's name misspelled as "Rodriquez" on the front. Again, I'm not tracking down the variations of cards for my set, but had I known of this error I would have tried to add the corrected version. It's one and done for Jones, as he'd not appear on any other mainstream baseball cards.
Accuracy Index: There's really no chance Jones is wearing a Royals uniform, and there's no way of telling what uniform he's actually wearing here. I'll dock him three points for the logo-less hat. Rodriguez is likely in a Yankees uniform. It might be unfair, but because I can see the Yankees uniform, Rodriguez scores a -8 for the former team uniform (-5) and the blacked out hat (-3). The 1969 Blog Rules Committee may take a closer look and overrule this rating at a later date. (This was an unforeseen flaw in my rating system.)
Other Notable Baseball Cards - Jones
First Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #49
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1): 1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #49
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 5 in the Beckett online database as of 6/2/23.
Sources - Jones:
Other Notable Baseball Cards - Rodriguez
First Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #49
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1969-1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #421
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 47 in the Beckett online database as of 6/2/23.
Sources - Rodriguez:
1969 Season - Jones
As mentioned above, Jones made the Royals' opening day roster and he'd appear in 16 games before a mid-June demotion to the Omaha Royals. He'd return to Kansas City as a September call-up, appearing in four more games. With the K.C. Royals, he was 2-3 with a 4.23 ERA in 44 2/3 innings pitched. He had 31 strikeouts to 24 walks. With the Omaha Royals, Jones was 4-5 with a 3.83 ERA in 14 games pitched, including 11 starts.
As mentioned above, Jones made the Royals' opening day roster and he'd appear in 16 games before a mid-June demotion to the Omaha Royals. He'd return to Kansas City as a September call-up, appearing in four more games. With the K.C. Royals, he was 2-3 with a 4.23 ERA in 44 2/3 innings pitched. He had 31 strikeouts to 24 walks. With the Omaha Royals, Jones was 4-5 with a 3.83 ERA in 14 games pitched, including 11 starts.
1969 Season - Rodriguez
Rodriguez was the opening day and first ever catcher in Royals' team history. He'd split time behind the plate with Jim Campanis (#396) and Buck Martinez, with Rodriguez making the bulk of the starts with 83. As mentioned above, Rodriguez was selected for the American League All-Star team, making him the first Royals player so honored. At the All-Star break, he was batting .260 with a pair of home runs and 14 RBIs. I'm guessing the American League squad needed a catcher, as Lou Piniella (#394), who was batting .302 with 10 home runs and 52 RBIs at the break, would have been a more logical choice. For the season, Rodriguez batted .236 in 95 games. He didn't hit a second half home run.
Rodriguez was the opening day and first ever catcher in Royals' team history. He'd split time behind the plate with Jim Campanis (#396) and Buck Martinez, with Rodriguez making the bulk of the starts with 83. As mentioned above, Rodriguez was selected for the American League All-Star team, making him the first Royals player so honored. At the All-Star break, he was batting .260 with a pair of home runs and 14 RBIs. I'm guessing the American League squad needed a catcher, as Lou Piniella (#394), who was batting .302 with 10 home runs and 52 RBIs at the break, would have been a more logical choice. For the season, Rodriguez batted .236 in 95 games. He didn't hit a second half home run.
Other Notable Baseball Cards - Jones
First Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #49
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1): 1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #49
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 5 in the Beckett online database as of 6/2/23.
Sources - Jones:
Other Notable Baseball Cards - Rodriguez
First Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #49
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1969-1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #421
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 47 in the Beckett online database as of 6/2/23.
Sources - Rodriguez:
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