Freddy Rodríguez (baseball)

Fernando Pedro "Freddy" Rodríguez Borrego (April 29, 1924 – June 11, 2009) was a Cuban-born professional baseball pitcher who briefly played for the Chicago Cubs (1958) and Philadelphia Phillies (1959) of Major League Baseball. A native of Havana, he was listed as 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 180 pounds (82 kg); he batted and threw right-handed.

Rodríguez' professional career extended for 18 seasons, 1945 through 1962, but he would appear in only eight major league games during those brief, late-1950s trials, when he was already in his mid-30s. Apart from the wartime 1945 campaign, his first 11 seasons in Organized Baseball all were spent in the lowest levels of the minor leagues of the day: Classes B, C and D.[1] Finally, in 1956, he rose to the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

In 1958, he was acquired by the Cubs and appeared in seven early-season games as a relief pitcher. He was credited with a save in his April 18 debut, hurling 11⁄3 innings of one-hit, scoreless ball against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.[2] He earned a second save nine days later when he preserved a 5–4 Cubs' triumph against the San Francisco Giants at Seals Stadium.[3] At that point, Rodríguez' earned run average was a respectable 3.18, but he was hit hard in his next three outings, and by the time he was demoted to the minors after May 18, his ERA was a poor 7.36 in 71⁄3 innings pitched. Obtained by the Phillies during the 1958–1959 offseason, he received only a one-game audition in June, when he allowed three earned runs in two innings pitched in middle relief against the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field on May 27.[4] He then returned to the minor leagues for the next 31⁄2 seasons.

In his eight MLB games, Rodríguez allowed 12 hits (including three home runs) and five bases on balls in his career 91⁄3 innings pitched, with six strikeouts. Along with his two career saves, he compiled an ERA of 8.68. Fernando "Freddy" Rodríguez died in Miami, Florida, on June 11, 2009.