Dusty Rhodes and Armando Ortíz: Two part-time players who became the hidden weapon for the New York Giants (1954) and the Navegantes del Magallanes (1969-70).

Alfonso L. Tusa C. The Hardball Times. November 12, 2019.

Leo Durocher always brought him to bat in clutch situations and most of the time, Dusty Rhodes performed successfully, but Durocher accused him of being indifferent at the field. Rhodes was the first one to recognize it as he told The New York World Telegram and Sun in 1954, “I ain’t much of a fielder and I got a pretty lousy arm, but I sure love to whack at that ball.” His accolades during the season and the 1954 World Series ended giving him a picturesque nickname: The Colossus of Rhodes. In 1954, Dusty Rhodes played in 82 games, took 164 at-bats, scored 31 runs, plated in 50, slapped 56 hits, 7 doubles, 3 triples, 15 homeruns. He got 18 walks and 25 strike outs. His batting average: .341. When he appeared in the game as a pinch hitter, he batted for .326. James Lamar Rhodes was born in Mathews, Ala., on May 13th, 1927. He studied just until eighth grade at elementary school. In his teen years he worked as a cotton picker and as an errand boy in a grocery. He went to the Navy around World War II. After war he played semipro baseball near by Montgomery. There, Jim knew and married Mae Ellen Childers. Bruce Hayes, a Southern Association Nashville Vols scout, got impressed while watching Jim bashing a home run while playing barefoot. A friend of his autographed his mother’s name on the contract because Jim was too young. Hayes began to call him “Dusty” because every single player named Rhodes was nicknamed that way.    In 1947, Rhodes began his career in the minor leagues. He went to the Hopkinsville Hoppers in Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League, Class D ball. He spent the next five seasons in the minors, playing in the Chicago Cubs farm system. He earned a fame as a party animal. In 1948 and 1949 he played for the Hutchinson/Springfield Cubs (Western Association League, Class C)) and Springfield Cubs (New England League Class B) respectively. In 1950 he went from the Des Moines Bruins (Western League Class A) to Grand Rapids Jets (Central League Class A) to Rock Hill Chiefs (Tri-State League Class B), his total number were: 125 Games. 466 At-bats. 136 Hits. 25 doubles. 12 triples. 17 home runs.    Then Dusty returned to Rock Hill to perform his best season at the minors: 135 G, 529 Ab, 182 H, 38 doubles, 10 triples, 31 homers, but the Cubs sold his contract to the NashvilleVolunteers, Southern Association League Class AA, where he started the 1952 season. He was batting for .347 in 90 Games, 349 At-bats, 121 Hits, 29 doubles, 4 triples and 18 homers, when the New York Giants purchased his contract.  He made his debut at the major leagues in 1952, and had an acceptable season for a player who performed mainly as pinch hitter (10 HR, 36 RBI, 34 R). He had similar numbers in 1953 (11 HR, 30 RBI, 18 R).  

He was a normal skinny outfielder who apparently just did the basic plays. Sometimes he could become the starting left fielder of his team and have some great performances but most of the time he was just a resident of the bench, a pinch hitter, the second side of a platoon. He never played at the big leagues, maybe he never adapted to the United States way of living, maybe he never learned a word of English language, maybe he couldn’t handle his homesick. He just played four seasons in the minor leagues, the last was his best one, in 1968, playing for the Greenwood Braves in the West Carolina Class A League. He appeared in103 games. 335 at bats. 96 hits. 16 doubles. 11 homers. 59 runs. 48 rbis, 7 stolen bases. .287 of batting average. He never played again in the minor leagues. The only other time when he played outside Venezuela was in the 1971 season when he went to play in the Mexican league for the Poza Rica and Reynosa teams. But in the Venezuelan winter league the story was other.     Armando Ortíz was born on May 3rd, 1945; in Barcelona, Anzoategui, Venezuela. In 1965, he signed to play professional baseball with the Atlanta  Braves organization and the Tiburones de La Guaira through the scout Napoleón Reyes. He played for La Guaira until December 16th, 1967 when was sent to the Navegantes del Magallanes along with right hander Juan Quintana for the pitcher Aurelio Monteagudo. Ortíz played for the Magallanes team through the 1973-74 season when was released and then signed with the Tigres de Aragua to play his last two seasons in the Venezuelan winter league. On December 31st, 1967 Armando Ortíz performed maybe his best game at the Venezuelan league. That day Magallanes confronted the Leones del Caracas and his pitching ace Diego Segui, who at the moment was undefeated with a 8-0 record. Tom Fisher was the pitcher for Magallanes. At the bottom of the second inning Oswaldo Blanco hit a double and Ortiz plated him in with a triple to right center field.  At the top of the third inning Caracas tied when centerfielder Leo Posada missed a pop up of Vic Davalillo and he arrived to second base. Roberto Herrera hit a grounder to second base to move Davalillo to third base from where he scored with a José Tartabull’s single.    In the second inning, with Paul Schaal running at third base, Ortiz caught a Cesar Tovar fly to right center field and immediately threw the ball to home plate to complete an unexpected double play at the mitt of the catcher Ed Herrmann. In the fifth frame Roberto Musulungo Herrera hit a single to right field, as Teodoro Obregón started to run from second base and continued to home plate after touching third base, Ortíz activated his cannon and threw Obregón out at home plate, to keep the game tied 1-1. In the sixth inning Obregón hit a deep enough pop up to right field that made Nelson Castellanos think he could score from third base, but again Ortiz made a fantastic throw that struck in the middle of Herman’s mitt to complete another double play. Those three outs at home plate set a record for the Venezuelan winter league, and the three assists tied the record of Roberto Moronta since February 17th, 1946. To complete his great day, in the seventh inning Ortiz hit a home run to a Segui’s high curve to give the victory to Magallanes 2-1. The ball went out to the left field bleachers and the Magallanes fans spilled on the field after the game and raised him on their shoulders.

On the second game of a double header against the St. Louis Cardinals played at Polo Grounds on July 5th, 1954, Rhodes, who started the game as left fielder, came to bat in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Cards were defeating the Giants 3-1. Whitey Lockman and Alvin Dark began the inning hitting singles against Murry Dickson. Rhodes homered to give the edge to his team 4-3. The Giants ended winning that game with the same score. Hoyt Wilhelm was the winning pitcher in relief of Ramon Monzant, Windy McCall and the starter Rubén Gómez. On August 29th, 1954 again before the Cardinals, this time at Busch Stadium, Rhodes also started playing at left field. Dusty smacked a homer against Joe Presko, leading off the second inning, to give the Giants the lead 1-0. In the top of the sixth inning, after Don Mueller was out on a fly to right field, Rhodes homered again before Presko to get closer his team 3-2 and start the rally that gave the Giants the edge 4-3. Then in the seventh hit a double to collaborate in increasing the edge to 7-3. They won 7-4. Al Corwin was the winning pitcher.  The World Series 1954 Game One arrived tied, 2-2, to the bottom of the tenth inning; most of all because in the eighth Willie Mays had performed that fantastic catch by sprinting all the way to Polo Grounds center field to haul Vic Wertz tremendous shot of nearly 480 feet. The game had been a good pitching duel between Sal Maglie for the Giants and Bob Lemon for Cleveland. Then Don Liddle relieved Maglie in the eighth with runners in first and second base, and Marv Grissom replaced Liddle after Wertz’s shot. Having runners on first and second bases (after Don Mueller’s strikeout, Willie Mays walked and stole second, then Lemon was ordered to intentionally walk Hank Thompson), the manager Leo Durocher called Rhodes from the bench to pinch hit for Monte Irving. Maybe he was thinking about what was almost a litany at the end of the games: “…usually when you look down the bench for a pinch-hitter, most of the guys are trying to hide behind each other. Oh, they’ll pinch hit if you ask them, but for most of them it’s the worst kind of pressure. But Dusty was different. He’d anticipate the situation every time, and when you turned to look for him, he’d already have a bat in one hand and he’d point to his chest, like he didn’t even want you to even think of anyone else.”    Lemon was still pitching very well, but his first delivery was a curve that hung on the plate, Rhodes hit what seemed a normal pop up to right field but the wind started carrying the ball, until it landed on the bleachers located at 257 feet from home plate, for a three-run walk off homer. Lemon threw his glove against the mound in frustration. The Giants had won the game. In the middle of the dugout celebration, Rhodes said: “I didn’t give a damn about the situation. I kind of dragged my bat up to the plate. Nothing bothered me. I always said I could get out of a coffin and get a base hit.”

On December 29th, 1969, the Navegantes del Magallanes hosted the Cardenales de Lara in his home, José Bernardo Pérez Stadium, in Valencia. The game arrived at the seventh inning tied 2-2. Danny Morris for Magallanes and Steve Bailey for Lara were in the middle of a pitching duel. The Cardenales had scored a run in top of fifth inning through Raimundo Arcia and Faustino Zabala singles plus bases on balls toDario Chirinos and Bailey. Magallanes reacted in the bottom of that inning through an rbi double by Gus Gil, Gregory Sims plated in another run while hitting a grounder with the bases loaded. Lara tied the score in the top of the sixth inning, Domingo Carrasquel plated in Neudo Morales with a single. In the bottom of the seventh Armando Ortíz hit a two-run double to give Magallanes the win when they were fighting for a berth in the playoffs.  When the manager Carlos Patato Pascual wrote the line up for Game 3 of the 1969-1970 Venezuelan winter league’s final series between his Navegantes del Magallanes and the Tiburones de La Guaira, he put Armando Ortiz in the sixth slot and playing left field instead of Gregory Sims, because the starting pitcher for La Guaira was lefthander Marcelino López. On that February 1st, 1970, the Universitario Stadium was a sellout. La Guaira scored one run in the bottom of the first inning, when Graig Nettles hit a grounder to second base to plate Remigio Hermoso in.  In the top of the third inning, after López had got the first two outs, Jim Holt hit a single to left field and Ray Fosse walked. There, Ortíz came to the plate and batted Holt in to tie the score 1-1. Then, in the fifth inning, after Gus Gil lined out to left field, Holt slapped another single, this time to right field. Fosse got on base due to an error of shortstop Enzo Hernández. Again Ortíz plated Holt in with another single to left field. This one ended being the winning run and the Venezuelan winter league championship for the Magallanes team, the first one in 15 years. Jay Ritchie was the winning pitcher since he shut down the La Guaira’s batters. In the dugout’s celebration, Ortiz said: “My satisfaction is double because La Guaira team gifted me. I’m glad because I collaborated to the victory, but I feel marveled of being the one who plated in the runs against La Guaira, because that team gifted me.”    After getting the Venezuelan winter league championship, the Magallanes team went to participate at the Caribbean Series to be played at Caracas. On February 5th, 1970, Magallanes took the field at the Universitario Stadium with righthander Orlando Peña, to face the Leones de Ponce and lefty Mike Cuellar, who had won 23 games for the Baltimore Orioles and shared the Cy Young Award with Denny McLain. Magallanes took the lead in the bottom of the third inning, Cesar Tovar batted in Dámaso Blanco with a single. Then in the seventh Armando Ortíz bashed a two-run homer to center field, to put the score 3-0.  Ponce scored in the top of the ninth, on a double by Bernie Carbo, a Tany Pérez’s single, and a grounder by S. Rosario, but that was all they could do against Peña. “When you have a bat in your hands, you shouldn’t get intimidated by anyone. Cuellar has a good repertoire but he made a mistake and paid very expensive for it,” said Ortiz after the game. Cuellar tried to explain what happened, “I tried to start with an inside fastball but it got hung on the plate and he hit it just in the middle.”

In the second game of the 1954 World Series, the Giants arrived to the fifth inning, trailing 1-0 before the Indians another pitching ace: Early Wynn who had retired in a row the first 12 Giants’ batters. Durocher looked again to the bench and called Dusty Rhodes to pinch hit one more time for Monte Irvin. There were runners at first and third bases, Willie Mays walked and Hank Thompson hit a single. Rhodes singled to center field to plate Willie Mays in with the tying run. In the seventh frame Rhodes homered to right field again to put the score 3-1, and the Giants won that game. Johnny Antonelli hurled a complete game and allowed 8 hits (one of them Al Smith’s homer to lead off the game) and 6 walks. In Game 3, Durocher called Rhodes once again to pinch hit for Irving before Mike Garcia. It was the third inning and the bases were loaded, the Giants were winning 1-0. Rhodes hit a two-run single that resulted instrumental for the 6-2 Giants victory. Rubén Gómez got the win and Hoyt Wilhelm the save. It was Rhodes’ fourth consecutive hit, while collecting 7 rbi in the Series. It was Rhodes’ last appearance in the Series, since the Giants swept the Indians by defeating them 7-4 in the fourth game.    He had another good season in 1955. His batting average was .305 while playing in 94 games. 187 at-bats. 57 hits. 5 doubles. 2 triples. 6 home runs. 32 rbi. 22 runs. 27 walks. 26 strikeouts. Then he had two very disappointing seasons in 1956 and 1957. After experiencing a good season for the Phoenix Giants in the Pacific Coast League AAA (25 homers, 100 rbi), Rhodes tried to come back to play for the San Francisco Giants in 1959, but he just hit for .188 in 54 games. That was the end of his baseball career.  

 Armando Ortíz also had a key role in the game where the Navegantes del Magallanes finally won the 1970 Caribbean Series. On February 10th, 1970, the Leones de Ponce took the lead 3-2 in the top of the eighth inning. Ray Fosse led off the bottom of that inning with a double and Ortiz followed with another two-base hit to tie the score. The game went to extrainning and Magallanes won it with Gus Gil’s single to plate in Dámaso Blanco in the bottom of the eleventh inning.  In the 1970-71 season, the Tiburones de La Guaira and Navegantes del Magallanes faced again in the final series of the Venezuelan winter league. On February 3dr, 1971; La Guaira arrived to the top of the eighth inning beating Magallanes 5-2. Then Hal King hit a three-run home run against Jerry Cram to send the game to extra-inning. At the top of the 13th inning, Richard Chiles ran on first base with two outs, when manager “Patato” Pascual sent Armando Ortiz to pinch hit for Nelson Cañas who was no balls and one strike in the count. Ortiz hit the first pitch of Orlando Peña to deep right field for a triple that plated in Chiles with the winning run. Magallanes had tied the series to 3 games each team. Jorge Lauzerique was the winning pitcher in a relief of 8.1 innings. Next day the La Guaira team won the decisive seventh game to get the championship.    Ortiz best season in the Venezuelan winter league was 1968-69, when he played in 48 games and batted for .254 in 173 at-bats. 44 hits. 10 doubles. 1 triple. 1 home run. 16 runs. 14 rbi. 

Sources and References. __Bill Madden.  Dusty Rhodes recalls His Short-Lived Big League Career. New York Daily News. Baseball Digest. May 2009. Pp. 58-59. __Warren Corbett. Dusty Rhodes. SABR BioProject.sabr.org. __Richard Gómez. Campeones. Las Series Finales del Beisbol Profesional Venezolano. Fondo Editorial Cárdenas Lares. Caracas 1997. Pp 111-112. __Revista Sport Gráfico. Caracas. 5 de enero de 1968. No. 144. Pp. 24-28 __- Daniel Gutierrez, Efraim Álvarez, Daniel Gutierrez (h). La Enciclopedia del Beisbol en Venezuela. Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional. Caracas 2006. __ baseball-reference.com __ Giner García, Emil Bracho, Luis E. Sequera. 99+1. Junta Administradora navegantes del Magallanes. 1996. Pp. 75-76, 80. __ Una Temporada Mágica. Alfonso Tusa. LVBP. Central Banco Universal. Caracas. 2006. __Retrosheet.org