Eastern Connecticut State University

A valid case can be made that Burton J. Rood was the best baseball player in the first 20 years of the baseball program, and maybe of all time. A left-handed hitter and fielder, Rood hit for average (.396) and power (95 total bases on 57 hits) in his 39-game career, stole 14 bases and scored 37 runs. The team’s primary centerfielder who hit in both the No. 3 and No. 4 slots, Rood also appeared in 11 games as a pitcher and saw action in all three outfield positions and at first base. A native of Windham Center, Rood batted .457 in his first season in 1965. That year, he had six home runs in 52 at bats to finish as the national leader in home runs per time at bat (1-to-8.7). Seventeen times in 39 career games, Rood had two or more hits, with one of his top performances coming in a doubleheader home sweep of Keene State. In the second game, he had three home runs and six RBI and scored three times. In 1980, Rood was named to the All-Time ECSC Baseball Team for players competing in the first 20 years of the program. Rood also lettered in basketball in each of his three seasons. As a senior in 1966-67, he averaged a career-high 13.7 points, scoring  a career-high 36 in an overtime win over Bridgewater State and tossing in 29 in an overtime loss to Worcester State in his final collegiate game.