Anyone else think the Astros should retire J.R. Richard's #?

9/25/86.

 

Very doubtful Richard would have reached those numbers. Assuming he had not had his stroke, he may have reached 1700 Ks that season at age 30. He would need another 7 season at 300+ Ks to reach 4000. Giving him another 10 wins in his stroke season would have gotten him to 117. Being generous and putting him at 120 would leave him 130 wins short of 250. Bob Gibson had about the same number of wins and 200 less Ks than Richard at age 30 and barely got to 250 wins and nowhere close to 4000 Ks.

 

My birthday is 9/22. That year, during the summer, my parents agreed to give me tickets to an afternoon Astros game as a present since getting to skip out of school early was an added wrinkle. I randomly picked 9/25.

So we went to Foleys (back when Foleys had a Ticketmaster) in July/August and literally had tickets in hand when my mom said, "Let's wait and see what your school schedule's going to be before we do this..." I probably don't need to finish this story but... I stupidly signed up for a K-level biology class, pulled a D at the mid-term which, of course, resulted in any idea of me skipping school being taken off the table.

Between this and throwing out my Star Wars figures, my mom's been a permanent fixture on my s-list for many, many years.

 

Part of it is a typo, supposed to be 3000 K's, and not 4,000. As for the win total, I think part of it depends on how long you think he would have pitched and whether he had peaked. I personally believe he had "figured it out" and was about to go on a 5-6 year string of elite pitching... still I agree, I do not have anything other than my "gut" to support my contention.

 

you have an awesome birthday.

sad story, bro.

 

Had he remained healthy, I could certainly see him hitting 3000 Ks and 200 wins (as well as 10+HRs ).

 

The Yankees were terrible at retiring numbers for too many players. Reggie Jackson got his number retired for a pretty short career in pinstripes.

I will protest the inclusion of Munson on your list of being "not legendary" as he was pretty much a legendary Yankee who died in uniform (not literally) in a plane crash during the season. He was the heart and soul of the franchise, the team captain, and had the potential to end of a Hall of Famer as a catcher.

 

Oh, I have no issue with Munson's # being retired; I actually couldn't care less. But this idea that the Yankee retired numbers are all a who's who of baseball royalty is way overblown. He was a very good player who's reverence - based in large part on his tragic death - way outdistances his actual baseball results. Point being every team - even the hallowed Yankees - have guys that don't necessarily resonate beyond their team's city limits.

I think, for instance, Dierker's # being retired is every bit as legitimate as Munson's.

 

Dude was having his best year when he had the Stroke. Damn forget how sad this guy story was.

 

I'll take Oswalt per previously posted numbers. And JR was not effective for ten years. Heck, he was shaky until the late 70s.

 

The Astros should not only retire his number but apologize for the way he was treated. I know it's not like anyone is left around from those days, but Richard deserves some sort of recognition for what he went through.

As for Jose Cruz, I can understand. Not everything is, or should be about stats.