Former Baseball Pitcher Overcomes Odds

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Toledo, Ohio – There was a time when Rick Rhoden writhed in agony, wondering if the pain would ever subside.

It wasn’t 1979 when Rhoden, a Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher six years into his major league baseball career, coiled from the needle-like sting that ultimately led to major surgery on his breadwinning right throwing shoulder.

No, nothing compared to this, the moment that scarred his brain the way a cattle rancher brands livestock.

Rhoden was 8 years old, playing in the yard the way most adolescents do on a yawning summer day, innocence and valor giving way to the vagaries of youth. He had set up one of those flat lawn-embracing slides, the kind that requires a hose, water and gumption for fun. Rhoden built up speed before diving onto the slick plastic, allowing physics to take over.

Seconds later, the fun would be over and Rhoden would begin his sojourn against life’s odds.

"I remember it vividly," said the 50-year-old Rhoden on Monday after finishing a practice round in preparation for the U.S. Senior Open.

At the end of the slide was a pair of misplaced scissors – rusty to boot. Rhoden, twirling uncontrollably, felt a blade cut through the flesh of his right knee just as the ride ended.

Soon after, a germ developed. That germ, despite the tetanus shots, became osteomyelitis. The osteomyelitis led to exploratory surgery where part of the right knee was removed. Rhoden wore a brace on the leg until he was 12. It took two more years until he could play organized sports.

"The reason why I pitched was because I couldn’t run," said Rhoden, who walks with a gait that tends to favor the left side. "I played other positions, but I knew early on that if I was going to do anything, it had to be as a pitcher."

Rhoden went on to have a solid major league career, going 151-125 with a 3.59 earned-run average over 15 years with four teams. He made two all-star teams. It was during his stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers – the team he signed with as a first round draft pick out of high school – that he cultivated his love for golf.

Growing up in Boynton Beach, Fla., he learned to play in junior high and certainly appreciated the game, he said. But golf took a backseat to basketball and baseball.

During his five years with Los Angeles, Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla. – the club’s spring training complex – had a course where Rhoden honed his skills.

"I really started playing when I was in pro ball," he said. "I became a two handicap."

As he moved from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh to the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, there was always one constant beside baseball – golf. But it wasn’t until the end of his baseball career that he started getting serious.

After pitching his last game with the Astros in Cincinnati in 1989, Rhoden traded his baseball mitt for clubs. Two years later he was invited to play on the Celebrity Players Tour, which sounds like a glitzy name for former athletes trying to cross over into golf, which it is. But, beyond the smiles for the gallery and all the glad-handing, there is serious money to be made.

In 12 years, Rhoden has earned more than $2 million on the tour and stands as its all-time career money leader and winner with 43 titles. Not bad for a guy who never had a formal lesson.

"On the Celebrity Tour, you have to learn that every shot counts," said Rhoden.

To say he isn’t dedicated would be far-fetched. Two years ago he joined Pablo Creek Club in Jacksonville, Fla., where Champions Tour players Bob Duval and Leonard belong as does PGA Tour player Fred Funk. And Rhoden occasionally seeks their advice.

"He practices every day in the winter," said Rhoden’s caddie this week, Randy Gilmore, who happened to carry a bag on the PGA Tour in the late 1970s. "He’s a solid driver. He knows how to cut and draw when the situation calls for it. He also is a real good putter," although Rhoden mentioned that was an area of weakness.

The biggest differences between the Celebrity Tour and Champions Tour, he said, were the courses and talent. On Monday, he learned firsthand as some balls rolled off the Donald Ross-designed greens. The USGA normally sets the Stimpmeter between 1 and 14 feet for its championships, whereas greens run about nine on the Celebrity Tour.

He was amazed at the undulations and contours of many of Inverness’ greens.

After all he’s accomplished on the Celerity Tour, Rhoden is eyeing the next step, which is to make the Champions Tour. Last year he missed at Qualifying School by one shot. For now, he said he’ll try to play in Champions Tour events as a Monday qualifier or on a sponsor exemption.

If Rhoden should make the tour, he’d join former NFL quarterback John Brodie and Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry as players with full-time exempt status. Furthermore, by playing in the Senior Open, he and Terry are the only two men to have pitched in a World Series game and play in the championship.

Golf Versus Baseball

Last year at the U.S. Women’s Open in Hutchinson, Kan., Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer George Brett oozed about his passion for golf. He had played in some celebrity events, but admitted that when his named was called on the tee box for the first time, a rush of fear overcame him like nothing he had ever experienced before in baseball.

Rhoden understood, nodding in agreement. At his first Celebrity Tour event in 1990 at Lake Tahoe, he practically froze on the tee.

"I barely got the tee in the ground," said Rhoden, who qualified for the Senior Open at Deer Run Golf Club in Gibsonia, Pa., on June 11 with a 69. "My first few times I was nervous. But it’s a lot like pitching. When you’re focused, you don’t hear the people, you feel them. Golf is like that where if you’re playing well, you don’t hear that stuff. When you’re not playing well, you’ll hear the people, the cell phone, the crying baby."

The average fan wouldn’t think there would be similarities between baseball and golf, but there are, he said. As he made his way past a smattering of fans to get to the 16th tee Monday, someone in the gallery asked him what he preferred.

"Neither one of ‘em is easy," he told the fan.

Later, he explained.

"Golf is an individual game, but if you’re not playing well, you have to try and figure out why," he said. "The same applied to pitching. When you were in trouble on the mound, you had to figure out a way to get out of a jam."

Rhoden couldn’t pinpoint any one highlight from golf that stood above the rest. Playing well this week, and (pinch-pinch) even winning, would be the pinnacle. More important, proving that he belongs would satisfy him most, just as it did in 1974 when he made the Dodgers.

"I played in three World Series and made two all-star teams," said Rhoden, "but my biggest highlight was flying into Los Angeles from spring training and seeing all those lights below. It told me that I made it and didn’t have to go to (Triple-A) Albuquerque."

More important, it told him he belonged, just as he’s trying to tell himself again this week.

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him at kklavon@usga.org with questions or comments.