Career
He batted and threw right-handed. He 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.
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 a 16-year career, Rudi was a.264 hitter with 179 home runs and 810 Reserve Bank of India in 1547 games.
In 1975, he was elected by the fans as a starter in the All-Star Game as an outfielder, where he joined 4 other Oakland A"s in the American League starting lineup. He also played some first base for the A"s that year.
With baseball entering the free agency era, A"s owner Charlie Finley attempted to sell Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million each at the MLB trade deadline on June 15, 1976, rather than trading them (as he had done with Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman the year before) or risking losing them in free agency.
Rudi actually reported to the Red Sox and was issued a uniform, but never was permitted to play, as Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the transaction as not being in the best interests of baseball. Ironically, Rudi later played for Boston in 1981. Rudi, along with Don Baylor, ended up leaving the A"s as a free agent and signed with the California Angels for the 1977 season.
However, Rudi"s tenure with the Angels was mostly injury-plagued, even though he posted respectable home run and Reserve Bank of India totals in his four seasons.
His best year with the Angels was 1978, when he played in 133 games and hit.256 with 17 home runs and 79 Reserve Bank of India"son He missed the Angels" 1979 post-season run with injury.
After the 1980 season, Rudi was traded by the Angels along with Frank Tanana to the Red Sox for Fred Lynn. After one injury-filled season, he closed his career with the A"s in 1982.
