Rodney Warren Boxberger (born August 22, 1957 in Santa Ana, California) is a former baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He won the 1978 College World Series Most Outstanding Player award while a junior at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC).

Professional career

Boxberger was drafted twice by two different major league teams. In the 1975 amateur draft, he was taken in the second round by the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

. In 1978, he was taken in the first round, 11th overall, by the Houston Astros. He played six years professionally, never reaching the big leagues. His first professional season was 1978. He split the season between the

Daytona Beach Astros Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

and

Columbus Astros Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. He went 1–2 with a 1.20

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in three games with Daytona Beach and 5–5 with a 4.18 ERA in 11 games with Columbus. In 1979, Boxberger played with the Columbus Astros again, going 6–7 with a 4.80 ERA in 21 games. For the third year in a row, Boxberger played with Columbus again in 1980, and for the third year in a row his stats dropped. He went 4–13 with a 5.62 ERA in 23 games in 1980. He wound up in the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

organization in 1981, playing for the Double-A Nashville Sounds. He went 4–9 with a 4.54 ERA in 23 games that year. Boxberger played the final two years of his professional career in the California Angels organization. In 1982, he played for the

Holyoke Millers The Holyoke Millers were a minor league baseball team located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The team played in the Eastern League. Their home stadium was Mackenzie Stadium. The Millers played from 1977 to 1982 and was a farm team of the Milwa ...

, going 5–9 with a 3.78 ERA. He played for the Nashua Angels in 1983, going 5–10 with a 5.43 ERA. Overall, Boxberger has a career record of 30–55 with a 4.67 ERA in 134 minor league games. He walked 504 batters and

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

389 in 702 innings.

Personal

Boxberger graduated from Foothill High School in Santa Ana, California. His son,

Brad Boxberger Bradley George Boxberger (born May 27, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas ...

, is a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxberger, Rod Living people 1957 births USC Trojans baseball players Daytona Beach Astros players Columbus Astros players Nashville Sounds players Holyoke Millers players Nashua Angels players College World Series Most Outstanding Player Award winners