| Ricardo Joseph | |
|---|---|
| Third baseman/First baseman | |
| Born:(1939-08-24)August 24, 1939 San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic | |
| Died: September 8, 1979(1979-09-08) (aged 40) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| June 18, 1964, for the Kansas City Athletics | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 23, 1970, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .243 |
| Home runs | 13 |
| Runs batted in | 65 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
Ricardo Emelindo Joseph Harrigan (August 24, 1939 – September 8, 1979) was a Dominican professionalbaseballcorner infielder, who played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theKansas City Athletics and thePhiladelphia Phillies in all or parts of five seasons (1964–1970).[1]
Born inSan Pedro de Macorís, Joseph stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 192 pounds (87 kg). He batted and threw right-handed.
Originally signed by theSan Francisco Giants, Joseph played in theirminor league system from 1959 to 1963,batting .320, .319, and .326, respectively, in his first three seasons.[2] On December 2, 1963, he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the 1963 minor league draft.
Joseph made his big league debut with the Athletics on June 18, 1964.[1] On November 29, 1966, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1966 minor league draft. The Phillies sent him to theirSan Diego Padresfarm team. There, in 1967, Joseph received theMost Valuable Player Award of theTriple-APacific Coast League (PCL), after batting .300 with 24home runs for the league champion Padres.[2] The performance earned him an August 31 call-up to the Phillies.[3]
On September 16, 1967, against theLos Angeles Dodgers, he hit his first MLB home run, a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam offRon Perranoski to give the Phillies an 8-4 win. Through 2019, Joseph is the last MLB player to hit a walk-off grand slam for his first career home run.
After playing the next three seasons with Philadelphia as autility player, Joseph became expendable when emerging young players such asDon Money andGreg Luzinski, as well as veteranDeron Johnson began to signal a changing of the guard. As such, on January 12, 1971, he was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to theChicago White Sox forpitcherBucky Brandon. Joseph would play the next three years for several minor league andMexican League teams, never again playing in the major leagues.
Joseph died in 1979 of complications fromdiabetes.[4]
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