http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/herskowitz/3137389

With all of the Astros hoopla on here I decided I would share my good bull JR Richard story with you guys. For those that don't know, he was one of the most dominating pitchers of the late 70's, but his career was cut short by a stroke. This guy's fastball made Nolan's look slow. He was swindled out of some money in the eighties and was eventually found living under a bridge in '94 or so.

The "Ben" mentioned in the story about JR above is me. I read an article by Mickey Herskowitz that stated JR liked to go fishing. I was about to go on a guided fishing trip so I emailed Mickey and asked him to send an invite to JR for me. I never heard anything back.

About 6 months later I just happened to come across the article above. The first line says "Ben, please call my office. JR is ready for his fishing trip." I figured that there had to be another "Ben" who wrote in, but then, he quoted my email.

Well, to make a long story short, JR and I went fishing last July. He is truly an amazing person. Very humble yet well spoken. You can see why this guy was so great the minute he opens his mouth. He just has this quiet intensity about him. His extreme faith in God has raised him out of homelessness and stabilized his life. He is now working as a baseball coach in Clear Lake. Watch out for his son in the next few years. He's a high school sophomore and JR swears he's going to be a special player.

We caught many nice fish that day, but the best part was making a new friend. We hope to do it again very soon.

THAT is an awesome story.

You are to be commended for being a good human being.

Good on ya'!!!

That's awesome.

I cried when I found out about his stroke. He was The Man.

Retire #50, Drayton.

So did I.

Gig 'em, Ben.

JR was (and I'm sure still is) a special person. He lived in my neighborhood while he pitched for the Astros and went to my church. I played a little church rec league hoops with him when I was in high school. To say he was a good hoops player back then is a severe understatement. He took it easy on the rest of us and still dominated.

Glad to hear he is doing so much better now.

He is an exceptional person, that's for sure.

I always liked watching him pitch.

Good Bull!
JR was the first autograph I ever got as a kid. Sometime between his stroke and his comeback attempt. My parents and I were at some resturant, and it was pretty empty. Then JR came in with a couple of other guys. I was pretty young, so I didn't recognize him. At the age I was, if they weren't in uniform, I wasn't going to recognize them. My parents told he who he was, so I promptly went to get his autograph. He happily obliged, and quickly became my favorite player ever.

In about '79 or '80, I luckily had the game on the radio in my room (in good ole Hart Hall), when he had a brief loss of control and walked the bases full of Dodgers.

He then promptly struck out the side on something like 12 pitches.

Good bull, Barnacle. J.R. has many fans.

Please follow through and make sure the A&M Baseball staff know about his son for potential recruiting to attend A&M.

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Good bull, Barnacle. J.R. has many fans.

Please follow through and make sure the A&M Baseball staff know about his son for potential recruiting to attend A&M.

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That would be very cool but JR seemed to think he'll go straight to the pros (edit: err minor leagues).

Addition to my earlier post: On our trip I confirmed with JR some awesome stories that I thought my childhood imagination had blown out of proportion over time.

1) JR once broke a 0-0 tie late in a game with a home run.
2) The fastest pitch JR ever threw was 107 mph
3) His slider was around 93 mph

[This message has been edited by Barnacle (edited 10/20/2005 2:13p).]

I still remember to this day when I got JR's autograph in 1979.

He was an amazing pitcher. His physical problems were just a crying shame. I'm glad he's back mentally and can find solace in his faith. That's worth everything.

What high school is his son at?

He was my idol in the late 70's, along with Earl. That's why it dissapointed me so much to hear him say later that it was "racism" that was the problem when he told team officials that he was having some very strange aches and pains, and they thought he was, um, well, not being as "hard working" as the white guys. I was a kid, and never thought that about James Rodney. He was Superman. Obviously, older baseball guys were in charge (see:Al Campanis) and this is possible. Terrible if true.

If the Astros have any decency they will let him throw out a 1st pitch.

God bless J.R. Richard...arguably the most God-gifted pitcher ever. And forever an Astro.

Does anyone remember the "What If" articles SPorts Illustrated ran maybe 10-15 years ago? They had a WHat If feature on several players including JR Richard. They had his career stats if he would not have had a stroke. He would have had an amazing career. He was still pretty amazing when he played.

[This message has been edited by TK03 (edited 10/20/2005 11:24p).]

JR scared the crap out of every batter he faced. Even Pete Rose feared him.

Drayton needs to bring JR back into the family. His number needs to be retired.

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JR scared the crap out of every batter he faced. Even Pete Rose feared him.

Drayton needs to bring JR back into the family. His number needs to be retired.

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I'm going to start petitioning Mickey Herskowitz to make a public plea for this.

I honestly don't think JR cares one way or the other. He's a future looking kind of a guy and his career is in the past. Plus, I think he feels jilted and neglected by the Astros to begin with. On the other hand, I think a lot of us thought they were never going to get around to retiring Jimmy Wynn's number but they finally did that too so you never know.

Bigjag, I'm not 100% sure but I seem to remember JR saying Sharpstown HS.