Richard Jay Selma (November 4, 1943 – August 29, 2001) was a professional baseball player who played

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the Major Leagues from 1965 to 1974. He played for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

, and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

during his 10-year major league career.

College and minor league career

Selma attended

Fresno High School Fresno High School is a four-year secondary school located in Fresno, California. Fresno High is the oldest high school in the Fresno metropolitan area and one of the few International Baccalaureate schools. As of 2021, Linda Laettner is the 29th a ...

and played college baseball at

Fresno City College Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...

. After a year, Selma was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets on May 28, 1963 and made his Major League debut two seasons later.

Major league career

In only his second career start, he threw a 10-inning

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in a 1–0 victory against the

Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

, accumulating 13

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in the process. The 13 strikeouts were at the time a Mets franchise record. He had two wins and one loss in four games that season, and spent the next two seasons with the Mets as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

. During the 1968 season, Selma again became a

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

and started 23 games, posting a 9–10 record with an

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of 2.76. This, along with his 117 strikeouts, led the expansion

to draft him with the fifth pick in the 1968 expansion draft on October 14, 1968. Dick Selma 1969

Selma was given the start for the Padres on opening day of the 1969 season. On April 8, 1969, Selma pitched a

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

and threw 12 strikeouts en route to a 2–1 victory, the Padres' first in franchise history. Selma ended up pitching only four games for the Padres, as he was traded to the

for

Joe Niekro Joseph Franklin Niekro ( ; November 7, 1944 – October 27, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He was the younger brother of pitcher Phil Niekro, and the father of former Major League first baseman Lance Niekro. Niekr ...

Gary Ross Gary Ross (born November 3, 1956) is an American film director, writer, and producer. He is best known for writing and directing the fantasy comedy-drama film '' Pleasantville'' (1998), the sports drama film ''Seabiscuit'' (2003), the sci-fi acti ...

and

Frankie Librán Francisco Librán Rosas (May 6, 1948 – May 16, 2013) was a Puerto Rican athlete who distinguished himself for performing professionally on all three major sports in the island (baseball, basketball, volleyball). Most notably, Librán played a ...

on April 24, 1969."Selma Traded For 3 Players," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Friday, April 25, 1969.
Retrieved June 9, 2020 It was during his time with the Cubs that Selma became known as a cheerleader for those sitting in

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

bleachers Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a row ...

. He finished his tenure with the Cubs with a 10–8 record, 161 strikeouts, and a 3.63 ERA. However, he had a 7–1 record before finishing 10–8, and partially as a result of this skid was traded. Selma was traded to the

on November 17, 1969 with

Oscar Gamble Oscar Charles Gamble (December 20, 1949 – January 31, 2018) was an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 17 seasons, from to , for seven teams: the Chicago White Sox and ...

for a player to be named later (who became Larry Colton) and

Johnny Callison John Wesley Callison (March 12, 1939 – October 12, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 16 seasons and is best known for the 10 years he spent with the Philadelphia Phillies as a right ...

. The Phillies turned Selma into their closer for the 1970 season. He converted 22 saves in 73 appearances, and his 73 games pitched and 47 games finished were both second highest in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. He started 10 games in the 1972 season, but in his four seasons in Philadelphia, Selma was primarily used as a reliever. He was released by the Phillies on May 8, 1973, but was signed by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

on May 21. He never appeared in a game for the Cardinals, and at the end of the season his contract was purchased by the

. He played 18 games for the Angels during the 1974 season, his contract was purchased by the

, whom he only played two games with. Selma was returned to the Angels after the two appearances, and did not appear in a major league game again. After retiring from the game, Selma returned to Fresno and took a night job so that he could play and coach baseball in the area. He was an assistant coach at his alma mater and served as the pitching coach at Clovis High School. Selma died on August 29, 2001 in

Clovis, California Clovis is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. The 2020 population was 120,124. Clovis is located northeast of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 361 feet (110 m). History The city of Clovis began as a freight stop along the S ...

, as a result of liver cancer.

References

External links

Dick Selma
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Dick Selma
at Ultimate Mets Database
Dick Selma
at Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Selma, Dick 1943 births 2001 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from California Chicago Cubs players New York Mets players San Diego Padres players Philadelphia Phillies players California Angels players Milwaukee Brewers players Salinas Mets players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Deaths from liver cancer Sportspeople from Fresno, California Deaths from cancer in California Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players