Rick Joseph

Ricardo Emelindo Joseph Harrigan (August 24, 1939 – September 8, 1979) was a Dominican professional baseball corner infielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies in all or parts of five seasons (–).

Born in San Pedro de Macorís, Joseph stood tall and weighed . He batted and threw right-handed. Baseball career Originally signed by the San Francisco Giants, Joseph played in their minor league system from 1959 to 1963, batting .320.319, and .326, respectively, in his first three seasons. 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.

On September 16, 1967, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he hit his first MLB home run, a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam off Ron 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 a utility player, Joseph became expendable when emerging young players such as Don Money and Greg Luzinski, as well as veteran Deron Johnson began to signal a changing of the guard. As such, on January 12, 1971, he was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Bucky Brandon. Joseph would play the next three years for several minor league and Mexican League teams, never again playing in the major leagues.

Joseph died in 1979 of complications from diabetes.