Gene Richards (baseball) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Eugene Richards Jr. (born September 29, 1953) is an American former
In
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...
. He played eight seasons in the Majors, from 1977 until 1984, for the 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 ...
and San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
. As a rookie with San Diego in 1977, he set a modern-day MLB rookie single-season record for stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...
s.
Playing career
He was the first player selected (by the Padres) in the 1975 JanuaryMajor League Baseball Draft
The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...
. He threw and batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed . Richards played two seasons (1975–1976) of minor league baseball. In his first pro season, spent with the Class A Reno Silver Sox
The Reno Silver Sox were a minor league baseball team that existed on and off from 1947 to 1992. The team name is derived from the nickname of Nevada, the "Silver State". There was another baseball team known as the Reno Silver Sox who played i ...
, he led the 1975 California League
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...
in hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...
(191 in 134 games played
Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.
Basebal ...
), runs (148), stolen bases
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...
(85) and batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
(.381). Reno won the California League championship and Richards was named the circuit's Most Valuable Player. Promoted all the way to the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders
The Hawaii Islanders were a minor league baseball team based in Honolulu, Hawaii, that played in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for 27 seasons from 1961 through 1987.
Originally an affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics, the Islanders played ...
in 1976, he led the Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
in hits (173) and batted .331.
In 1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
, he made his major league debut with San Diego and set a then modern-day MLB rookie record with 56 stolen bases during the season, surpassing the previous mark of 49 set by Rollie Zeider
Rollie Hubert Zeider (November 16, 1883 – September 12, 1967) was a professional baseball player. An infielder (playing over 100 games at all four infield positions in his career), he played nine seasons in the major leagues for the Chi ...
in 1910 and tied by Sonny Jackson
Roland Thomas "Sonny" Jackson (born July 9, 1944) is an American former baseball shortstop and outfielder for the Houston Colt .45's / Astros (1963–67) and Atlanta Braves (1968–74).
Jackson led the National League in singles (160) and sacr ...
in 1966. He finished the season batting .290, and finished third in the voting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award
In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given annually to two outstanding rookie players, one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL), as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The aw ...
. In 1980, Richards was tied for 22nd place in MVP voting after he led the league in singles with 151, and set a then- Padres single-season record with 194 hits, broken by Tony Gwynn
Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr. (May 9, 1960 – June 16, 2014), nicknamed "Mr. Padre", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played 20 seasons (1982–2001) in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. The left-handed hit ...
in 1984.
Richards held then-Padres career records for triples (63) and steals (242), also broken by Gwynn.
See also
*List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders
In baseball, a triple is recorded when the ball is hit so that the batter is able to advance all the way to third base, scoring any runners who were already on base, with no errors by the defensive team on the play. In Major League Baseball (ML ...
* List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
In baseball, a hit is credited to a batter when he reaches first base – or any subsequent base – safely after hitting a fair ball, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice. One hundred seventeen different players have recorde ...
Notes
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Gene 1953 births 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American baseball players Hawaii Islanders players Living people Major League Baseball outfielders Minor league baseball managers Reno Silver Sox players San Diego Padres players San Francisco Giants players Seattle Mariners scouts South Carolina State Bulldogs baseball players Winter Haven Super Sox players