I know that Aurelio was not really all that great of a ball player, but he was pretty much money at third base for the Tigers, winning a Gold Glove in 1976.
He was traded to the Tigers on October 9, 1970 along with Ed Brinkman, Joe Colman and Jim Hannan in exchange for Elliott Maddux, Denny McLain, Norm McRae and Don Wert. On December 7, 1979 he was purchased from the Tigers by the San Diego Padres for $200,000. He then went on to play for the Yankees, Blue Jays, White Sox and Orioles before his career ended at the end of the 1983 season. He finished with a Brandon Inge like career batting average of .237!
WJR Broadcaster Paul Carey, who at that time was alternating with Hall Of Famer Ernie Harwell, used to refer to Rodriguez' arm as a Howitzer. Every time the Tigers would play the Yankees, the late Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto would eventually get a chance to see a Rodriguez throw a "rising" fastball across the infield. "There's that arm," Scooter would say. "If I had an arm like that . . .!"
In an appearance on the Yes network by several great third basemen, George Brett once commented on RodrÃguez's arm, saying to all (but particularly to the Phillie Great Mike Schmidt) "You remember that guy? He would toy with you and pound the ball in his glove and you were still out by 10 feet!"
Sadly, on September 23, 2000, Rodriguez was visiting Detroit from his home in Mexico. While he was walking with an unidentified woman on Detroit's southwest side at 2 p.m., a car jumped the curb and ran over him. The driver of the car was driving with a suspended license and had been ordered not to drive because of a previous brain aneurysm; she was charged with felony manslaughter but received only probation. Rodriguez, who had to be pulled from under the car, was 52 at the time of his death. Rodriguez' funeral in Mexico was attended by thousands of people, including the president of that country. His tomb is located in the stadium Emilio Ibarra Almada from Los Mochis, Sinaloa and his cross stands at the top of the stadium.
An intersting note of baseball card trivia, the photo on his 1969 Topps baseball card is actually Angels batboy Leonard Garcia.
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