He was six foot eight. He threw harder than almost anyone alive. And for five and a half seasons, nobody in the National League could touch him. Then, at 30 years old, his arm went dead.

This is the story of James Rodney Richard, the pitcher I ranked No. 1 on my list of careers cut short. Back to back 300 strikeout seasons. An ERA title. Hitters batting .156 against him at home. Then one July afternoon in 1980 took all of it away.

But the career is only half of it. What J.R. Richard did with the four decades that followed is the part almost nobody talks about, and it is the reason I wanted to tell this one last.

I also go back to the four players from Part 1 and ask a question I did not expect to be asking: what happened to them after baseball, and who really lost more, the players or the fans?

Watch Part 1 first: https://youtu.be/pXJodFiNnzE

0:00 The one I ranked No. 1

1:01 Meet James Rodney Richard

2:36 The years nobody could touch him

6:24 1980: the tragic year

8:36 The rest of the story

10:10 What happened to the other four

11:51 What five shortened careers taught me

I am Peter Lemieux and I tell baseball stories. New ones every week on Rounding Third, part of the BadderSports network. If you like this one, subscribe, leave a comment, and tell me who you think I should cover next.

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