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Baseballers of Lesser Note: Tuffy Rhodes
Topic Started: Sep 28 2010, 09:46 AM (583 Views)
Erick Von Erich
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I'm Big E and I tell it like it is
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Hallo there, and welcome to the third installment of (Professional) Baseballers of Lesser Note. In which we spotlight some of the distinguished gentlemen who have partaken in the professional gentleman's sport of baseball throughout the various eras encompassing the aforementioned sport.

This week we look at Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes.

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What'd He Do?
Career Stat Totals:
6 Seasons/ .224 AVG/ 13 HR/ 44 RBI

What Can You Tell Us About Him?
Originally billed as "Karl Rhodes", he was often cited as a decent prospect in the Astros farm system. He broke into the Majors in 1990 and was essentially the Astros' main man in right field for the 1991 season. Rhodes was part of a fairly intriguing cast of young players in Houston that year. Along with Jeff Bagwell and the "veteran" Craig Biggio, Rhodes was featured in an outfield that also included Luis Gonzalez and Steve Finley. All three were given their shots at taking ownership of their positions...yet all three didn't stick and found themselves on the road out of Houston.

What Happened to Him?
Rhodes was released by Houston, 20 games into the 1993 season. He was immediately grabbed by the Kansas City Royals. He never played in KC, as he remained in Triple A Omaha until he was shipped to the Chicago Cubs, as part of a 3-way deal that was perhaps only notable for sending Cubs reliever Paul Assenmacher to the New York Yankees.

In Chicago, Rhodes seemed to find a home. He was a late season call-up in 1993 and while he didn't set the world on fire, it was enough to land a job with the Cubs. He began 1994 as the Cubs center fielder...and sent Cubs fans into pants pissing delight when he hit 3 home runs on Opening Day. Now using his childhood nickname of "Tuffy", the sky seemed to be the limit. This was before Sammy Sosa had discovered the needle, so Cubs fans were drawn to the home run hitting hero.

But Rhodes proved to be a one-hit wonder (or more correctly, a three hit wonder..nyuk nyuk). He ran into injury problems and ended the season with a stat line worthy of a fifth outfielder (.224, 8 HR, 19 RBI). The superstar never developed and Rhodes was on the move again. He was spent the 1995 season in the Red Sox minor league system and left MLB altogether by the 1996 season.

That's when Rhodes finally became a superstar. Following the path of Cecil Fielder, Rhodes hopped over to Japan in hopes of reviving his career. It worked, as he put up MVP-like numbers for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Yet the majors never came calling. So Rhodes remained in Japan and became the all-time home run leader of "gaijins" (foreign-born players). In 2001 he hit 55 homeruns in a season, tying the Japanese record of Sadaharu Oh. The feat was covered by ESPN and made for amusing stories about "Tuffy" and his '94 Opening Day antics. He finished his Nippon stint with 474 homeruns, overall. He also landed the career record for MOST EJECTIONS.

The Cincinnati Reds took a chance on Rhodes and invited him back to America for the 2006 season as non-roster invitee to Spring Training. Rhodes didn't make the team and by 2007 was back in the Japanese leagues, working on both of his records. He retired after the 2009 season and is reportedly helping his son's prep school basketball team in Houston. Rhodes is fluent in Japanese and has easily traversed between the two cultures.

Japan gave us Ichiro. We Gave them Tuffy.


Look for (professional) Baseballers of Lesser Note on Tuesdays!
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Scrooge McSuck
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I'm really enjoying reading these little topics on the lesser knowns, even if I don't comment in each topic.

As expected, I only vaguey know Tuffy from a few baseball cards I hav of him in my collection. And for having the nickname "Tuffy."
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Erick Von Erich
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Scrooge McSuck,Sep 28 2010
09:10 PM
I only vaguey know Tuffy from a few baseball cards I have of him in my collection.

That's part of the inspiration for this concept-- old random baseball cards. Whenever I get a new card, I throw one out from my collection. So I've been going through my books, have run across a few guys and thought: "is this guy worth a damn"? If they have some conversational value or the guy did something of note, he makes the cut.
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Scrooge McSuck
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I still cherish my Ozzie Canseco card from the 1990 set of Topps.

"he's the untalented, juiced up, twin of Jose!"

"What else?"

"uh... he was arrested for impersonating his brother!"
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