Joe Rudi
| Joe Rudi | |||
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| Left fielder | |||
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Born: September 7, 1946 Modesto, California |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 11, 1967, for the Kansas City Athletics | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 3, 1982, for the Oakland Athletics | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .264 | ||
| Home runs | 179 | ||
| Runs batted in | 810 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Joseph Oden Rudi (born September 7, 1946 in Modesto, California) is a former left fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Kansas City & Oakland Athletics (1967–76, 1982), California Angels (1977–80) and Boston Red Sox (1981). In a 16-year career, Rudi was a .264 hitter with 179 home runs and 810 RBI in 1547 games. He won American League Gold Gloves in 1974, 1975 and 1976, and played in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 1972, 1974 and 1975. He batted and threw right-handed.
Rudi currently works in real estate in Baker City, Oregon. He is a long-time amateur radio operator with the call sign NK7U.
Rudi batted a career-high .309 in 1970 and had a career-best 181 hits in 1972. That year, he helped the Athletics win the World Series and made a great game-saving catch in Game 2 that went on to become part of the highlight reel for many Major League Baseball films. With Tony Pérez on first and Oakland leading 2-0 in the ninth inning, Rudi raced to the left-field fence and made a leaping, backhanded catch of Denis Menke's smash to save a run. Earlier in the game, Rudi hit a solo home run.
In 1974 he had a career best 22 home runs and 99 runs batted in and hit a home run in Game 5 of the 1974 World Series off Mike Marshall that would turn out to be the game winner and Series clincher. Rudi's Athletics became the first team since the 1949–1953 New York Yankees to win 3 straight World Championships.
In 1975, he was elected by the fans as a starter in the All-Star Game as an outfielder, where he joined four other Oakland A's in the American League starting lineup. He also played some first base for the A's in 1975.
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