Major League Baseball Career
Rhoden broke into the big leagues, at the age of 21, with the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 5, 1974.
He was elected to the All-Star team twice (1976 with the Dodgers and 1986 with the Pirates), and won three Silver Slugger awards (1984–1986).
In 413 career games, Rhoden compiled a 151-125 record, a 3.59 ERA, 1419 strikeouts, and one save. He has also hit nine home runs and had 75 RBIs.
His teams made it to the post-season twice during his career: the Dodgers in two consecutives seasons, 1977 and 1978. In both of those years, the Dodgers reached the World Series against the New York Yankees, but lost in six games each year.
Rhoden earned a reputation as an outstanding hitting pitcher. He had an eleven-game hitting streak in 1984, one of the longest all-time for a pitcher.
On June 11, 1988, New York Yankees manager Billy Martin made him the Yankees' starting designated hitter, going 0-1 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly. He batted 7th in the lineup, ahead of Rafael Santana and Joel Skinner. He was the first pitcher to start a game at DH since the AL's adoption of the DH rule in 1973. He was pinch hit for by José Cruz in the Yankees' 8-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
In his career, Rhoden batted .238 with 9 home runs and 75 RBI.
Rhoden's final game was September 29, 1989 for the Houston Astros.
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