On the blog today, we add Houston Astros ace J.R. Richard to my 1977 "N.L. Centennial" sub-set, celebrating the Senior League's 100th anniversary of the year before:
As
part of the celebration, the league wore special patches on their
sleeves, so I made sure to use photos that showed them on every card.
Luckily
for me there were countless photos taken that season of the players and
the league's games, so it wasn't nearly as difficult for me to create
the set (slated for a two-series release later this year!).
As for the great J.R., he was just becoming the great formidable pitcher mowing down N.L. batter around this time.
From 1976 to 1979, Richard was down-right nasty, striking out 200
or more batters, including 300+ in both 1978 and 1979 (leading the N.L.
in K's each time), as well as posting 18 or more wins and 3+ shutouts
each season.
1980 was shaping up to be more of the same, as Richard was 10-4 with a 1.90 E.R.A. and 119 K's through only 113.2 innings.
But on July 30th, 1980, while playing a game of catch before a
game, Richard suffered a stroke that ended his career in an instant,
requiring emergency surgery to remove a life-threatening blood clot in
his neck.
Though he tried a comeback once he recovered, the stroke caused
enough damage to prevent him from ever playing in another Major League
game.
A tragic end to one of the most promising careers in the Majors at the time.
It would have been incredible to see Richard team up with new
Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan and see how many K's they could have racked
up.