Houston Astros: At 70, legend J.R. Richard has a hard-earned peace

J.R. Richard, the Pitcher

On the other hand, Richard did get to face someone close enough to Frank Howard, 6’6″ Dave Kingman, 33 times. The good news for Kingman—he did hit one out on Richard’s dollar once. The better news for Richard—he kept Kingman otherwise to a pair of doubles and a pair of walks while striking him out fourteen times and keeping him to a .226/.273/.387 slash line lifetime.

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Richard might have had to deal with Kingman in his first major league start if Kingman hadn’t suffered an appendicitis attack. That was the start in which Richard tied a major league record (set by Brooklyn’s Karl Spooner in 1954) by striking out fifteen San Francisco Giants in his premiere, including Hall of Famer Willie Mays three times. Not everyone gets to put the gods in their place his first time out.

His strangest game may have occurred the night he broke Hall of Famer Tom Seaver‘s single-season record for strikeouts by a National League righthander, September 19, 1978. Richard faced the Atlanta Braves and Jim Bouton (Ball Four) during Bouton’s brief major league comeback bid. “The young flamethrower and the old junkballer,” Bouton described it. Goliath versus David might have been more like it.

Richard pitched seven innings, surrendered two earned runs on three hits, and the money punchout was Braves third baseman Bob Horner. Bouton pitched seven, surrendered two earned on five hits, with one strikeout and five walks. David fought Goliath to a draw. The Braves went on to win the game.

When Houston conferred upon him a formal proclamation honoring his pitching career with the Astros last year, he said, simply, “It doesn’t do any good to sit here and dwell on what could have been. It’s part of my past, and I’m trying to go further in life. I try to leave that alone and look at what’s in front of me.”

From survivor to thriver hasn’t been a flawless journey, and it’s to Richard’s eternal credit that he went to hell and back and embraced rather than escaped life and love.

On his 70th birthday, Richard can look in front of him without fear any longer. He’ll credit God, appropriately, but God just might want to let the man himself take some of the credit.