Rod Miller

Rodney Carter Miller

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 160 lb.
• High School Lynwood High School
• Debut September 28, 1957
• Final Game September 28, 1957
• Born January 16, 1940 in Portland, OR USA
• Died November 8, 2013 in Cascade, ID USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Rod Miller had a very brief cup of coffee in the majors, appearing in just one game for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957, just before their move to Los Angeles.

The 17-year-old Miller was signed by the Dodgers as an amateur free agent on June 26th that year. After hitting just .183 in 77 games for the Cedar Rapids Raiders of the Three-I League, the young infielder was brought up to the Brooklyn in September. He appeared in only one game, facing the Philadelphia Phillies on September 28th. He entered the game as a pinch hitter for third baseman Randy Jackson in the top of the 9th and struck out swinging facing Jack Meyer to end the inning. In the bottom of the frame, Pee Wee Reese took the field in place of Miller. Ironically, his manager, Walter Alston, had also struck out in his only major league at-bat. Rod was the youngest player in the majors that year, a few days younger than Dave Skaugstad.

"Walter Alston was the classiest human being I've ever known giving me a chance to bat. That one at-bat opened more doors for me than I could ever have imagined." - Miller in "Once Around the Bases"

Rodney would spend three more seasons in pro baseball, all in the minors, with five teams in different leagues. In 1959, he hit .251 with 14 home runs for the Kokomo Dodgers, and the next year, his final season, he hit .254 for the Great Falls Electrics. Overall, in four years of minor league ball, he posted a .242 average.

Miller left baseball as he was drafted into the United States Marines for a four-year tour of duty. Following his time in the military, he worked for a steel company in Los Angeles for several years and moved in 1988 to Reno, Nevada. In Reno, he was employed by the Athletic Training Equipment Company, a firm which made baseball pitching machines and that was owned by the late Jack Shepard (who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1953 to 1956). Rod retired and moved to Idaho in 2009, and he died in 2013 at age 73.

Sources

Baseball Players of the 1950s

Further Reading

• Richard Tellis: Once Around The Bases, Triumph Books, Chicago, IL, 1998, pp. 193-201.