Rocky Bridges

Rocky Bridges
Infielder
Born: August 7, 1928
Refugio, Texas
Died: January 27, 2015 (aged 87)
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 17, 1951 for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Last MLB appearance
October 1, 1961 for the Los Angeles Angels
Career statistics
Batting average .247
Hits 562
Runs batted in 187
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Everett Lamar "Rocky" Bridges (August 7, 1927 – January 27, 2015) was a middle infielder and third baseman with an 11-year career in American Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1961.

Bridges played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals of the National League, and the Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels of the American League. He also appeared occasionally in the outfield.

Playing career

Bridges posted a career batting average of .247 and never hit more than five home runs or stole more than six bases in a season. Nevertheless, he was elected to the American League All-Star team in 1958.

Coaching career

Following his active playing career, he served two terms (1962–63; 1968–71) as the third base coach of the Angels and one year (1985) in that role with the San Francisco Giants.

Bridges also had a long career as a minor league manager in the Angels, Giants, San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations. Over 21 seasons stretched between 1964 and 1989, Bridges' teams won 1,300 games and lost 1,358 (.489).

His minor league managerial career is profiled in Jim Bouton's collection of baseball articles and essays entitled I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad.

In between, Bridges managed the Leones de Ponce to the pennant title of the Puerto Rico Baseball League in the 1968–1969 season.[1]

The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book, Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris, Little Brown & Co, 1973, began a lengthy writeup next to a picture of a baseball card of the square-jawed, crew-cut, tobacco-chewing Bridges on p. 103: "Rocky Bridges looked like a ballplayer. In fact, he may have looked more like a ballplayer than any other ballplayer who ever lived."

Bridges died of natural causes January 27, 2015, aged 87, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Leones de Ponce Campeón de la PRBL – Campeonatos de Ponce (Spanish)
  2. ↑ Lee, Greg (January 29, 2015). "Former Dodger, Rocky Bridges, dies in Coeur d'Alene". spokesman.com. Spokane, WA: The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 30, 2015.

External links