By Jeff Stuart
Rocky Bridges was almost instantly recognizable for the huge tobacco chaw inside his left cheek. Only Nellie Fox of the White Sox came close to matching that tobacco swell. Born with the first name of Everett, he got the name “Rocky” from a minor league announcer in Greenville, SC when he played there in 1948. “He said the name fit me better,” said Bridges.”Because I looked like a dead-end kid in that Greenville uniform, chewing tobacco the way I did.” The rugged Bridges had no illusions about his personal appearance. “It’s an upset when I don’t make the all ugly team,” he said. Rocky played 52 games with the Dodgers in 1952. But he did not play in the World Series. A utility player, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds on February 16, 1953. “I got a 5 year education on how to play shortstop by watching Pee Wee Reese and Roy McMillan, and had no chance to break into the line up,”
he said. On May 20, 1957, the Senators claimed the 29-year-old off waivers from the Reds. He became an immediate fan favorite. “It is doubtful if any .228 hitter in a Washington uniform was ever applauded as much. Rocky’s glove could make the fans forget his bat,” wrote Post Columnist Shirley Povich. In 1957 Rocky led American League shortstops with an average of 5.98 put outs and assists per nine innings. “His brilliant play both in the field and at bat contributed much to the Nats early rise,” wrote the Post’s Bob Addie. They were 13-9 after a 5-4 win at home against Boston on May 12. Camilo Pascual had shut out the Yankees in New York, 4-0, the day before. “The fans were nice to me and I want to do something for them,” Rocky said. “I mean I think I’ll get ’em more hits. It’s the biggest hunch I’ve ever had. I think maybe I’m getting more body into my swing now and I’m going to be looking tougher to those pitchers.” He enjoyed Washington, joking with Addie that teammate and Nats’ catcher Steve Korchek was almost as ugly as he was. “He scares me,” he said.
His effort to please the fans payed off because 1958 was a “Cinderella” season for Bridges. He was batting .307 at the All-Star break, better than Luis Aparicio of the White Sox and Tony Kubek of the Yankees, the first and second place finishers in the All Star voting. Casey Stengel selected him for the AL Squad. He did not play in the game. “But for me,” he said, “it was as big a kick as being the the World Series. It was real nice of Casey to pick me. He didn’t have to. He’ll never know what it did for my morale.”
For Cinderella the clock struck midnight early in the second half of the 1958 season. “I checked out Frank Lary‘s fast ball on my jaw. The trouble with having a wired jaw is that you can never tell when you’re sleepy—you can’t yawn,” he said. That occurred in the 2nd inning on July 10th at Griffith Stadium. With one out Bridges had a 2-2 count when he tried to duck out of the way of Lary’s pitch. He was taken to Georgetown University Hospital where X-rays revealed the fracture. Just before the All-Star break, Rocky had been hit on the forehead by Kansas City pitcher Tom Gorman, but continued in the game. In any case, Rocky’s fortune turned south, and he ended up hitting .263 for the year, playing in 116 games. On December 6, 1958, Rocky was traded with Eddie Yost to the Detroit Tigers for Reno Bertoia, Jim Delsing and Ron Samford. 12 years later the Expansion Senators traded another shortstop/third base combination to the Tigers. Then it was Ed Brinkman and Aurelio Rodriguez. for Elliott Maddox, Denny McLain, Norm McRae and Don Wert. In neither case did the Nats get anyone near as colorful as Bridges in return.
Bridges was in all ways, “just regular.” In March of 1958, Bridges told Povich, “My 1958 pay checks haven’t started yet. That’s why I was digging ditches all winter for a pipe laying outfit in Long Beach, CA. Can’t say I liked the work, but put it his way, I couldn’t afford to dislike it, either.” When asked by
Dodger Manager Chuck Dressen if he was willing to play third base to prolong his career, he replied, “Hell, yes. I’ll mow your lawn if you like—I want to stay up here.” “If I told him to go up and get hit on the head,” Reds Manager Birdie Tebbetts once said, “he’d do it.”
During the 1957 World Series (won by the Milwaukee Braves) Bridges commented to Povich on the Brave’s Lew Burdette, who tormented the Yankees with his quirks and fidgets. New York protested that Lew was throwing a spitter. Having faced Burdette in the National League, Bridges told Povich, “that guy could make a cup of coffee nervous. I think he hit his peak in that series. I doubt he’ll ever be as effective again. Don’t get me wrong. He’s tough, but he’s not that tough.”
Bridges had an 11-year career in American Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1961. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals of the National League, and the Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels of the American League. He appeared at second base, shortstop, third base and, occasionally, in the outfield.
“My wife had to write to me care of Ford Frick. He was the only one who knew where I was. It’s a good thing I stayed in Cincinnati for four years—it took me that long to learn how to spell it,” he said
He had a career batting average of .247 and never hit more than 5 home runs or stole more than 6 bases in a season. In two rare seasons in which he held down just one position, he led NL second basemen (1953) and AL shortstops (1957) in total chances per game. Curiously, he started triple plays in both leagues. “I’ve been a paid spectator at some pretty interesting events,” he said, “and I’ve always had a good seat.”
Following his active playing career, he served two terms (1962-63; 1968-71) as the third-base coach of the Angels and one year (1985) in that role with the San Francisco Giants. He also had a long career as a minor league manager in the Angels, Giants, San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations. Over 21 seasons stretched between 1964 and 1989, Bridges’ teams won 1,300 games and lost 1,358 (.489).
His minor league managerial career is profiled in Jim Bouton‘s collection of baseball articles and essays entitled I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad and in an August 17, 1964 article in Sports Illustrated by Gilbert Rogin that can be found on the world wide web.
No man ever had a greater love for the game of baseball than Rocky Bridges. “(Sitting on the bench as a major leaguer) was like being a little boy forever,” he said. Rocky celebrated his 83rd birthday on Aug. 7, 2010 and lives in Northern Idaho.
