![]() My arm felt bad.”ĭoctors and fans alike did not take J.R. “I had been complaining to the Houston Astros about having symptoms,” he says. But all summer he’d been noticing something wrong with his arm. was having a great season and named starting pitcher for the national league. But why? Why is he unknown to so many and a distant memory to others? We turn to the 1980 all-star game for answers… ![]() is the best player a baseball fan has never heard of. It wasn’t uncommon to see him hit one out of the park. He went on to pitch an entire high school season without allowing a run and emerged with his secret weapon - a ferocious slider. began to teach himself how to throw like a real major leaguer. Amazingly, it was a book on pitching! So J.R. spotted something on the side of the road. You didn’t have anything to do so you’d just go out there and start throwing.” “That was part of my entertainment in the country. “When I was young, I was always throwing,” he recalls. ![]() It all got started growing up in Louisiana. “My baseball career was in the past,” he says. doesn’t spend much time talking about his career. He proved he had power and finesse with 300 strikeouts in back to back seasons! Imagine… standing in the box against the six foot eight Richard, firing his 100-mile-an-hour fastball at you. became the most feared pitcher in the game. In his major league debut with the Houston Astros, he had 15 strikeouts, and the rookie took down the great Willie Mays three times. "He had the greatest stuff I have ever seen," Hall of Famer Joe Morgan once said, "and it still gives me goose bumps to think of what he might have Rodney “J.R.” Richard made quite an impact on baseball in 1971. Richard was having a great season in 1980, posting a 10-4 record with a 1.96 ERA in the first half of the season and starting for the NL in the All-Star Game. "When he was pitching, we knew that we were going to get a 'W.' I didn't get too many balls hit to me in the outfield when he pitched because he was so dominating.'' "He was one of the greatest Astros ever,'' former teammate Jose Cruz said. The next year, he led the National League with a 2.71 ERA and fanned 313 to again lead the majors as he went 18-13 and had a 3.2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 292⅓ innings over 38 starts. In 1978, he became the first Astros pitcher to strike out 300 batters in a season when he led the majors with 303. You didn't really feel comfortable at the plate. "With his reach and he was all legs, you didn't have much time to make up your mind. was only throwing from about 50 feet,'' Baker said. Richard.''īaker never backed down from the challenge of facing Richard, whom he called a friend, but he could see why others shied away from it. "There was something called J.R.-itis which was an incurable disease when you're scared of J.R. ![]() "We had a couple of catchers, one came with his arm in a sling and another came on crutches,'' Baker said. Richard won a career-best 20 games in 1976, the first of four straight seasons with at least 18 wins.Īstors manager Dusty Baker, who faced Richard often during his playing career, recalled some of his teammates manufacturing injuries to avoid the matchup. He pitched for Houston from 1971-80, throwing 76 complete games. ![]() He was selected by the Astros with the second overall pick in the 1969 draft and struck out 15 batters in a complete-game win over the Giants in his major league debut on Sept. The 6-foot-8 Richard intimidated hitters with an effectively wild delivery, a fastball that often touched 100 mph and an almost unhittable breaking ball. The Astros observed a moment of silence before Thursday's game for Richard. He stood shoulder to shoulder with club icons Larry Dierker, Joe Niekro and Nolan Ryan, to form a few of the best rotations in club history." will forever be remembered as an intimidating figure on the mound and as one of the greatest pitchers in club history. "Today is a sad day for the Houston Astros as we mourn the loss of one of our franchise icons, J.R. He still ranks tied for second in team history for career ERA, third in strikeouts - behind only Nolan Ryan and Roy Oswalt - and fifth in wins and shutouts (19). In 10 seasons with the Astros, Richard was 107-71 with a 3.15 ERA and 1,493 strikeouts - including 313 in 1979, which stood as the team's single-season record until Gerrit Cole surpassed it in 2019. The Astros did not provide further details. Richard, a two-time National League strikeout champion with the Houston Astros whose career was cut short in 1980 by a stroke, died Thursday at the age of 71, the team announced. ![]()
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