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J.R. Richard
James Rodney Richard
All-Star Player
Bats: Right , Throws: Right
Height: 6' 8" , Weight: 222 lb.

Born: March 7, 1950 in Vienna, LA
High School: Lincoln (Ruston, LA)
Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1969 amateur draft. (All Transactions)
Debut: September 5, 1971
Final Game: July 14, 1980
    About biographical information

Standard Pitching

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Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Click rows to sum (Clear)
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 98 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 25 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 91 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 2 438 173 0.924 5.1 0.2 3.2 9.4 2.98 AS
10 Seasons 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

Standard Batting

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Click rows to sum (Clear)
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 20 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 39 104 100 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 36 100 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 Seasons 239 602 552 39 93 10 3 10 50 2 2 4 181 .168 .176 .252 .428 22 139 11 2 41 3 0
162 Game Avg. 162 408 374 26 63 7 2 7 34 1 1 3 123 .168 .176 .252 .428 22 94 7 1 28 2 0

Standard Fielding

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Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
1971 HOU NL 21 P 4 4 21.0 4 1 3 0 0 1.000 1.71 1.00 .950 1.89 0.78
1972 HOU NL 22 P 4 1 6.0 2 0 2 0 1 1.000 3.00 0.50 .950 1.80 0.72
1973 HOU NL 23 P 16 10 71.2 9 5 3 1 0 .889 1.00 0.50 .956 1.88 0.73
1974 HOU NL 24 P 15 9 64.2 10 5 5 0 0 1.000 1.39 0.67 .940 1.88 0.71
1975 HOU NL 25 P 33 31 203.0 28 8 19 1 0 .964 1.20 0.82 .946 1.86 0.72
1976 HOU NL 26 P 39 39 291.0 68 19 39 10 2 .853 1.79 1.49 .954 1.88 0.72 CYA-7,MVP-17
1977 HOU NL 27 P 36 36 267.0 70 26 44 0 2 1.000 2.36 1.94 .947 1.85 0.67
1978 HOU NL 28 P 36 36 275.1 70 29 38 3 0 .957 2.19 1.86 .950 1.91 0.72 CYA-4
1979 HOU NL 29 P 38 38 292.1 51 14 32 5 0 .902 1.42 1.21 .953 1.80 0.66 CYA-3,MVP-19
1980 HOU NL 30 P 17 17 113.2 16 6 10 0 1 1.000 1.27 0.94 .950 1.91 0.69 AS
10 Seasons P 238 221 1605.2 328 113 195 20 6 .939 1.73 1.29 .950 1.87 0.70
10 Seasons TOT 238 221 1605.2 328 113 195 20 6 .939 1.73 1.29 .889 1.87 0.70

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)

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr))
1976 NL (17, 4%)
1979 NL (19, 4%)
0.08 Career Shares (957th)

Cy Young (yr lg (rk, shr))
1976 NL (7, 2%)
1978 NL (4, 11%)
1979 NL (3, 34%)
0.47 Career Shares (100th)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1976 NL  2.753 (7th)
1977 NL  2.966 (7th)
1979 NL  2.709 (1st)
Career  3.149 (226th)

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
1978 NL  .621 (8th)
Career  .601 (112th)

Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y
1977 NL  1.184 (7th)
1979 NL  1.088 (2nd)
Career  1.244 (246th)

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  7.213 (2nd)
1978 NL  9.904 (1st)
1979 NL  9.636 (1st)
Career  8.367 (21st)

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  1493 (170th)

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  .355 (3rd)
1977 NL  .607 (6th)
1978 NL  .392 (5th)
1979 NL  .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 (107th)

Batters Faced s c a p y
1976 NL  1218 (2nd)
1977 NL  1092 (4th)
1978 NL  1139 (2nd)
1979 NL  1175 (2nd)

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

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

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black InkPitching - 18 (112), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray InkPitching - 87 (262), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 64 (187), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsBatting - 1 (3944), Average HOFer ≈ 50
Pitching - 24 (213), Average HOFer ≈ 50

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Pitchers 
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 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Carlos Zambrano (950)
  2. Don Wilson (938)
  3. Jim Maloney (927)
  4. Gary Nolan (925)
  5. Jake Peavy (919)
  6. Mario Soto (918)
  7. A.J. Burnett (912)
  8. Sam Jones (910)
  9. Steve Blass (909)
  10. Josh Beckett (909)
Most Similar by Ages 
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 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. Chan Ho Park (957)  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 
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 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Bill Duggleby (982)
  2. Orval Overall (978)
  3. Tex Carleton (974)
  4. Bob Porterfield (973)
  5. Jim Shaw (973)
  6. John Healy (972)
  7. Randy Wolf (972)
  8. Sonny Siebert (971)
  9. Luis Tiant (971)
  10. Hank Borowy (971)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Orval Overall (983)  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

June 5, 1969: Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1969 amateur draft.

November 7, 1983: Granted Free Agency.

February 17, 1984: Signed as a Free Agent with the Houston Astros.

April 27, 1984: Released by the Houston Astros.

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Last transaction is September 30, 2009.

Other Resources & Links

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Viewed 115,632 times through December 23, 2009.
Name and misspellings: J. James J.R. JR R. Rodney Richard richards

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