![]() ![]() You can’t strike out everybody, and you can’t put the ball where you want it every time. “I’m not too particular about being a strikeout pitcher or a control pitcher. That’s the only important thing,” he said. Richard came into 1972 without any specific goals in mind. Richard didn’t reach that same level in his other 3 starts, but he finished the year with a 2-1 record and a 3.43 ERA, with 29 K’s and 16 walks in 21 innings. The Astros won 5-3, and baseball had a new phenom. He got Willie Mays and Dick Dietz 3 times each and Bobby Bonds twice. Facing the San Francisco Giants on September 15, Richard threw a complete game and tied a record for most strikeouts in his first appearance with 15. As far as major-league debuts go, Richard’s was one of the best in baseball history. Once the AAA season was done, Richard was called up to the big leagues. “I’d like to get to the majors as soon as possible,” Richard said. The 21-year-old righty helped spur the anticipation by winning 12 games for Oklahoma City with 202 strikeouts. As Blue burst onto the scene with a dominating 1971 season for the Oakland Athletics, fans eagerly awaited Richard’s debut, too. When he was a senior in high school, Richard was compared favorably to another recent Louisiana pitching prospect - Vida Blue. Shouldn’t this have been part of a medical file that the team could have consulted later on?) (Yes, the blood clot that effectively ended Richard’s career a decade later wasn’t even the first incident of a clot while he was with the Astros organization. ![]() He recovered from that medical issue and threw a 7-inning no-hitter a couple months later, striking out 10 batters in the process. The only thing that slowed Richard was a hospitalization in June, for a blood clot in his leg. He also fanned 138 hitters in 109 innings and set the Florida State League record with 28 strikeouts over two consecutive starts. ![]() He still threw 20 wild pitches and had a 4-11 record, but he lowered his walk rate to 5.5 walks per 9 innings. After some work in Arizona over the winter, Richard joined the Cocoa Astros in 1970 as a much improved pitcher. It amounted to a 5-4 record but a 6.59 ERA. Unfortunately, his control was practically nonexistent, as he walked 52 batters, hit 6 others and threw 10 wild pitches. He fanned 71 batters in 56 innings over 12 starts. Richard reported to the Covington Astros of the Rookie-Level Appalachian League, and his fastball was as good as advertised. Source: The Shreveport Journal, October 7, 1971. Richard, right, poses with fellow Lincoln High School alum, Ralph Garr, left, and Charles Terrell of Management Recruiters, at a postseason event. “Everyone in our organization - for that matter in just about every organization - is high on him.” “He has great potential and an outstanding fastball,” enthused Tal Smith, Astros player personnel director. The Washington Senators took Jeff Burroughs with the first pick, but the Houston Astros wouldn’t let Richard pass by.with the second overall pick in the draft. He was considered an obvious Top Five pick in the June 1969 Amateur Draft, which would bring a considerable signing bonus. Richard, who grew up close to Grambling University, wanted to attend college on a basketball scholarship, but he also was heavily scouted by virtually every MLB team. The only thing he was missing was a blue ox as a sidekick. To add to the larger-than-life accomplishments, Richard stood 6 feet, 7-1/2 inches tall (and would eventually reach the full 6-foot-8). He was 7-0 his senior year with 89 strikeouts in 43 innings. And when it came to baseball, he was undefeated in his four-year high school pitching career and once hit 5 home runs in a row, including 3 grand slams. He averaged 35 points and 22 rebounds in basketball and was one of the top prospects in the state in that sport, getting hundreds of scholarship offers. He also could punt for an average of 67 yards or so, too. He once threw a pass from his own 20-yard line to the opposite end zone. While attending Lincoln High School in Ruston, La., he completed 65% of his passes as the football team’s quarterback in his senior year. His high school athletic career is so outstanding that he comes across as some kind of mythical sports hero created for movies or comic books. He grew to be so tall that his teammates would later joke that he was born on March 5, 6 and 7, with the 7th being the day that all of him got here. James Rodney Richard was born on March 7, 1950, in Vienna, La. Richard played for the Houston Astros from 1971-1980. It has been reported, including by former teammates, that his death was due to complications from COVID-19. ![]() He died in a Houston hospital on August 4 at the age of 71. Richard, one of the most intimidating (and misunderstood) pitchers of his era. ![]()
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