When Dusty Baker hits his 30th homer of the season against the Astros’ J.R. Richard, the Dodgers become the first team in major league history to have four players hit 30 or more home runs. He joins with Steve Garvey (33), Reggie Smith (32), and Ron Cey (30) to complete the foursome.
1977 – Jose Cruz and Cesar Cedeno both sock a pair of homers, blasting Cincinnati, 7-2. Bob Watson belts another for good measure. Cedeno has four hits, including a triple. J.R. Richards whiffs eleven Reds for his 15th win.
1976 – Amazingly, it takes 15 years for Houston to garner a vote in the Cy Young Award balloting. The vote goes to J.R. Richard, who has a 20-win season, but he is well behind San Diego’s Randy Jones in the returns.
Four years before the stroke that ends his career, 26 year-old J.R. Richard becomes a twenty-game winner on the last day of the season when he tosses a complete game in the Astros’ 10-1 victory over San Francisco. James Rodney also enjoys a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4, including a two-run home run.
1975 – The woeful “Lastros” sweep a four-game series from division-leading Pittsburgh, 5-3. J.R. Richard walks nine in six innings but allows just one hit for the win. Jerry DaVanon beats George Brett by eight years when his sixth-inning single is overturned after his bat is found with too much pine tar. DaVanon accidentally rubbed pine tar on the wrong end of his bat while in the on-deck circle and Pirate catcher Manny Sanguillen alertly handed the bat to the plate umpire.
1975 – The Astros explode for eight runs in the seventh to topple the Padres, 8-2. J.R. Richard starts the scoring with a two-run single. Roger Metzger ends it in the same manner. Jose Cruz has two hits in the inning. Richard tosses a five-hitter.
1973 – J.R. Richard tosses a two-hitter as Houston bombs the Pirates, 10-2. Al Oliver breaks up his no-hit bid in the seventh. By then, Lee May had launched a three-run shot and Bob Watson had belted a grand slam.
In his major league debut, J.R. Richard throws a complete game in the Astros’ 5-3 victory over San Francisco at Candlestick Park. The 21 year-old right-handed fireballer strikes out a major-league rookie record 15 batters in his first major league appearance.
1969 – Joe Morgan goes 4-for-4, including a home run and four runs scored, to pace the Astros past St. Louis, 11-6, at the Astrodome. Dooley Womack, the last of six Houston pitchers, gets the victory. Houston wins off the field too, choosing pitcher James Rodney Richard of Ruston, LA with the second overall pick in the draft, behind Jeff Burroughs. Richard has a 21-0 mark in his three years at Ruston High School.
1950 – James Rodney Richard is born in Vienna, LA. Arguably the most intimidating pitcher in Astros history, Richard compiles a 107-71 record with 19 shutouts and 1,493 strikeouts in his ten seasons in Houston (1971-1980).
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