J. R. RICHARD

'James Rodney Richard' (born March 7 1950) is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Richard spent his entire Major League playing career, spanning 1971 to 1980, with a single team, the Houston Astros. After a remarkable high school career, he was selected by the Astros as the second pick in the first round of the 1969 amateur draft.^[1] From the time he made his major league debut with the Astros in 1971, Richard dominated hitters in the National League and was considered one of the premier pitchers of his time.^[2]
From 1976 to 1979, Richard led the league twice in strikeouts, once in earned run average, and three times in hits allowed per nine innings, winning at least 18 games each year.^[3] However, Richard's career was cut short when he suffered a stroke and collapsed while playing a game of catch before an Astros game on July 30, 1980. Richard was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery to remove a life-threatening blood clot in his neck. His condition put a sudden end to his major-league career at the age of thirty.^[4] His 313 strikeouts in 1979 remain an Astros franchise record, and he held the team's career record in strikeouts (1493) from 1980 to 1987.
In 1981, Richard tried to stage a comeback with the Astros, but failed because the stroke had slowed down his reaction time and weakened his depth perception. He spent the next few seasons in the minor leagues before being released by the Astros in 1984. After his professional baseball career ended, Richard became involved in unsuccessful business deals and went through two divorces, which by 1994 left him homeless and destitute. Richard found succor in a local church and, a few years later, became a Christian minister.

Early life

Richard was born to Clayton and Lizzie (''née'' Frost) Richard in Vienna, Louisiana^[5] and starred in both baseball and basketball at Lincoln High School in nearby Ruston.^[6] By the time he was a senior in high school, Richard stood six feet, eight inches tall (2.03 m) and weighed 220 pounds (99.8 kg).^[7] That year, as the starting pitcher for his high school team, he did not allow a single run in the entire season. He also demonstrated prowess as a hitter; in one game, he hit four consecutive home runs while pitching his team to a 48–0 victory against its local rival, Jonesboro Jackson High School.^[8] Richard, whose baseball idol was star St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson, never lost a game he started in his high school career. After graduating, he turned down more than 200 basketball scholarship offers to sign with the Houston Astros,^[9] who had made him the second overall pick in the 1969 amateur baseball draft, behind the Washington Senators' selection of outfielder Jeff Burroughs.^[10] Richard later recalled, "There were other guys in my high school with as much ability as I had, but instead of working at a job, they wanted to drink wine on Saturday nights. They thought that was the in thing to do, and consequently our lives went in different directions. For some people it takes that to make a world. It does not for me."^[11]

Start in the minor leagues

After the Astros drafted Richard, he was sent to rookie-level minor league baseball with the Covington Astros of the Appalachian League.^[12] Richard started 12 games for Covington, finishing with five wins and four losses. He struck out a high number of batters on average, but had trouble throughout the season with his pitching mechanics and control. In 56 innings, Richard struck out 71 batters, but walked 52 and gave up 41 earned runs, resulting in a 6.59 earned run average.
The following year, Richard was promoted to the Cocoa Astros of the Florida State League in high-A minor league baseball. Just 20 years old, Richard dominated the league in 1970. He threw a no-hitter against the Daytona Beach Dodgers, catching the eye of the Houston Astros parent club. Richard again compiled a low hits per nine innings (H/9IP) ratio by giving up only 67 hits in 109 total innings pitched. Despite his 4—11 win-loss record, Richard finished the season with a 2.39 ERA.^[13] During the season, his fastball occasionally clocked in at over 100 miles per hour, and his overpowering slider hit over 93 miles per hour, both of which were faster than those of most major-league pitchers.
During the 1970-71 off-season, the Astros advanced Richard to the Class AAA, one step below the major leagues, with the Oklahoma City 89ers of the now-defunct American Association. Richard wore number 50 on his jersey, and kept that uniform number for the rest of his minor-league and major-league career. Richards continued his dominating performances, starting 23 of the 24 total games in which he pitched that season, hurling eight complete games, and leading the league with 202 strikeouts in nearly 173 innings of work. He kept his ERA down to a low 2.45, and gave up only 47 earned runs and 116 hits. He had twelve wins and seven losses in the season before being called up by the Houston Astros.

Early major league career

1971 season

Richard came into Major League Baseball with the Astros in 1971 as an early September call-up. Richard made his major league debut with the Astros in the second game of a doubleheader on September 5 at just 21 years of age. He was pitted against Jim Willoughby, a starter who was also making his major-league debut with the National League Western Division leader San Francisco Giants.^[14] Richard dominated hitters throughout the game with his fastball-slider combination. In the first inning, he gave up two runs on a two-out double by Al Gallagher that scored Bobby Bonds and leadoff hitter Ken Henderson, but also struck out future Hall of Famer Willie Mays.^[15] Richard settled down afterwards; Willoughby, on the other hand, after giving up two runs in the third and surrendering a triple to Jesus Alou that later scored a run in the inning, was removed from the mound. Richard cruised through each inning, racking up strikeout after strikeout. He finished the game by striking out the three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth inning. Richard picked up the win in the game, and tied Karl Spooner's seventeen-year-old major league record for striking out fifteen batters in his first major league start.^[16] Richard was charged with two earned runs and seven hits in the 5–3 Astros win, and struck out both Mays and Dick Dietz three times.
Richard made his next start, after five days rest, against the Cincinnati Reds,^[17] who later finished in a tie for fourth place with the Astros in the NL West.^[18] He pitched five innings of two-hit, one-run ball after giving up a leadoff home run to Pete Rose in the first inning. He struck out five batters, but walked six.^[19] Richard faced rougher outings in his two following starts during the remainder of the season. In a match-up against the Astros' division rival, the third-place Atlanta Braves, on September 16, Richard pitched seven innings, and surrendered four runs on seven hits. He struck out nine batters, and even struck out the side in the first inning, but also walked four batters. Furthermore, he threw two wild pitches when facing eventual career home run leader Hank Aaron in the first inning and the Braves' leadoff hitter, Félix Millán, in the fifth inning.^[20] In his final game of the season, against the Giants, Richard was replaced on the mound in the first inning after pitching to only four batters.^[21]

In and and out of the minors

Richard split time between the minors and majors during the next few seasons and did not become a regular starter with the Astros until 1975. After his brief stint in the majors in 1971, Richard was sent back down to Class-AAA baseball to work on his pitching with the Oklahoma City 89ers for the 1972 season. He started nineteen games with the 89ers before being called back up to the Astros. Richard again dominated Triple-A baseball in the American Association, and finished with ten wins and eight losses on the season in 128 innings of work. His 3.02 ERA was slightly higher than that of the previous season, but he maintained approximately the same walks per nine innings ratio (BB/9IP) that he had the previous year. He recorded six complete games and finished with 169 strikeouts, for a ratio of 11.88 strikeouts per nine innings. Richard re-entered the majors, starting a day game of a day-night doubleheader for the Astros against the San Diego Padres on July 30, 1972.^[22] He had a rough outing and took the 10-7 loss.^[23] Richard did not pitch again until two weeks later, when he entered in relief for Ken Forsch in the fifth inning to keep the Giants limited to a one-run lead. In two innings of relief, Richard gave up one hit, struck out three batters and garnered a win.^[24] In his two final relief appearances of the season, Richard gave up five earned runs in just over an inning of work. He finished the season with a 13.50 ERA in only six innings of work and was again promptly sent back down to Triple-A, this time with the Astros-affiliated Denver Bears.
Richard started eight games with the Bears in 1973 and posted minor league career-worsts in ERA and hits allowed per nine innings. Despite his poor performance with the Bears, Richard was again called up by the Astros. Richard entered in the fourth inning of a June 16 game against the St. Louis Cardinals and his idol Bob Gibson. He pitched four innings of one-run ball, and three innings of two-hit ball in his next relief outing. Afterwards, the Astros placed Richard in the starting rotation and he made his first major league start since July 30 of the previous year. He pitched six solid innings of a one-run ballgame and struck out six, while walking three, batters. He picked up the win, and made his next start four days later.^[25] Richard again pitched more than six innings, but earned no decision after the Astros' bullpen collapsed and gave up nine runs during the bottom of the ninth inning.^[26]
After starting a July 4 game against the Braves (which he won), Richard was sent into the bullpen to create room for Tom Griffin who was entering the Astros' starting pitching rotation. He made three relief appearances against the Montreal Expos before making a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 27. Four days later, Richard threw his first shutout against the Dodgers, in which he gave up just five hits and struck out nine batters.^[27] Nineteen days later, Richard pitched another complete game, this time giving up two runs while striking out nine and walking three batters. He concluded the season with six wins and two losses in sixteen total games, ten of which he started. He finished with a 4.00 ERA, and struck out 75 batters in 72 innings. He walked 38 batters, giving him a ratio of 4.75 walks per nine innings, which was lower than the ratio he had had in his two previous minor league seasons.
Despite his improved performance in the 1973 season, Richard was sent down to work on his pitching mechanics and ball control in Class-AA baseball with the Columbus Astros of the Southern League. He started thirteen games with Columbus before being moved back up to Class-AAA with the Denver Bears. In four starts with the Bears, Richard threw three shutouts and pitched 33 scoreless innings with a 4–0 record and 26 strikeouts. He was recalled into the majors on July 13 and stayed with the Astros for the remainder of the season. He first pitched fourteen innings of baseball in six relief appearances before being placed on the starting rotation.^[28] He then started in all nine of the games he pitched during the remainder of the season. Richard finished with a 4.18 ERA in just over 64 innings of work during the fifteen pitching appearances he made during the season.

Mainstay with the Astros

In the off-season, the Astros traded away starting pitcher Claude Osteen to the Cardinals, and lost pitching ace Don Wilson, who committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of twenty-nine on January 5, 1975.^[29] As a result, Richard entered the 1975 season as the third starter of the Astros' pitching rotation, behind veterans Larry Dierker and Dave Roberts. Richard got the nod to start on April 9 versus the Braves.^[30] He was removed from the game in the fifth inning after jamming his toe on the first base bag, but gave up no earned runs in his start.^[31] Richard continued to exhibit wild pitching, as shown when he issued eight walks in both his third and fourth starts of the season. He bounced back to pitch a complete game win in the following game against the San Diego Padres on April 29.^[32] The following start, he walked a career-high eleven batters in just six innings of pitching and also gave up seven runs in the Astros' 12–8 win over the Giants.^[33] By the All-Star break, Richard had six wins and four losses with a 4.93 ERA in just over 98 innings of work.^[34]
In an August 10 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Richard yielded just one hit in six innings but walked ten batters which ultimately led to two runs being scored.^[35] He rebounded with a complete game shutout against the New York Mets eight days later. Richard ended the season on a strong note by winning three of his last four starts, including his final two games against the Dodgers, in which he pitched a complete game and an eight-inning performance, respectively. He finished the year with a 12–10 record for the Astros, who finished with a franchise-worst 64–97 record.^[36] Richard was the only starter on the Astros' pitching staff who had a winning record for the season. He led the team with 176 strikeouts, which was also the fifth highest in the National League. Richard also led the league in walks allowed and wild pitches thrown, with 138 and 20, respectively.

Breakout season

Richard entered the 1976 season as the pitching staff ace, and took over Larry Dierker's position as the Opening Day starter for the Astros. In his first start of the season, Richard gave up four runs in four innings against the defending World Series champion Cincinnati Reds on April 8.^[37] But he followed this inauspicious beginning with wins in five of his next six decisions. One of them included a ten-inning shutout effort that led to a sixteen-inning 1–0 Astros victory against the Dodgers.^[38] By the end of May, though, Richard was sitting even with a 5–5 record, loser of four straight decisions. He closed the first half of the season by winning a ten-inning shutout against the Mets on July 6,^[39] and an eight-inning start against the Expos four days later.^[40] At the All-Star break, Richard had a 9–9 record with a 2.88 ERA in over 153 innings of work.^[41]
He came off of the All-Star break with dominating performances for the next two months. From July 10 to August 31, Richard racked up eight complete games, including one shutout, and he improved his record from 9-9 to 16-13.^[42] He pitched 98 innings, and yielded only 22 earned runs, which gave him an ERA of 2.02 during the approximately fifty-day span.^[43] On August 26, Richard hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot during the second inning of the game.^[44] In his last game of the season on October 2, Richard pitched a complete game thirteen-strikeout performance, and he also hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning.^[45]
Richard finished the season with a 20–15 record, fourteen complete games, three shutouts, and 214 strikeouts in 291 innings of work. At age twenty-six, Richard became only the second pitcher in Astros' history (after Dierker in 1969^[46]) to record twenty wins in a season, tying him for fourth in the NL that year. Richard also became the eighth member of the Black Aces, an organization founded by Mudcat Grant that consists of the African American pitchers who have won at least twenty major league games in a single season.^[47] He was named the Most Valuable Player of the Astros by the Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Richard finished seventeenth in MVP Award voting and seventh in the NL's Cy Young Award voting. His 2.75 ERA was the seventh-best among the league's starting pitchers, and he held hitters to a 0.212 batting average. He led the league in lowest number of hits allowed per nine innings and in walks allowed; Richard also finished the season second in batters faced, innings pitched and games started. In addition, he led all NL pitchers with fourteen hits, two home runs, and nine runs batted in as a hitter. However, during the year he committed ten errors and finished with an 0.853 fielding percentage, nearly 0.100 lower than the league average.

Among the best in the league

1977 season

Richard began the 1977 season on a high note with a nine-inning, seven-strikeout performance on April 8 against the Braves.^[48] He pitched effortlessly for the first half of the season, pitching complete game victories on April 22, May 11, May 20, May 31, June 11, June 20, and July 11.^[49] By the All-Star break, Richard had nine wins and six losses in over 160 innings of work, accompanied by 119 strikeouts and a 2.69 ERA.^[50] He had a few rough outings in late July and early August, but managed to pitch three complete games (two were shutouts) in five starts from August 27 to September 17.^[51] He had eleven and ten strikeouts respectively in the final two starts of that roughly twenty-day span.
Richard closed out the season with two complete games, the first against the Braves on September 27,^[52] and the second against the Dodgers on October 2.^[53] He had a season-high fourteen strikeouts in his final start, which tied Steve Carlton's season-high mark. Richard concluded the season on a high note by winning nine of his last twelve decisions. At the end of the season, he stood atop the Astros' pitching staff in wins, starts, complete games, innings pitched, walks and strikeouts. He had eighteen wins and twelve losses in 267 innings pitched and posted a 2.97 ERA and 214 strikeouts. For the first time since becoming a permanent member of the Astros' starting rotation, Richard was not the league leader in walks allowed, but as he did in 1976, he led the league in wild pitches. He finished fourth in the league with thirteen complete games, and he improved his fielding from the previous season by going the season error-free with a 1.000 fielding percentage.
Richard also hit well at the plate, going 20-for-87 on the season with two triples, two home runs and seven runs batted in.^[54] After the season was completed, Richard underwent an emergency appendicectomy on October 26, 1977 at a Houston hospital. He spent most of the off-season working out at the Houston Astrodome and, for relaxation, fishing. In early 1978, he was a participant in ABC's Superstars all-around sports competition.

Record-setting year

Richard entered the 1978 season as one of the Astros' best pitchers since the team's creation in 1962. In his first game of the season, he gave up seven runs on eleven hits, and just made it into the fifth inning before being replaced in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds.^[55] He recovered from the loss by pitching a complete game two-hit shutout in his next outing against the Dodgers.^[56] In an eight-start period from April 26 to June 4, Richard threw six complete games, including two back-to-back shutouts, and lowered his ERA from 4.15 to 3.05. He gave up only 39 hits in the 63 total innings he pitched, and struck out 67, or more than one batter an inning during that period of time. On June 9, in a start against the Cardinals, Richard pitched more than five innings and struck out twelve batters but also walked six and gave up five earned runs.^[57] He closed out the first half of the season with back-to-back games with nine and twelve strikeout performances, against the Reds and Dodgers respectively.^[58] At the All-Star break, he had eight wins and nine losses and a 3.49 ERA, but he also had 157 strikeouts in just a little over 139 innings of work.^[59]
After the break, Richard threw an eleven-inning, ten-strikeout game against the Expos and followed with two complete games and another nine-inning performance in a game that went into extra innings. He was selected as the National League Player of the Month after going a perfect 4–0 with a 1.29 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 56 innings during July. Throughout much of August, his season ERA was hovering below 3.00 and he was averaging well over a strikeout per inning. On August 21, in an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs, he broke Don Wilson's 1969 club record of 235 strikeouts. In the final two months of the season, Richard's strikeout average dramatically increased and he struck out a double-digit number of batters in three of his last five starts. In his third-to-last start, Richard broke Tom Seaver's NL record of 290 strikeouts by a right-hander when he struck out Bob Horner. In his final outing of the season, Richard reached the 300-strikeout pinnacle by striking out Rowland Office in a September 28 victory over the Braves. He also hit his seventh career home run, making him the Astros' career leader in home runs by a pitcher. At that time, he became only the tenth pitcher, third National Leaguer and first NL right-hander in history to strike out over 300 batters in a single season.
Richard finished the season with eighteen wins, eleven losses and a 3.11 ERA. He led the team's pitching staff in innings pitched, starts, complete games, shutouts, hits allowed, earned runs, walks allowed and strikeouts. He had twelve wins and five losses at home, and held batters to a 0.156 batting average at home and a 0.196 average overall, which was the lowest in the NL.^[60] Richard again faired well in the field, finishing with three errors and a 0.957 fielding percentage, slightly higher than the 0.950 league average. He finished fourth in the Cy Young Award voting, behind Gaylord Perry, Burt Hooton and Vida Blue.^[61] He finished atop the league in strikeouts per nine innings (9.90), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.28), walks (141), and wild pitches (16).
In his second game of the 1979 season, Richard set the modern-day record for throwing six wild pitches in a single game against the Dodgers. Despite this, he finished the game with a thirteen-strikeout performance in a 2–1 Astros victory.^[62] He won his first four decisions that season, but those victories were quickly followed by four losses. He continued to accumulate strikeouts and finally began to walk fewer batters on average, exhibiting a greater control over his pitching. Richard evened out his record at seven wins and seven losses by pitching a complete game three-hit shutout against the Padres on June 30.^[63] By the All-Star break, Richard had seven wins, ten losses, a 3.52 earned run average and 158 strikeouts in just a bit over 157 innings of work.^[64] By July 25, his record stood at eight wins and eleven losses, but after he pitched nine straight complete games (including two-hit and three-hit shutouts on August 27 and September 6, respectively^[65]) through September 6 and worked 86 consecutive innings without the need of a relief pitcher, which set an Astros club record, it was clear that he was on a winning streak.^[66] On September 21, in a game against the Reds, he pitched eleven innings and matched a career high of fifteen strikeouts,^[67] which he also reached earlier in the season on August 3 in a game against the Braves.^[68] He closed out the season against the Dodgers by winning his eleventh straight game against the team, with his last loss coming on June 23, 1976. He was honored as the National League Player of the Month for September after going 4–1 with a 1.24 ERA, four complete games, two shutouts and sixty-nine strikeouts in fifty-three innings pitched during the stretch.^[69] He finished the season with eighteen wins, thirteen losses and a league-best 2.71 ERA. He struck out ten or more batters fourteen times in the season, and totaled a league-leading 313 strikeouts for the season, breaking his own club record.^[9] Richard joined Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax as the only modern-day pitchers to strike out over 300 batters in consecutive seasons. He led the club in ERA, complete games and innings pitched, and tied Joe Niekro in number of games started. He gave up 220 hits in the season, which gave him a league-best 6.77 hits per nine innings ratio. He again led the league by limiting the opposing hitters' batting averages to 0.209 that year. Richard finished fifth in the league in walks allowed, after finishing the season with his first sub-100 total since he became a mainstay starter with the Astros. He also led the league with a 9.64 strikeouts per nine inning ratio and again in wild pitches. Richard finished 19th in National League MVP Award voting, and third in Cy Young Award voting, behind winner Bruce Sutter and teammate Joe Niekro, who had racked up 21 wins and a 3.00 ERA on the season.^[71] Richard faired slightly worse in batting and fielding, finishing with a 0.126 batting average and a 0.902 fielding percentage and five errors.

1980 season

1980 was looking to be Richard's best season yet in the major leagues, and there was great anticipation for the season as he was now teamed with seven-time American League strikeout champion Nolan Ryan, who had joined the Astros as a free agent. Richard started the year with five straight wins, 48 strikeouts (including two starts with twelve and thirteen strikeouts), and a sub-2.00 ERA.^[72] At one point, Richard threw three straight complete game shutouts, two against the Giants and one against the Cubs. On July 3, he broke Dierker's team record of 1487 career strikeouts in a 5-3 win over the Braves; it was to be his last major league victory. After finishing the first half of the season with a 10–4 record, 115 strikeouts and a 1.96 ERA,^[73] Richard was selected to be the NL's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game on July 8, but he pitched just two innings due to various back and shoulder problems. As the season progressed, Richard began to complain of "dead arm," citing discomfort in his shoulder and forearm. His concerns fell on deaf ears. Some in the media even interpreted these complaints as whining, theorizing that Richard was egotistical and could not handle the pressure of pitching for the Astros.
During his next start on July 14 against the Braves, Richard was pitching well and even struck out the side in the second inning, but he began to have trouble with his vision and arm movements. He left the game in the fourth inning after throwing a fastball and feeling his right arm go "dead." He had numbness in the fingers of his right hand and could not grasp a baseball.^[74] The Astros placed Richard on the 21-day disabled list. Nine days later, he checked into Methodist Hospital in Houston for a series of physical and psychological tests to determine the cause of his mysterious arm problems. An angiogram revealed an obstruction in the distal subclavian and axillary arteries of the right arm. Richard's blood pressure in his left arm was normal, but pressure was nearly absent in his right arm due to the completely obstructed artery.^[75] On July 25, however, the arteries in his neck were studied, and the doctors reached a conclusion that all was normal and no surgical treatment needed to be performed.
On July 30, Richard went to see a chiropractor who rotated his neck to fix the flow of blood in his upper torso region. That day, Richard was participating in warm-ups before the game when he suffered a major stroke and collapsed in the outfield. Prior to the stroke, he had a headache and a feeling of weakness through his body. Eventually, that progressed into vision problems and paralysis in the left side of his body.^[76] A massive blockage in his right carotid artery necessitated emergency surgery that evening. An examination by neurologist William S. Fields showed that Richard was still experiencing weakness in his extremities and on the left side of his face. He also had blurred vision through his left eye. A CAT scan of Richard's brain later showed that Richard had experienced three separate strokes from the different obstructions in his arterial system. Furthermore, the arteries in his right arm were still obstructed.^[77] Later examinations showed that Richard was suffering from extensive arterial thoracic outlet syndrome, that is, his clavicle and first rib pinched his subclavian artery during the pitching motion.^[78] With this problem, Richard would feel normal for the first few innings of the game, but after putting repeated pressure on his subclavian artery, his arm would start to ache in pain and eventually start to feel "heavy".^[79]
Richard underwent rehabilitation and missed the rest of the season. Meanwhile, the Astros recovered from the loss of one of their staff aces, and qualified for the playoffs for the first time in the club's 18-year history.

Attempt at a comeback

In 1981, Richard underwent a rehabilitation program in hopes of recovering from the effects of the stroke. He worked out with the Astros and also at Texas Southern University and participated regularly in pitching and batting practice towards the end of the baseball season. After pitching in a few simulated games, Richard was placed on the forty-man active roster on September 1, 1981. Astros manager Bill Virdon did not think Richard was ready to come back, therefore he did not pitch with the team during the last two months of the season.
The following year, Richard pitched in a single spring training game, and then went into extended spring training in Sarasota, Florida, during the first two months of the season. There he registered three wins and two losses and a 3.38 ERA in seven starts with thirty-two total innings. Afterwards, he joined the major league rehab program with the Daytona Beach Astros of the Florida State League. In his six starts, Richard notched three wins, two complete games and posted a 2.79 ERA. He was then promoted to Triple-A baseball with the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League. At this level, he struggled to control the ball, which led to him giving up a high number of runs to opposing teams. He took a loss on August 12 against the Phoenix Firebirds and on August 27 against the Salt Lake City Gulls in a 13–0 rout. His longest outing as a starter—more than five innings—was an appearance against the Firebirds in the last game of the season on September 1. Afterwards, he joined the Astros' extended roster but did not play in any games. He spent most of his time with the club in batting and pitching practice.
In 1983, Richard started to complain of a pain in his left calf. The synthetic graft inserted in his July 1980 surgery had closed off, which meant that he needed a surgical bypass in his left leg.^[80] Richard was granted free agency by the Astros on November 7, 1983, but the Astros still had faith in Richard, and they re-signed him on February 17 of the following year. Just a little over two months later, he was released by the Astros, thus ending his baseball career.^[81] Despite an almost complete recovery, his career was over because he could not risk future medical issues. His final major league record was 107-71, with 1493 strikeouts and a 3.15 ERA in 238 games and 1606 innings. Nolan Ryan broke his team record for career strikeouts in 1987.

After baseball

After his professional baseball career ended, Richard went back to Louisiana and invested in some business ventures. He was scammed by an oil business and lost over three hundred thousand dollars in the deal. A few years later, Richard paid $669,000 in a divorce settlement to his ex-wife, Carolyn. He married and divorced again, losing his suburban Houston home and most of his money in this second divorce. In 1989, Richard was drafted into the Senior Professional Baseball Association and played for the Orlando Juice, but was cut from the team in preseason play.^[82] In the winter of 1994, Richard was homeless and destitute and lived under a bridge in Houston. By 1995, Richard was eligible for his major league baseball pension and that year he also participated in the Old-Timers' Day game with the Astros. In the following months, he turned to the Now Testament Church and sought help from its minister, Reverend Floyd Lewis. Richard overcame his homelessness by working with the reverend, with a belief that he "always knew God was on his side". Richard would later become a minister at the church. He also started working at an asphalt company.^[83]
He got involved in the Houston community, and started working with financial donors in Houston to help establish baseball programs for kids. A small-budget 2005 movie entitled ''Resurrection: The J.R. Richard Story'' detailed Richard's baseball career as well as his life after baseball.^[84] A recent online petition was also created by Astros fans to convince the team to retire Richard's number. The petition has collected over 3,100 signatures from Astros fans and other baseball enthusiasts.^[85]

Notes

External links

★

★ Retrosheet: J. R. Richard

★ BaseballLibrary - biography and career highlights

★ ''The Sporting News'' - The tragedy of J.R. Richard: A story seldom told - August 1999 story

★ AstrosDaily.com

★ CBN.com - J.R. Richard: When the Bottom Falls Out - August 2005 story

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