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He was a mountain of a man.

At 6-foot-8, he was one of the most intimidating pitchers the game has ever seen.

He was headed for greatness.

The Hall of Fame?

Perhaps.

Then, at the peak of his career, it was over.

The baseball world knew him as J.R. Richard.

The Houston Astros right-hander could bring it, as they like to say.

I remember watching him in the late ’70s, mowing down Dodger hitters.

He made his Major League debut in 1971, striking out 15—including the great Willie Mays three times.

In 1976, he won 20 games. He later topped 300 strikeouts in back-to-back seasons.

J.R. Richard was the man.

Just ask him.

“I could throw a ball through a car wash and never get it wet.”

In 1980, Richard started the All-Star Game.

And did he put on a show.

His strikeout of Reggie Jackson was pure theater.

Richard snapped off a wicked 94 mph slider that had Reggie talking to himself.

Watch J.R. pitch to Jackson 1980 All−Star Game

He was on top of the baseball world.

Then—just weeks after that All-Star Game—it all came crashing down.

Richard wasn’t feeling right.

He complained to the team about a ringing in his ears.

Weakness in his arm.

Headaches.

Blurred vision.

But Astros officials were skeptical.

Some questioned whether he was really hurt.

There were rumors that Richard was jealous of all the attention his new teammate, Nolan Ryan, was receiving.

Then came July 30, 1980.

Richard was working out in the Astrodome when he suddenly collapsed.

Richard was rushed to the hospital.

He had suffered a stroke.

Doctors found a blockage in his right carotid artery.

Emergency surgery saved his life.

But his baseball career?

That was a different story.

Watch: The rise and fall of J.R. Richard

Over the next few years, Richard attempted a comeback.

He made a handful of minor league starts.

But it was clear.

The magic was gone.

Richard would never throw another pitch in the big leagues.

Now what?

One thing was clear: his troubles didn’t end with baseball.

The stroke had taken his baseball career.
The years that followed would take nearly everything else.

There were bad investments.

One involved an oil scam that cost him more than $300,000.

There were two divorces.

He lost his home.

By 1994—14 years after that All-Star Game performance—J.R. Richard was homeless.

At times, he slept beneath a highway overpass, not far from the Astrodome.

Richard told a reporter, “I was forgotten. For a while [it hurt], but then you get over it.”

At rock bottom, Richard turned to a local church for help.

It was there he met the Reverend Floyd Lewis, who helped him get back on his feet.

Richard found work with an asphalt company.

The job came with the use of a truck and an apartment.

Slowly, Richard began rebuilding his life.

When he turned 45, the baseball pension kicked in, bringing some much-needed financial stability.

But the most important change wasn’t financial.

Richard had rediscovered his faith—and with it, a sense of purpose.

Richard became a minister, determined to help people facing the same struggles he had.

The homeless.

The forgotten.

Those without hope.

In his book, Still Throwing Heat: Strikeouts, the Streets, and a Second Chance, Richard wrote, “So often you hear the phrase that we live in the richest country in the world, but if you are homeless, that doesn’t make any difference.”

In 2018, Richard spoke to a group of people gathered for a meal at Lord of the Streets, a Houston ministry serving the homeless.

He didn’t pretend to have all the answers.

But he was blunt.

“I was homeless.”

Yes, J.R. Richard had been there.

He knew what it felt like to need a bed.
A job.
A way back.

“At a certain point, I had to stop blaming other people,” Richard told them.

Richard had paid dearly for that lesson.

Now, the man who once felt forgotten was reminding them that they still mattered.

As for the Astros and J.R.

After years of estrangement, they made their peace.

Richard was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2019.

He died two years later at 71 from complications of COVID-19.

We’ll never know what his career might have become had he not suffered the stroke.

Did Richard resent how the warning signs were handled?

Absolutely.

He had every reason to stay angry.

But Richard understood he still had a choice.

“You either get up and live, or you lay down and die.”

J.R. Richard chose to get up.

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Thanks for reading.

We’re always looking for the next story.

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We’ll find him.

Have a great weekend.

John Boxley
High N Tight