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J.R. Richard

James Rodney Richard

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 8", Weight: 222 lb.

Born: March 7, 1950 in Vienna, LA
High School: Lincoln HS (Ruston, LA)
Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1969 amateur draft. (All Transactions)
Debut: September 5, 1971
Team: Astros 1971-1980
Agents: Tom Reich [*]
Final Game: July 14, 1980
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Fine Details  · Last updated Dec 13, 2012 12:17PM
All-Time Rank (among pitchers): #280. Tom Gordon… #281. Bobby Shantz… #282. Tug McGraw… #283. J.R. RICHARD… #284. Mike Flanagan… #285. Curt Davis… #286. Ben Sheets… 

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB Awards
1971 21 HOU NL 2 1 .667 3.43 4 4 0 1 0 0 21.0 17 9 8 1 16 0 29 0 0 2 96 100 1.571 7.3 0.4 6.9 12.4 1.81
1972 22 HOU NL 1 0 1.000 13.50 4 1 0 0 0 0 6.0 10 9 9 0 8 0 8 2 0 2 36 27 3.000 15.0 0.0 12.0 12.0 1.00
1973 23 HOU NL 6 2 .750 4.00 16 10 2 2 1 0 72.0 54 37 32 2 38 0 75 1 1 3 297 90 1.278 6.8 0.3 4.8 9.4 1.97
1974 24 HOU NL 2 3 .400 4.18 15 9 0 0 0 0 64.2 58 31 30 3 36 0 42 1 1 9 278 83 1.454 8.1 0.4 5.0 5.8 1.17
1975 25 HOU NL 12 10 .545 4.39 33 31 1 7 1 0 203.0 178 107 99 8 138 0 176 4 5 20 905 77 1.557 7.9 0.4 6.1 7.8 1.28
1976 26 HOU NL 20 15 .571 2.75 39 39 0 14 3 0 291.0 221 105 89 14 151 4 214 4 2 13 1218 116 1.278 6.8 0.4 4.7 6.6 1.42 CYA-7,MVP-17
1977 27 HOU NL 18 12 .600 2.97 36 36 0 13 3 0 267.0 212 94 88 18 104 1 214 0 1 6 1092 120 1.184 7.1 0.6 3.5 7.2 2.06
1978 28 HOU NL 18 11 .621 3.11 36 36 0 16 3 0 275.1 192 104 95 12 141 4 303 2 3 16 1139 106 1.209 6.3 0.4 4.6 9.9 2.15 CYA-4
1979 29 HOU NL 18 13 .581 2.71 38 38 0 19 4 0 292.1 220 98 88 13 98 5 313 3 1 19 1175 130 1.088 6.8 0.4 3.0 9.6 3.19 CYA-3,MVP-19
1980 30 HOU NL 10 4 .714 1.90 17 17 0 4 4 0 113.2 65 31 24 2 40 1 119 0 0 2 438 174 0.924 5.1 0.2 3.2 9.4 2.98 AS
10 Yrs 107 71 .601 3.15 238 221 3 76 19 0 1606.0 1227 625 562 73 770 15 1493 17 14 92 6674 108 1.243 6.9 0.4 4.3 8.4 1.94
162 Game Avg. 16 11 .601 3.15 35 33 0 11 3 0 238 182 93 83 11 114 2 221 3 2 14 989 108 1.243 6.9 0.4 4.3 8.4 1.94

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR Explained (v2.1): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg IP G GS R RA9 RA9opp RA9def RA9role PPFp RA9avg RAA WAA gmLI WAAadj WAR RAR waaWL% 162WL% Salary Awards
1971 21 HOU NL 21.0 4 4 9 3.86 4.11 -0.01 0.06 94.3 3.95 0 0.0 -0.0 0.2 2 .500 .500 $
1972 22 HOU NL 6.0 4 1 9 13.50 3.79 -0.45 -0.09 97.3 4.04 -6 -0.6 .3 0.1 -0.4 -6 .343 .496 $
1973 23 HOU NL 71.2 16 10 37 4.65 4.29 0.00 0.06 100.6 4.37 -2 -0.2 1.0 -0.0 0.3 4 .485 .498 $
1974 24 HOU NL 64.2 15 9 31 4.31 4.15 0.04 0.03 95.1 3.94 -3 -0.3 .3 -0.0 0.2 3 .478 .498 $
1975 25 HOU NL 203.0 33 31 107 4.74 4.09 -0.11 0.12 96.5 4.17 -15 -1.6 .9 -0.1 -0.1 6 .453 .490 $
1976 26 HOU NL 291.0 39 39 105 3.25 3.90 -0.03 0.12 89.4 3.63 10 1.2 -0.1 3.3 38 .530 .507 $ CYA-7,MVP-17
1977 27 HOU NL 267.0 36 36 94 3.17 4.36 0.11 0.15 92.4 4.07 25 2.8 -0.2 4.6 53 .577 .517 $75,000
1978 28 HOU NL 275.1 36 36 104 3.40 4.07 -0.22 0.13 90.8 4.01 16 1.8 -0.1 3.8 43 .551 .511 $ CYA-4
1979 29 HOU NL 292.1 38 38 98 3.02 4.27 0.17 0.14 93.2 3.95 28 3.2 -0.1 5.3 58 .584 .520 $ CYA-3,MVP-19
1980 30 HOU NL 113.2 17 17 31 2.45 3.89 -0.03 0.13 91.1 3.69 15 1.9 -0.0 2.7 26 .609 .511 $ AS
10 Seasons 1605.2 238 221 625 3.50 4.12 -0.01 0.12 92.7 3.95 67 8.1 .6 -0.6 19.9 228 .534 .505 $75,000

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
1971 21 HOU NL 4 9 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 2 0 0 /1
1972 22 HOU NL 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 /1
1973 23 HOU NL 16 29 28 2 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 .179 .179 .179 .357 0 5 0 0 1 0 0 1
1974 24 HOU NL 15 22 21 1 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 9 .143 .143 .286 .429 21 6 2 0 1 0 0 1
1975 25 HOU NL 33 80 74 4 15 6 0 1 13 0 0 1 29 .203 .213 .324 .538 53 24 2 0 5 0 0 1
1976 26 HOU NL 39 105 100 6 14 1 0 2 9 0 0 0 33 .140 .146 .210 .356 4 21 0 1 1 2 0 1 CYA-7,MVP-17
1977 27 HOU NL 36 101 87 10 20 0 2 2 7 1 0 1 28 .230 .247 .345 .592 64 30 1 1 11 0 0 1
1978 28 HOU NL 37 107 101 8 18 0 0 1 10 1 1 1 27 .178 .186 .208 .394 14 21 2 0 5 0 0 1 CYA-4
1979 29 HOU NL 38 108 95 6 12 1 1 2 6 0 1 1 24 .126 .134 .221 .355 -2 21 4 0 11 1 0 1 CYA-3,MVP-19
1980 30 HOU NL 17 43 39 2 6 2 0 1 3 0 0 0 15 .154 .154 .282 .436 24 11 0 0 4 0 0 1 AS
10 Yrs 239 604 552 39 93 10 3 10 50 2 2 4 181 .168 .176 .252 .428 22 139 11 2 41 3 0
162 Game Avg. 162 409 374 26 63 7 2 7 34 1 1 3 123 .168 .176 .252 .428 22 94 7 1 28 2 0

Player Value--Batters

WAR Explained (v2.1): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg G PA Rbat Rbaser Rdp Rfield Rpos RAA WAA Rrep RAR WAR waaWL% 162WL% oWAR dWAR oRAR Salary Pos Awards
1971 21 HOU NL 4 9 -2 0 0 0 1 -1 -0.1 0 -1 -0.1 .465 .499 -0.1 0.0 -1 $ /1
1972 22 HOU NL 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $ /1
1973 23 HOU NL 16 29 -4 -0 0 0 3 -1 -0.1 1 0 -0.1 .495 .500 -0.1 0.0 0 $ 1
1974 24 HOU NL 15 22 -2 -0 -0 0 2 -1 -0.1 1 0 -0.1 .496 .500 -0.1 0.0 0 $ 1
1975 25 HOU NL 33 80 -4 -0 -0 0 9 5 0.5 2 7 0.5 .515 .503 0.5 0.0 7 $ 1
1976 26 HOU NL 39 105 -12 -0 0 0 11 -1 -0.1 3 2 -0.1 .497 .499 -0.1 0.0 2 $ 1 CYA-7,MVP-17
1977 27 HOU NL 36 101 -4 -1 -0 0 12 7 0.7 3 10 0.7 .519 .504 0.7 0.0 10 $75,000 1
1978 28 HOU NL 37 107 -11 -0 -0 0 12 1 0.1 3 4 0.1 .503 .501 0.1 0.0 4 $ 1 CYA-4
1979 29 HOU NL 38 108 -13 -2 -1 0 13 -2 -0.2 3 1 -0.2 .494 .499 -0.2 0.0 1 $ 1 CYA-3,MVP-19
1980 30 HOU NL 17 43 -4 0 0 0 5 1 0.1 1 2 0.1 .505 .501 0.1 0.0 2 $ 1 AS
10 Seasons 239 604 -57 -3 -1 0 69 7 0.8 18 25 0.8 .503 .500 0.8 0.1 25 $75,000

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG SB CS CS% lgCS% PO Awards
1971 HOU NL 21 P 4 4 1 21.0 4 1 3 0 0 1.000 1.71 1.00 .955 1.89 1.90 1 2 67% 35% 0
1972 HOU NL 22 P 4 1 0 6.0 2 0 2 0 1 1.000 3.00 0.50 .950 1.80 1.78 1 1 50% 37% 0
1973 HOU NL 23 P 16 10 2 72.0 9 5 3 1 0 .889 1.00 0.50 .950 1.88 1.88 9 5 36% 36% 0
1974 HOU NL 24 P 15 9 0 64.2 10 5 5 0 0 1.000 1.39 0.67 .944 1.88 1.88 9 4 31% 33% 0
1975 HOU NL 25 P 33 31 7 203.0 28 8 19 1 0 .964 1.20 0.82 .946 1.86 1.86 25 12 32% 32% 0
1976 HOU NL 26 P 39 39 14 291.0 68 19 39 10 2 .853 1.79 1.49 .950 1.88 1.87 34 11 24% 33% 4 CYA-7,MVP-17
1977 HOU NL 27 P 36 36 13 267.0 70 26 44 0 2 1.000 2.36 1.94 .950 1.85 1.85 22 13 37% 35% 1
1978 HOU NL 28 P 36 36 16 275.1 70 29 38 3 0 .957 2.19 1.86 .951 1.91 1.89 34 14 29% 32% 6 CYA-4
1979 HOU NL 29 P 38 38 19 292.1 51 14 32 5 0 .902 1.42 1.21 .951 1.80 1.80 28 10 26% 34% 1 CYA-3,MVP-19
1980 HOU NL 30 P 17 17 4 113.2 16 6 10 0 1 1.000 1.27 0.94 .952 1.91 1.91 14 1 7% 31% 1 AS
10 Seasons P 238 221 76 1606.0 328 113 195 20 6 .939 1.73 1.29 .950 1.87 1.86 177 73 29% 33% 13
10 Seasons TOT 238 221 76 1606.0 328 113 195 20 6 .939 1.73 1.29 .950 1.87 1.86 177 73 29% 33% 13
Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.
View Complete Notes on Fielding Data
Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.
  • Pre-1948 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
  • From 1948 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1948 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
  • CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1918 on.
  • Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1948 to 1973 and complete from then on.
  • Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1918) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
  • Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
  • For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1948 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
  • For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

Hall of Fame
1986 BBWAA ( 1.6%)

All-Star Games
1980 (P)

Awards (yr lg award)
1979 NL pitching_title

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr))
1976 NL (17, 4%)
1979 NL (19, 4%)
0.08 Career Shares (982nd)

Cy Young (yr lg (rk, shr))
1976 NL (7, 2%)
1978 NL (4, 11%)
1979 NL (3, 34%)
0.47 Career Shares (105th)

Wins Above Replacement† s c a p y
1979 NL  5.1 (10th)

WAR for Pitchers† s c a p y
1977 NL  4.6 (10th)
1979 NL  5.3 (3rd)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1976 NL  2.75 (7th)
1977 NL  2.97 (7th)
1979 NL  2.71 (1st)
Career  3.15 (225th)

Wins s c a p y
1976 NL  20 (4th)
1977 NL  18 (8th)
1978 NL  18 (5th)
1979 NL  18 (3rd)

Win-Loss % s c a p y
Career  .601 (115th)

Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y
1977 NL  1.184 (7th)
1979 NL  1.088 (2nd)

Hits per 9 IP s c a p y
1976 NL  6.835 (1st)
1977 NL  7.146 (2nd)
1978 NL  6.276 (1st)
1979 NL  6.773 (1st)
Career  6.876 (4th)

Strikeouts per 9 IP s c a p y
1975 NL  7.803 (2nd)
1976 NL  6.619 (4th)
1977 NL  7.214 (2nd)
1978 NL  9.904 (1st)
1979 NL  9.636 (1st)
Career  8.367 (24th)

Innings Pitched s c a p y
1976 NL  291.0 (2nd)
1977 NL  267.0 (4th)
1978 NL  275.3 (2nd)
1979 NL  292.3 (2nd)

Strikeouts s c a p y
1975 NL  176 (5th)
1976 NL  214 (2nd)
1977 NL  214 (2nd)
1978 NL  303 (1st)
1979 NL  313 (1st)
Career  1,493 (187th)

Games Started s c a p y
1976 NL  39 (2nd)
1977 NL  36 (7th)
1978 NL  36 (3rd)
1979 NL  38 (3rd)

Complete Games s c a p y
1976 NL  14 (5th)
1977 NL  13 (5th)
1978 NL  16 (3rd)
1979 NL  19 (2nd)

Shutouts s c a p y
1977 NL  3 (4th)
1978 NL  3 (6th)
1979 NL  4 (4th)
1980 NL  4 (2nd)

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1975 NL  138 (1st)
1976 NL  151 (1st)
1977 NL  104 (2nd)
1978 NL  141 (1st)
1979 NL  98 (5th)

Strikeouts / Base On Balls s c a p y
1979 NL  3.194 (1st)

Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y
1975 NL  0.355 (3rd)
1977 NL  0.607 (6th)
1978 NL  0.392 (5th)
1979 NL  0.400 (2nd)

Losses s c a p y
1976 NL  15 (5th)
1979 NL  13 (10th)

Earned Runs s c a p y
1975 NL  99 (8th)
1976 NL  89 (8th)
1978 NL  95 (7th)

Wild Pitches s c a p y
1975 NL  20 (1st)
1976 NL  13 (2nd)
1978 NL  16 (1st)
1979 NL  19 (1st)
Career  92 (127th)

Batters Faced s c a p y
1976 NL  1,218 (2nd)
1977 NL  1,092 (4th)
1978 NL  1,139 (2nd)
1979 NL  1,175 (2nd)

Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y
1977 NL  120 (10th)
1979 NL  130 (2nd)

Adj. Pitching Runs s c a p y
1977 NL  22 (10th)
1979 NL  29 (1st)
1980 NL  17 (9th)

Adj. Pitching Wins s c a p y
1977 NL  2.3 (10th)
1979 NL  3.1 (1st)
1980 NL  2.0 (8th)

Base-Out Runs Saved (RE24)† s c a p y
1977 NL  28.32 (8th)
1979 NL  34.49 (1st)
1980 NL  19.12 (10th)
Career  89.87 (166th)

Win Probability Added (WPA)† s c a p y
1976 NL  2.6 (9th)
1979 NL  4.0 (2nd)
Career  9.6 (207th)

Sit. Wins Saved (WPA/LI)† s c a p y
1977 NL  2.6 (9th)
1978 NL  2.2 (8th)
1979 NL  3.9 (1st)
1980 NL  2.6 (5th)
Career  12.6 (105th)

Base-Out Wins Saved (REW)† s c a p y
1977 NL  3.2 (8th)
1979 NL  3.9 (1st)
1980 NL  2.3 (8th)
Career  10.5 (149th)

Sacrifice Hits s c a p y
1977 NL  11 (10th)
1979 NL  11 (10th)

Putouts as P s c a p y
1977 NL  26 (2nd)
1978 NL  29 (1st)

Errors Committed as P s c a p y
1976 NL  10 (1st)
1979 NL  5 (1st)

Range Factor/Game as P s c a p y
1977 NL  1.94 (2nd)
1978 NL  1.86 (5th)

Fielding % as P s c a p y
1977 NL  1.000 (1st)

                                         

† Statistics like WPA, REW and RE24 are computed from play-by-play data which is only complete from 1974 to the present. From 1948-1973, the data is incomplete, though for most seasons only less than 20 games per season total are missing. Please see our page on data coverage for a full view of the data used to create these leaderboards.

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black InkPitching - 18 (119), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray InkPitching - 84 (283), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 64 (193), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 24 (220), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS Starting Pitcher (393rd), 20.7 career WAR/20.9 7yr-peak WAR/20.8 JAWS
Average HOF P (out of 58) = 67.9 career WAR/47.7 7yr-peak WAR/57.8 JAWS

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Pitchers 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Don Wilson (938)
  2. Felix Hernandez (929)
  3. Jim Maloney (927)
  4. Gary Nolan (925)
  5. Mario Soto (918)
  6. Sam Jones (910)
  7. Steve Blass (909)
  8. Max Lanier (909)
  9. Tom Seaton (906)
  10. Hank Borowy (904)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Earl Johnson (981)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Rich Gale (985)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Joey Hamilton (972)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Steve Busby (965)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Tim Lincecum (963)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Bob Gibson (955) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Bob Gibson (953) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer
Similar Batters 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Bill Duggleby (981)
  2. Orval Overall (979)
  3. Tex Carleton (974)
  4. Bob Porterfield (973)
  5. Jim Shaw (973)
  6. Egyptian Healy (972)
  7. Hank Borowy (971)
  8. Dick Donovan (970)
  9. Ray Kremer (970)
  10. Sonny Siebert (969)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Orval Overall (984)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Orval Overall (979)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. We attempt to update transactions throughout the season.

Salaries

Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses
Year Age Team Salary Sources Notes
197727Houston Astros$75,000TSN salary survey, 4/23/77
Career to date (may be incomplete)$75,000
Salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, and the Society for American Baseball Research.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.

Other Resources & Links

Error?     Compare     Search SABR's Baseball Index     Other Links@google.com     Baseball Library     Baseball-Almanac.com     Retrosheet     WahooSam.com     WhatIfSports: J.R. Richard    

Viewed 18,480 times through December 13, 2012.
Name and misspellings: J. James J.R. JR R. Rodney Richard richards

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