Todd Everett Ritchie (born November 7, 1971) is a 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), ...

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 ...

who played in the major leagues from -. Ritchie was drafted by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

in the 1st round (12th overall) of the 1990 Major League Baseball draft and made his major league debut on April 3, 1997. He pitched in 57 games for the Twins in 1997 and . On October 3, , the Twins released him, and he signed with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

on December 22. Ritchie was used as 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 ...

by the Pirates and in , he won a career-high 15 games. He was their Opening Day starter in , on in which he went 11-15; on July 13 of that year, in a scoreless game against the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

PNC Park PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). It was opened during the 2001 MLB season, after the controlled implosion of the Pira ...

, he had 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 ...

broken up with one out in the ninth by a

Luis Alicea Luis René Alicea de Jesús (born July 29, 1965) is a former Major League Baseball second baseman and coach. Alicea played for the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Anaheim Angels, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. He played college ba ...

single. The Pirates won the game in the bottom of the ninth as

Aramis Ramírez Aramis Nin Ramírez (; born June 25, 1978) is a Dominican former professional baseball third baseman, who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Milwaukee Brewers. He was named an All-Sta ...

singled in

Brian Giles Brian Stephen Giles (; born January 20, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. During his career he played for the Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres. The left-handed Giles was a two-time All-Star and had a ...

with the winning run

After the 2001 season, on December 13, Ritchie was traded to the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

along with Lee Evans for

Kip Wells Robert "Kip" Wells (born April 21, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. In his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox ...

, Sean Lowe, and

Josh Fogg Joshua Smith Fogg (born December 13, 1976) is an American retired Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for several teams between 2001 and 2009. Fogg played college baseball for the University of Florida and was drafted by the Chicago Whi ...

. He struggled in though, losing 15 games with a 6.06

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 ...

, and becoming a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

after the season. On January 14, , he signed with the

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 ...

, but missed nearly the entire season with an injury. Ritchie signed as a free agent with the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

for 2004, but spent most of the season in the minors. He signed with the Pirates for the season, but retired from

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 ...

during

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

. He came out of retirement in , signing a contract with the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

. Assigned to Single-A

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

, Ritchie had a 3.18 ERA in 4 appearances before being promoted to Double-A

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

on June 25. In his one appearance for Tulsa, he gave up 8

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s in 5.2 innings and retired again. Todd and his wife Kristi have six children named Karley (26), Kyndall (21), Kamdyn (19), Kallyn (17), Kannon (15), and Krayton(15)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Todd Minnesota Twins players Pittsburgh Pirates players Chicago White Sox players Milwaukee Brewers players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Baseball players from Virginia Major League Baseball pitchers 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Portsmouth, Virginia People from Duncanville, Texas Duncanville High School alumni Salt Lake Buzz players Nashville Sounds players Charleston RiverDogs players Durham Bulls players Modesto Nuts players Tulsa Drillers players Nashville Xpress players Elizabethton Twins players Hardware City Rock Cats players Kenosha Twins players Montgomery Biscuits players Visalia Oaks players