From baseball All-Star to homeless to minister: J.R. Richard's journey

Huddled under a bridge with nowhere else to go, J.R. Richard settled down for another night of sleep in the outdoors. Just 11 miles east sat the NRG Astrodome, a ballpark in which Richard had lit up the National League less than two decades earlier.

Now 1995, the Houston Astros were in their final years at the Astrodome, on the tail end of what was a 10-year absence from the playoffs. They hadn’t enjoyed much success since a 1986 appearance in the NLCS, and before that, their first-ever postseason appearance in 1980.

1980 was the year the Astros had clinched their first division title, but it was also the final year that Richard would stand on a Major League mound, before his would-be legendary career abruptly came to an end at the age of 30.

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Attending Lincoln High School in Ruston, Louisiana, Richard was somewhat of a phenom around the baseball and basketball community.

In the words of former Cleveland Indian and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum 2018 Hall of Game inductee Kenny Lofton, “scouts were afraid to go into black neighborhoods.”

But Richard bucked that trend. An African-American athlete in Louisiana, Richard drew crowds of over 100 scouts to attend his games on several occasions. One of those scouts was Kansas City’s own Buck O’Neil, who would go on to call Richard the greatest high school baseball player he ever saw.

But Richard wasn’t always on a path to baseball greatness.

“When I first started, I didn’t have any idea that I was going to play baseball. Because when I was young, I used to kill birds, and I used to kill rabbits with rocks,” Richard said on Saturday, hours before his own induction into the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum's Hall of Game. (Other inductees at the ceremony at the Gem Theater on Saturday were Dick Allen, Lofton, Eddie Murray and "Mudcat" Grant.)

Richard's baseball journey all started when a friend of a relative got Richard playing in a summer league every year. Richard would soon become the ace pitcher at Lincoln High, embarking on an incredible final season in which he didn’t allow a single run as a pitcher, while providing massive power at the plate.

But being just as successful in basketball and standing at 6-8 at the time, Richard earned a plethora of basketball scholarships, almost leading him on a path away from the mound.

It was his father, Clayton, who helped Richard decide to stay with baseball.

“I had talked to my father, and my father told me always have love for your kids. In other words, ‘I love you so much that I want you to be the best at whatever you’re doing, I want you to be the best at whatever you do, son,’” Richard explained. “That’s why I chose baseball.”

After attending Arizona State University, Richard was drafted in the 1969 MLB Draft at the age of 21. Selected as the second overall pick, Richard was heading to the Astrodome and the Houston Astros, where he would soon build an unforgettable legacy.

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Richard made his major-league debut two years later, after tearing through the minor leagues with fastballs and curveballs that went well into the 90s (mph).

Called up in September to feature against the San Francisco Giants in a doubleheader, Richard compiled an impressive 15 strikeouts in his major-league debut. With the Astros winning 5-3 and Richard being charged with two earned runs, the rookie notably struck out perennial all-star Willie Mays on his way to the record for strikeouts in a major-league pitching debut.

“Reaching the major leagues was a dream in life," Richard said. "So what you do is you take advantage of it and don’t leave nothing in the background. You do everything to the best of your ability; you be a professional on the field as well as off the field. And if you do things right, things will work out for the best for you.”

And things did work out for Richard. It took a couple of years, but he finally tied down a starting spot in 1975 before breaking out in 1976 with an incredible 20 wins.

His 20 wins allowed Richard to join a group known as the Black Aces, an organization founded by Mudcat Grant, which was an exclusive group for black pitchers with 20-plus-win seasons.

Despite having a tendency to struggle with his control — he once threw six wild pitches in a single game — Richard wrote his name in Astros history in both 1978 and 1979.

Richard led the NL in strikeouts with 303 in 1978. He then upped his own Astros record in 1979, striking out 313 batters. He also ended the season with a league-best ERA of 2.71, a testament to the fear he struck into opposition batters.

His form continued into 1980, as he was highly regarded as one of the top pitchers in baseball. After having finished fourth in the Cy Young voting in 1979, Richard was on a mission to claim a pitcher’s greatest honor.

Finishing the first half of the 1980 season with an ERA of 1.96 and breaking the Astros’ career strikeout record, Richard was voted to play in his first-ever All-Star Game.

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“I remember the day very well,” Richard said, thinking back 38 years. “But things happen in life, and sometimes they’re a blessing in disguise. You can’t realize why they happen, you know, they just happen.”

Selected as the NL starting pitcher for the All-Star Game, Richard pitched only two innings before complaining of shoulder and back pain. The pain continued throughout the next couple of weeks, but his complaints were dismissed by most, with some claiming Richard was just looking for excuses in case he crumbled under the pressures of being a starting pitcher.

On July 30, 22 days after the All-Star Game, Richard was warming up for a game against the Philadelphia Phillies in the outfield of Veterans Stadium. Richard collapsed suddenly and suffered a massive stroke, caused by obstructions in the arterial system of his right pitching arm.

“I’m still having effects right now as we speak from the stroke,” Richard said on Saturday. “My left side has always been weak. It’s not totally weak to a point where I can’t use it, I can just feel a difference.”

After having undergone surgery to remove a blood clot from his neck and the subsequent rehab, Richard returned to the Astros' 40-man roster in September 1981, but he never managed to get back on the mound at a major-league level.

He instead spent time pitching in the Astros’ minor-league system for the Tucson Toros, Daytona Beach Astros and the Gulf Coast League Astros.

“The minor-league system, it was OK," Richard said. "We rode the bus and everything in the minor leagues. Some of the places we stayed weren't the best places to stay, and some of the stadiums we played in, especially the club houses. But you learn to deal with that, like if you make lemon, you learn how to make lemonade. And you don’t sit there and complain about it, because it’s a lemon, forget that, make lemonade and keep on moving.”

Continued complications due to the stroke, such as slower reaction times and pains in his left leg, led to Richard's eventual release from the Astros in 1984, the organizaton with which he’d spent his entire professional career.

But a strong belief in God always gave Richard a positive attitude, no matter the situation.

“It didn’t bother me to be released,” he said, smiling. “Because let me tell you something, I had asked God when I put on the uniform, at that time, that when I get ready to leave this game, I can leave it with my head up, and he granted me that wish, so I didn’t feel bad.”

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A pair of subsequent divorces and being caught in an oil business scam drained Richard of much of his money, resulting in him living on the streets of Houston before too long. The city in which he was once a star and beloved hero was now a place of struggle as he began a life of homelessness.

Then in 1995 he came across the Rev. Floyd Lewis of the Now Testament Church. Based on the south side of Houston, Richard worked with Lewis to overcome homelessness before finally becoming a minister himself.

Now a minister for New Beginning Baptist Church in Houston, Richard is off the streets and back on his feet.

Richard has never felt better about life. He now works heavily in the Houston community helping raise money to establish baseball programs for local children.

Using God as his “leaning pole,” whether it be playing baseball at the highest level or surviving on the streets, Richard is grateful for what has been given to him in life and is always willing to keep on moving.

“You can lay down and die or get up and keep on living, but the choice is yours,” Richard said. “I just chose to get up and keep on living.”

This story was originally published June 9, 2018 at 6:43 PM with the headline "From baseball All-Star to homeless to minister: J.R. Richard's journey."