Richard Elliott Dotson (born January 10, 1959) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1980s. He is best noted for his 22-7 performance of , helping the Chicago White Sox win the

American League West Division The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams curr ...

championship that season. Dotson finished fourth in the American League

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...

voting, behind teammate LaMarr Hoyt. Arm injuries came to limit, however, what was a promising baseball career. In a 12-season career, Rich Dotson recorded a record of 111-113 with a 4.23

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. Compa ...

in 305 games, 295 of them starts. He pitched 55

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 and 11 shutouts in his career. Dotson gave up 872 earned runs and struck out 973 in

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 ...

. Dotson was born in Cincinnati and attended Anderson High School. Dotson's biological father was

Turk Farrell Richard Joseph "Turk" Farrell (April 8, 1934 – June 10, 1977) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , spending his entire 14-year MLB career in the National League (NL). He threw and ...

who played 14 MLB seasons. He was drafted out of high school by the

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 ...

in the summer of 1977, but was traded along with

Bobby Bonds Bobby Lee Bonds (March 15, 1946 – August 23, 2003) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball from to , primarily with the San Francisco Giants. Noted for his outstanding combination of power hitting and speed, he was the first pl ...

and Thad Bosley to the White Sox for Brian Downing, Chris Knapp and

Dave Frost Carl David Frost (born November 17, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player and a former Major League Baseball pitcher. The , right-hander was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 18th round of the 1974 Major League Baseb ...

on December 5, 1977. His debut in the majors was not an auspicious one. White Sox manager Tony La Russa handed him the ball on September 4, 1979, as the starter for a game at

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

, but the 20-year-old Dotson retired only four Angels and left the park that day with a gaudy earned-run average of 33.75. By the next season, Dotson was a 12-game winner in the Chicago rotation. In 1981, he led the American League in shutouts with four. But his breakout season definitely was 1983. Dotson's 22 wins were the second-most in the league, and included 14 complete games. He also led the American League with 106 walks and finished fourth in AL

voting. On the final day of the regular season, he and

Dennis Lamp Dennis Patrick Lamp (born September 23, 1952) is a former professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1977 through 1992, the breaking ball specialist played for the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athle ...

combined for a shutout at Seattle that put the White Sox in first place by a whopping 20 games over the nearest contender. The closest Dotson ever came to pitching a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

was in a 1–0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium on May 18, 1983. The Orioles' lone hit and the only run of the game was Dan Ford's one-out opposite-field solo homer over the right-field fence in the eighth inning. He was also the losing pitcher in his only postseason appearance, an 11–1 defeat to the Orioles in Game 3 of the

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...

Comiskey Park Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Buil ...

five months later on October 7. Eddie Murray's one-out three-run homer into the right-field upper deck off Dotson in the first inning was the deciding blow. Dotson became an All-Star the following summer, working two scoreless innings in the 1984 All-Star Game at Candlestick Park. Although his career never again reached those heights, Dotson did go 12-9 in the New York Yankees' rotation in 1988. The team was in first place for much of the season's first half, including in late July, before fading. Dotson had a strong finish, combining with two relievers on September 29 for a seven-hitter at Baltimore in his final start of the season. Dotson served as the pitching coach for the Charlotte Knights for nine seasons before becoming the pitching coordinator for their Major League affiliate, the Chicago White Sox.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dotson, Richard 1959 births Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago White Sox players New York Yankees players Kansas City Royals players American League All-Stars Idaho Falls Angels players Knoxville Sox players Baseball players from Cincinnati Minor league baseball coaches