Rhodes played four sports—baseball, basketball, football, and track—at West High School in Salt Lake City, and then attended the University of Utah for a year before signing a professional baseball contract.[1] His baseball career spanned 12 years, 1928 to 1939; he spent parts of eight seasons in the major leagues (appearing in 203 games) and parts of seven seasons in the minor leagues (appearing in 174 games).[2]
Rhodes made his major league debut in April 1929 at age 21,[3][4] after his contract was purchased by the New York Yankees from the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League.[5] During parts of four seasons, he went 7–9 in 41 games (17 starts) with the Yankees.[6] He was then traded to Boston in August 1932, in the same transaction that brought Wilcy Moore to the Yankees.[3]
Rhodes spent parts of four seasons with the Red Sox, recording a career-high total of wins, 12, in both 1932 and 1933.[6] However, he did not have a winning record in any of his years with Boston, compiling a 27–45 record in 124 games (90 starts) with the Red Sox.[6]
Rhodes' places of birth and death are listed as they appear in baseball sources.[3][6][2] An alternate source with a family connection to Rhodes has given his place of birth as Winnemucca, Nevada, and place of death as Long Beach, California.[9] Rhodes' draft registration card, which he signed in October 1940, lists his place of birth as Salt Lake City.[10] Long Beach was noted as his place of death in contemporary news reports;[11] Long Beach and Bellflower are adjacent communities.
