Michael Anthony Richardt (born May 24, 1958, at

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

) is an American former

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), ...

second baseman. He played all or part of four seasons in the majors, between and , mostly for the Texas Rangers. He also played in 16 games for the Houston Astros at the end of the 1984 season. He threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

and was listed as tall and . After a brief trial in 1980, Richardt spent the entire season in the minor leagues with the

Wichita Aeros The Wichita Aeros were an American minor league baseball franchise based in Wichita, Kansas, that played in the Triple-A American Association from 1970 through 1984. The Aeros were established as an expansion franchise when the Association gre ...

. There, he led the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

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 ...

at .354. That performance earned him a spot on the Rangers' opening day roster as their starting

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

in . After a return trip to the minor leagues in May, he returned to the majors and spent the last four months of the season as the Rangers' regular second baseman. That year, he batted .241 in 119 games, hitting 3 of his 4 career home runs while driving in 43 runs. He also stole 9 bases in 10 attempts. Richardt started the season in the same position, but had some problems that season. He got into a fistfight with teammate

Mickey Rivers John Milton "Mickey" Rivers (born October 30, 1948) is an American former baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1984 for the California Angels, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. As a member of the Yankees, he was pa ...

on a plane trip home and by the end of April he was batting just .194. Eventually, he was replaced in the lineup by

Wayne Tolleson Jimmy Wayne Tolleson (born November 22, 1955) is an American former professional baseball infielder who played for the Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). Western Carolina University A star hig ...

. Richardt returned to the minor leagues, and received only a few more brief trials over the remainder of the season and in 1984. In May 1984, he was traded to the Astros for

Alan Bannister Alan Bannister (born September 3, 1951) is a retired professional baseball player who played in the major leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies Chicago White Sox (1976–80), Cleveland Indians Houston Astros (1984) and Texas Rangers Original ...

. Starting in the minors, Richardt played just 13 games that season, and then was out of organized baseball for two full years. He attempted a comeback in with the independent Fresno Suns of the California League, and played well enough to get a minor league deal with the Rangers. After playing 28 games for the Tulsa Drillers, however, he was out of baseball for good.

References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardt, Mike Major League Baseball second basemen Texas Rangers players Houston Astros players Gulf Coast Rangers players Asheville Tourists players Tulsa Drillers players Charleston Charlies players Wichita Aeros players Oklahoma City 89ers players Tucson Toros players Fresno Suns players Fresno City Rams baseball players Baseball players from Los Angeles 1958 births Living people