John Eugene Billingham (born February 21, 1943) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He played 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), ...

as a right-handed

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 ...

from through , most notably as a member of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

dynasty that won three National League pennants and two

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

championships between 1972 and 1977. Billingham's 0.36

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

over the 1972, 1975 and 1976 World Series was the lowest in World Series history until it was surpassed by

Madison Bumgarner Madison Kyle Bumgarner (born August 1, 1989), commonly known by his nickname, "MadBum", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he pitched for the San Francisco Giants ...

in 2014. He also played for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

and the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. In 1984, Billingham was inducted into the

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is an entity established by Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds franchise that pays homage to the team's past through displays, photographs and multimedia. It was instituted in 1958 to recognize the ...

Baseball career

Billingham was born in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

and graduated from

Winter Park High School Winter Park High School (often simply abbreviated as WPHS) located in Winter Park, Florida, United States is one of nineteen public high schools in Orange County. Winter Park High School is a International Baccalaureate school and delivers Advan ...

in 1961. He believes that he is a distant cousin of

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

member

Christy Mathewson Christopher Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six", "the Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "the Gentleman's Hurler", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, who played 17 seasons with the New York Giant ...

although, the exact relationship is not known. He was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent on June 12, 1961. He spent seven years in the Dodgers’ minor-league system, where he was groomed 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 ...

. Billingham made his major league debut with the Dodgers on April 11, 1968 at the age of 25. He didn't give up a

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

until his seventh appearance as a relief pitcher for the Dodgers. In his only appearance as a starting pitcher, he shut out the Pirates through eight

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

s. Billingham finished the season with a 3-0

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

with a 2.14 earned-run average however, the Dodgers left Billingham unprotected and he was selected by the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

in the

1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft The 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft was conducted to stock up the rosters of four expansion teams in Major League Baseball created via the 1969 Major League Baseball expansion and which would begin play in the 1969 season. The expansi ...

. In January 1969, the Expos traded

Donn Clendenon Donn Alvin Clendenon (July 15, 1935 – September 17, 2005) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from to . He is most notable for his performance during the 1969 World Series when he ...

to the

for

Rusty Staub Daniel Joseph "Rusty" Staub (April 1, 1944 – March 29, 2018) was an American professional baseball player and television color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball for 23 seasons as a right fielder, designated hitter, and first basem ...

. Clendenon refused to report, and Billingham was later sent to Houston to complete the trade. In 1969, Billingham was again used as a reliever (52 games, 6–7 record, 4.25 ERA). In 1970 he was moved into the starting rotation (46 games, 24 starts), before becoming exclusively a starting pitcher in 1971. On November 29, 1971, Billingham was acquired from the Astros along with

Ed Armbrister Edison Rosanda Armbrister (July 4, 1948 – March 17, 2021) was a Bahamian professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1973 to 1977 for the Cincinnati Reds. Armbrister was a utility player for the Reds t ...

Cesar Geronimo Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Pla ...

Denis Menke Denis John Menke (July 21, 1940 – December 1, 2020) was a professional baseball infielder and coach. He played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1962 to 1974. He played for the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves (1962–67), H ...

and

Joe Morgan Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...

. The trade helped to transform the Reds into the juggernaut known as the

Big Red Machine The Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. The team won six National League West Division titl ...

that would dominate the National League for the next five seasons. In Game 3 of the 1972 World Series, Billingham pitched eight shutout innings versus the Oakland A's. Billingham was removed from the game in favor of reliever Clay Carroll by Reds' manager Sparky Anderson while facing the first Oakland batter in the bottom of the ninth inning. Cincinnati won the game, 1-0, and Billingham got credit for the victory. In 1973, Billingham went 19-10 with a career-best 3.04 ERA. He led the National League with 40 starts, 293 innings pitched and seven

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 ...

s and earned a berth on the National League All-Star team in the 1973 All-Star Game. He followed that with a 19-11 season in 1974. On April 4, 1974, Billingham gave up

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

's 714th career home run, which tied Aaron with

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

for No. 1 on the all-time home run list at the time. In the

1975 World Series The 1975 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1975 season. The 72nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the Natio ...

, he was the starting pitcher for Cincinnati in their Game 2 victory where, Billingham gave up a first-inning run before holding the

scoreless for the next four innings. His scoreless streak continued in Game 6 where he appeared as a relief pitcher and allowed one hit in one inning pitched. In the climactic Game 7, Billingham entered the game in the bottom of the fifth inning as a relief pitcher with the Reds trailing the Red Sox by a score of 3-0. He held the Red Sox scoreless for two innings, allowing the Reds to come from behind to take a 4–3 victory and clinch the 1975 World Series championship. In seven games (including three starts) for Cincinnati, he went 2–0 with a 0.36

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 ...

, allowing just one earned run in 25

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. In 1979, he posted a 10-9 record with the Detroit Tigers to finish his tenth consecutive season of ten or more wins.

Career statistics

In a 13-season major league career, Billingham posted a 145–113 record with 1,141

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 and a 3.83 earned run average in 2,231.1

, including 27

s and 74

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 ...

s. He posted a 1.93 earned run average in 42 innings of postseason pitching.

Awards

inductee: 1984 * National League All-Star: 1973 *

Johnny Vander Meer John Samuel Vander Meer (November 2, 1914 – October 6, 1997) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds where he became the only ...

Award (Reds' Most Outstanding Pitcher): 1973

NL leader

* Innings pitched: 1973 (293) *

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 ...

s: 1973 (7) *

Hit batsmen In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...

: 1971 (16) and 1977 (10)

References

External links