The Greatest Most Forgotten Ever

I'm going to write about this for the mothership tomorrow, but I suggest you go to the source and read this now.

For those of you too young to remember, or who didn't start following the Astros until Minute Maid Park came into existence, the greatest pitcher in Astros history is James Rodney Richard. Richard suffered a stroke in 1980 and never returned to the major league mound.

Despite the fact that Richard was an Astro at the time of the stroke. Despite the fact that he was one of the most feared pitchers in all of major league baseball at that time. Despite all of that, the team thought he was faking an injury -- particularly a certain Astros general manager who is now team president. And while trying to prove that he wasn't faking an injury, he was on the field throwing the baseball to a teammate. And he collapsed.

Richard nearly died that day in 1980. He's had a few problems since that time. And he's had absolutely no assistance from the team. The team has retired the jerseys of mediocre players like Jose Cruz and Mike Scott, but they've done nothing to celebrate J.R. Richard.

And it's wrong.

The Bugs and Cranks people have a great interview with Richard. Go read it. Like I said, I'll be writing some more on this for the mothership tomorrow.