J. R. Richard is a former right handed starting pitcher in major league baseball. James Rodney Richard was born in the year march 7, 1950 and he was popularly called as J. R. Richard. He spent his career in major league playing from 1971 to 1980 in a single team Houston Astros. He was selected as second pick in the first round of 1969 amateur after his remarkable high school career. In 1971, he made his major league debut and he dominated hitters in national league which was considered as one of the premier pitchers.
From 1976 to 1979, Richard led the league twice in strikeouts and succeeded 18 games in a year. Suddenly, a break occurred in the career time of Richard in major league baseball. On July 30 1980, when he was playing accidentally he was got into a stroke. Richard 313 strikeouts in 1979 remains as Astros franchise record and with a team record in strikeouts is 1493 from 1980 to 1987. Richard comes up against more disputes in his life time and finally became Christian minister.
James Rodney Richard was born to Clayton and Lizzie in Vienna, Louisiana. When he was doing his high schooling, he was the starting pitcher for his high school team. He doesn’t allow even a single run and he was starring in both baseball and basketball at Lincoln high school. The baseball idol for Richard is St. Louis cardinals pitcher bob Gibson and during his high school career, he never lost a game. He comes up with more than 200 basketball scholarship offers with Houston Astros after his graduation. The career of Richard started sighing and he was made as a second overall pick in the 1969 amateur baseball draft. The days went on smoothly for Richard till July 30 1980.
He was sent to rookie level league baseball with Covington Astros of the Appalachian league. Richard started 12 games for Covington and he win five games and lost four. He strikes out high number of hits on average and faced problem throughout the season with his pitching mechanics and control. During his 56 innings, he strikes out 71 batters. He was promoted to cocoa Astros of Florida state league in high-A minor league baseball. At the age of 20, he dominates the league in 1970. Richard threw a no-hitter against Daytona Beach dodgers and catches the attention of Houston Astros parent club and he comes up with 67 hits in 109 total innings.
During the year 1970 – 71, he was upgraded to class AAA. The position was nearby to major leagues and it was with Oklahoma City of now defunct American association. The uniform number for Richard is 50 on his jersey and he used the number for the rest of minor league and major league. Richard starred for his performance and he wins 23 out of 24 total games and leads the league with 202 strikeouts in 173 innings and he kept his era down to low 2.45 and comes up with 116 hits. Richard wins twelve and losses seven in the season before he was called up by Astros Houston.
