American baseball player (born 1947)
Baseball player
Richard Lee James (born October 11, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player. A 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 205 lb (93 kg) right-handed pitcher , James was the Chicago Cubs ' first #1 draft pick in the inaugural Major League Baseball Draft of June 1965. Selected after his graduation from Coffee High School , Florence, Alabama , James had a six-season (1965–1970) professional career, but his Major League stay was only three games and 4+ 2 ⁄3 innings pitched — a proverbial "cup of coffee " — at the tail end of the 1967 season.
James was the sixth player selected in the first round of the first MLB Draft, following #1 overall choice Rick Monday (taken by the Kansas City Athletics ), #3 overall Joe Coleman (Washington Senators ), and just ahead of #7 pick Ray Fosse (Cleveland Indians ); Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench was taken in the second round, 36th overall, by the Cincinnati Reds .[ 1]
James was called up by the Cubs after a successful 1967 season split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels of minor league baseball . His first two appearances came in relief against the eventual 1967 world champion St. Louis Cardinals and the National League runners-up, the San Francisco Giants . James held them scoreless over 1+ 2 ⁄3 innings .[ 2] But in his third game, this time as a starting pitcher against the Reds on the closing day of the season at Crosley Field , James lasted only three innings and was roughed up for seven earned runs and nine hits , including a home run (by Vada Pinson ) and three doubles , and he was charged with the loss in a 10–3 Cincinnati triumph.[ 3]
In 1968, James returned to the minors, and was selected by the San Diego Padres in the expansion draft following the 1968 season. James pitched through the 1970 season before leaving baseball at age 23.
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External links
1965 : James
1966 : Burk
1967 : Hughes
1968 : Rickey
1969 : Metzger
1970 : Hiser
1971 : Wehmeier
1972 : Vernoy
1973 : Tabb
1974 : Thompson
1975 : Rosinski
1976 : Segelke
1977 : Martz
1978 : Hayes
1979 : Perlman
1980 : Schulze
1981 : Carter , Lovelace
1982 : Dunston , Woods , Boderick
1983 : Davidson
1984 : Hall
1985 : Palmeiro , Masters
1986 : May
1987 : Harkey
1988 : Griffin
1989 : Cunningham
1990 : Dickson
1991 : Glanville
1992 : Wallace
1993 : Kieschnick , Ratliff , Orie
1994 : Peterson
1995 : Wood
1996 : Noel
1997 : Garland
1998 : Patterson
1999 : Christensen
2000 : Montañez
2001 : Prior
2002 : Brownlie , Hagerty , Blasko , Clanton
2003 : Harvey
2004: None
2005 : Pawelek
2006 : Colvin
2007 : Vitters , Donaldson
2008 : Cashner , Flaherty
2009 : Jackson
2010 : Simpson
2011 : Báez
2012 : Almora , Johnson , Blackburn
2013 : Bryant
2014 : Schwarber
2015 : Happ
2016: None
2017 : Little , Lange
2018 : Hoerner
2019 : Jensen
2020 : Howard
2021 : Wicks
2022 : Horton
2023 : Shaw
2024 : Smith