Rick Joseph

Ricardo Emelindo Joseph Harrigan

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lb.

• Debut June 18, 1964
• Final Game September 23, 1970
• Born August 24, 1939 in San Pedro de Macoris, San Pedro de Macoris, D.R.
• Died September 8, 1979 in Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Ricardo "Rick" Joseph played five seasons in the major leagues. He had 84 games at third base, 82 at first base, 13 in the outfield and one at second base.

In his best year with the bat, on the Philadelphia Phillies in 1969, he hit .273 while the team as a whole hit .241.

Joseph was born in San Pedro de Macoris, within a few days of when Rico Carty was born in the same place. Signed by the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in 1959, he hit at least .319 in each of his first three minor league seasons. In the winters he played ball in the Dominican Republic.

Beginning in 1962, he spent almost all of the rest of his minor league career (except for 25 games) at the AAA level, hitting .300 once in 1967 for the San Diego Padres, when he was the Pacific Coast League MVP. He showed decent power while the minors, with 147 career minor league home runs, mostly achieved at the AAA level.

Rick came up to the majors originally in June 1964 to play with the Kansas City Athletics. He mostly played first base, a position where the team's regular was Jim Gentile.

At the end of his MVP year in 1967 with San Diego, he came up to the majors again, playing 17 games with the Phillies, again mostly at first base. He got a lot more playing time in 1968, appearing in 66 games. In 1969 he had even more playing time, occupying third base in 58 of his 99 games. In 1970 he was in 71 games, split rather equally between left field, first base and third base. After his time in the majors he played in Mexico. He died from complications of diabetes when he was only 40 years old.

The book Baseball in San Diego has a photo of him holding a bat in a San Diego uniform.

Notable Achievements

• 1967 MVP Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres

Related Sites

• Ricardo Joseph at the SABR Bio Project