Baltimore Orioles All-Time Best Rule 5 Draft Picks
By Ben Palmer
5. Elrod Hendricks – Selected from the California Angels in 1967
Any true Baltimore Orioles fan knows who Elrod Hendricks is. Hendricks was with the Orioles organization for an insanely long time, setting a franchise record spending 37 seasons with the Orioles as either a player or coach.
After he was picked in the 1967 Rule 5 Draft, Hendricks turned into a pretty useful catcher for the Orioles. While his statistics never popped out too much, he also never really started a full year, as he split catching duties with Andy Etchebarren for much of his first few years with the team.
Despite that though, he was a very good catcher with a very capable bat, most memorably hitting a home run in Game 1 of the 1970 World Series and batted .375 for that entire postseason.
He bounced around to a few teams, but always ended up back with the Orioles and eventually served as the Orioles bullpen coach from 1978 to 2005.