When Juan Marichal hit Roseboro over the head with a bat in August 1965, Roseboro went down in history as the center of one of baseball’s biggest brawls. Marichal claimed that Roseboro had ticked his ear with the ball (Marichal was at bat) while throwing it back to the pitcher.
Roseboro caught two of Sandy Koufax‘s no-hitters and ranks in the top 25 all-time in games caught. Not including his first and last seasons, the durable receiver caught more than 100 games every year but 1960. Helped by Los Angeles’s high-strikeout pitching staff, he set ML records for putouts in 1959 and 1961. Roseboro led NL catchers six times in total chances per game (five straight seasons, 1958-62), four times in putouts, and twice in double plays, and also led AL catchers in double plays in 1969 as he contributed to the Twins’ divisional title.
Adequate with the bat, the lefthanded batter hit as high as .287 in 1964 and hit as many as 18 HR in 1961, although he was never in double figures in HR after the Dodgers moved to Dodger Stadium. He won Game One of the 1963 World Series with a three-run homer off Whitey Ford and won Game Three of the 1965 WS with a two-run single off Camilio Pascual. Early in his career he had good speed for a catcher, stealing as many as 12 bases (in 15 attempts) in 1962 and averaging more than six triples a year in his first six full seasons (1958-63).
