Charles Oliver “Charlie” Hough was born January 5, 1948 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
He became one of the greatest starting pitchers in Texas Rangers history. The knuckleballer led Texas in wins, complete games, and innings pitched each year from 1982 to 1987, winning a higher percentage of his club’s victories than any other major league hurler those six years.
Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 41 of the 2009 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 1 week of October.
October 4
1987 On the last day of the season at Arlington Stadium, Charlie Hough and the Rangers lose to the Mariners, 7-4. The Texas knuckleballer is the last pitcher to start 40 games in a season.
Charles Oliver “Charlie” Hough was born January 5, 1948 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
He became one of the greatest starting pitchers in Texas Rangers history. The knuckleballer led Texas in wins, complete games, and innings pitched each year from 1982 to 1987, winning a higher percentage of his club’s victories than any other major league hurler those six years.
Hough was drafted out of high school in1966 by the Los Angeles Dodgers. After pitching in the minor leagues from 1967 through1969 with limited success, Hough’s career and fortunes changed dramatically when he learned how to throw a knuckleball in spring training in 1970, leading to a successful season with the Spokane Indians, a AAA affiliate of the Dodgers. That year he led the Pacific Coast League in saves and posted a 1.95 Earned Run Average.
Originally signed as a third baseman, Hough learned the knuckler from Los Angeles scout Goldie Hold, with help from Hoyt Wilhelm, Jim Brewer, and Tom Lasorda.
He made his major league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1970 but did not join the Dodgers bullpen full-time until the 1973 season. He became a top reliever for the Dodgers from 1973 until he was sold to the Texas Rangers in 1980.
In 1976, Hough was Walter Alston’s primary relief pitcher. He pitched 42% of the Dodgers relief games and 45% of their relief innings. In 77 games he racked up 142 2/3 Innings Pitched, collecting 18 saves, 12 wins and posting a 2.21 Earned Run Average.
However, he was one of the pitchers who served up one of the three home runs that New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson hit against the Dodgers on three straight pitches in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.
By the time he was 30 years old, Hough had pitched eight seasons in the major leagues and had 34 wins and 52 saves to show for it.
He was converted into a starting pitcher in Texas, where he pitched from 1980 through 1990, making his only All-Star team in 1986. He left Texas as the franchise leader in wins, strikeouts, complete games and losses.
Hough became famous for his “dancing knuckleball” pitch that he threw around 80% of the time. He complemented his knuckleball with a fastball and slider. Hough additionally was well known for throwing a large number of complete games each season and led the league in 1984 with 17.
In 1987, Hough was a different type of pitcher then he was for the Dodgers, chewing up starts and innings for the Rangers. He started 40 games, completing 13, and eating up more than 285 innings. His record was 18-13. with a 3.79 Earned Run Average and a career-high 223 strikeouts, an amazing figure for a knuckleball pitcher. He also helped the Rangers set a major league record that year with 73 passed balls; Charlie contributing to 65 of them.
In 1990, 42-year old Hough and 43-year old Nolan Ryan enjoyed their second straight season in the Texas Rangers’ starting rotation. The two veterans had a .537 winning percentage over that span, while the rest of the team won at a .502 clip
He pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1991 through 1992, where, at 43 years old, he found himself pitching to 43 year old Carlton Fisk.
After five unsuccessful tries, Hough earned his 200th career victory on August 5, 1992, against the Minnesota Twins in a 9-5 win.
He joined the expansion Florida Marlins for the 1993 season and was the first starting pitcher in the team’s history. He retired at age 46 after the 1994 season.
In a 25-season career, Hough posted a 216 and 216 won/loss record to go along with a 3.75 Earned Run Average.
Charlie Hough is currently the pitching coach for the Class-A Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: M
make-or-break season
That baseball season late in a players career during which he must either produce or retire from active participation in the game.
And now for the ninth inning…
Continuing our trip around baseball cities…
This segment comes to you compliments of listener Jeff Burd.
Jeff wrote in an email:
I… have attached a tour of Great American Ball Park. Please let me know if you have any concerns about edits and so forth. If you end up using it, you might want to mention that I’m from Gurnee, IL (I noticed that people like to say where they’re from). Also, could you plug my blog? The web address is below. I have found given the variant spelling of my last name that it helps to spell out the “burdly” part.
Thanks for this opportunity. I look forward to your future podcasts.
Jeff Burd
Jeff’s blog can be found at: http://burdly.blogspot.com. Jeff’s last name is spelled B-u-r-d-l-y, so that blog is http://burdly.blogspot.com
Jeff’s tour segment is titled:
At Great American Ball Park
I found myself standing on the centerfield deck of Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati last week. Children laughed and screamed and ran around the infield playing with the Reds’ mascots, and a breeze blew into the park off the Ohio River as I took it all in. There I stood, and I couldn’t help but think about my 6th grade Social Studies class. It was then that I learned civilization began next to two great rivers, and there I was next to another great river where the American Pastime rose 140 years ago, much as the great western civilizations rose from the Tigris-Euphrates valley thousands of years ago and half a world away.
You need to know that “Great American Ball Park” is not a misnomer. The park lives up to its name, especially from an historical perspective. Crosley Field, one of the most legendary parks in baseball history, stood a scant 2.5 miles away, and though it is long gone, echoes of it whisper around the Reds’ latest home. You first notice this as you approach 100 Joe Nuxhall Way and see the field encompassed by a dozen “toothbrush” light standards similar to those used at Crosley.
The entrance plaza into the new stadium is a namesake of the old field, and is scattered with banners marking significant moments in team history. An example would be June 11 and 15, 1938, when Johnny Vander Meer threw consecutive no-hitters. There are bronze statues, too– Joe Nuxhall pitches past Frank Robinson to Ernie Lombardi while Ted Kluszewski waits on deck. Their playing field has been landscaped into the plaza, and it’s even sloped at the angle of Crosley’s terraced outfield.
Once in the front door at Great American Ball Park, you will notice two chipped marble mosaics. The first mosaic is aptly titled The First Nine and commemorates the group of players that were the first professional baseball team: the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. The second mosaic is a tribute to the 1975 Big Red Machine. Aptly titled The Elite Eight, there is a plaque in the lower left corner to remind you that those World Series Champions are considered by many to be the greatest everyday lineup ever assembled.
But Great American Ball Park isn’t stuck on history. I was glad to see some modern flares that I rather enjoyed. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of looking onto the playing field from outside of any ballpark, and you can do just that through “The Gap,” an upper deck area on the third base side of home plate. I was just as happy to watch the panoramic scoreboard behind the left field stands. It could do every bit as much justice to Lawrence of Arabia as it does highlights, replays, lineups, and player stats.
Reds fans are fond of saying about their new stadium, “The cheaper the seat, the better the view,” and I have to agree. I felt like I was close to the action everywhere I stood. The efficient arrangement of seats helps– in particular, the upper deck along third base is very close to the field, and seats past the infield are angled toward the action. Much of the cozy feeling, though, is because Great American is a toy ballpark. The left- and right-field fences are 328′ and 325′ respectively, so balls fly out under almost all conditions.
The rain and breeze blowing in off the Ohio the day I was at the ballpark didn’t prevent either team from popping a 3-run homer, one of which would have been a fly ball at many other parks. But you might as well get used to round-trippers if you visit Cincinnati. Last year alone, there were over 2.5 homers hit there per game. The exact number led the league and was second in all of baseball.
My only disappointment at Great American was the scorecard. All I got for my $1.50 was a pencil and a thin piece of two-sided cardstock with instructions and an advertisement that took a third of the space on both sides. But I’ll forgive the Reds that oversight because of something that I haven’t seen at a ballpark for almost 30 years: the ushers wiped off seats for fans before they sat down.
Ultimately, the best thing I can say about Great American Ball Park is that its various elements came together nicely to create an excellent ballpark experience, and that was despite the poor weather and under performing home team the day I visited. I can only hope the Reds soon play a type of baseball befitting such an excellent venue. If they do, there could be a second coming of The Big Red Machine.
Thank you Jeff, and as promised “You get the credit.”
If you would like to a part of Baseball History Podcast, submit your written contribution for the tour segment. I will only be doing the tour when one is sent in by a listener. You can do the segment on any stadium or team; past or present; Minor League, Major League, Negro League or any league outside of the US. Write about 1 page in a conversational tone, send it to me, I will record it, and you will get the credit.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com.
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Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
