Rusty Staub: New Orleans Jesuit High School All Star

Quick Hits

Position: Outfielder

Teams:

• Houston Colt .45’s/Astros (1963-1968 )
• Montreal Expos (1969-1971, 1979)
• New York Mets (1972-1975, 1981-1985)
• Detroit Tigers (1976-1979)
• Texas Rangers (1980)

Notables:

• Carolina League’s Most Valuable Player in 1962, received $100,000 bonus from the Colt .45s.
• Debuted as a 19-year-old rookie in 1963.
• 6x All-Star selection (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1976)
• Led NL in doubles in 1967 with 44.
• Career BA of .279, 292 home runs and 1466 rbi’s.
• Retired in 1985
• Only major league player to have 500 hits with four different teams.
• Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub are the only players to hit home runs before turning 20 years old, and after turning 40 years old.
• Member of Montreal Expos Hall of Fame
• Member of New York Mets Hall of Fame
• Member of Texas Baseball Hall of Fame

Le Grand Orange

Staub is regarded as the most prominent Montreal Expo in their franchise history.

He was embraced by French-Canadians because he made the effort to learn their language (Source).

Staub was nicknamed “Le Grand Orange” for his bright-red hair.

His #10 uniform jersey (he later wore #6) was the first number ever retired by the Montreal Expos organization.

He is also the franchise’s career leader in on-base percentage (.402).^[Source]

Rusty robbed Dan Driessen of an extra-base hit in the 11th inning of the Mets’ upset over the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS. Staub injured his arm while crashing into the fence hard on the play. In the World Series he had to throw underhand from the outfield and batted .423 despite the injury against the Oakland Athletics (Source)

While with the Mets, Staub opened a restaurant in New York city called “Rusty’s”, a cajun-style restaurant on the upper east side of Manhattan.

Rusty founded the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund. During its first 15 years of existence, the Fund raised and distributed $11 million for families of policemen and firefighters killed in the line of duty..

If you graduate from Jesuit High School in New Orleans and you are the leader of the varsity baseball team you will receive the Rusty Staub Award. Will Clark also attended Jesuit High School in New Orleans. Does the Will Clark award go to the leader of the JV team?

Link (here)