PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mike Rogodzinski was an outfielder and pinch-hitter for the Phillies in the early to mid-'70s. He played with some of the greats in franchise history and had a lot of great moments of his own, even in limited action.
Rogodzinski was a second-round draft pick of the Phillies in 1969 and made it to the big leagues in 1973. He made his major league debut on May 4 that year, and picked up his first hit the next day against the Braves.
"It was a ground ball in the hole on the right side," he recalled. "It was off of Carl Morton. It was probably a thousand-hopper, one of those deals, and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but thank God for Astroturf."
Rogodzinski set a Phillies rookie record in 1973 for pinch-hits with 16.
During the rest of his career, Rogodzinski didn't shy from a challenge at the plate. His first big league home run in 1973 came off Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, and his last big league hit came off another Hall of Famer, Tom Seaver, in 1975.
"I really, really enjoyed playing against Seaver," he said, "because for some reason or another, he was the kind of pitcher who threw what I liked, he threw fastballs, he threw sliders.
"In fact, the one hit that I remember off of him, we had bases loaded, I think Mike Schmidt was on first base, and I hit a ball that ended up hitting the top of the fence. I thought it was going to be a grand slam, and bounced back and everybody only moved up a base or two."
You can listen to the entire interview with Mike Rogodzinski by checking out the latest episode, above, of the KYW Newsradio original podcast, "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." For more, subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.
