Thread by @SteveEnglishbey

Aw yes. J.R. Richards. I want to say a few things ---from personal experience ---about this remarkable athlete.

https://twitter.com/Super70sSports/status/1410267589008367618

I first saw him in the lunch line in spring training [circa 1972 ]. I was right next to him in the line and my first impression was ..."DAMN look at the hip to shoulder ratio ...this guy --at 6'8"-- is built like a damn bodybuilder!"

As a 17 yr. old guy, who was pretty well recruited for college football I had been around some pretty decent physical specimens. But I had met NO ONE quite like J.R. in terms of physicality.

Two yrs. later, when I was playing with the AA Astros team in Columbus Georgia, J.R. was sent there due to an injury.

So, for the next 6 weeks or so, I got a chance to see him up close and personal, so to speak.

Obviously, his throwing capability was very impressive. But the guy would go out and take batting practice, and just hit the shit out of balls.

His tremendous physical capability was, I think, somewhat comparable to a guy who followed him some yrs. later. Bo Jackson.

Lastly this. I would many times, prior to the start of a game, go to the bullpen and try to warm-up, so to speak, by practicing timing off of our starting pitcher.

I'll never forget doing this once when J.R. was the starting pitcher that day. And to this day, I'll never forget his slider. The fastball was pretty damn intimidating [close to 100mph!].

The slider looked about 93 or so and with a spin so tight I could NOT distinguish it AT ALL from his fastball. And the late break? It looked like it hit something that IMMEDIATELY changed the direction!! Right on top of you, so to speak!!

Now, by that point, I had seen quite a few pitchers that would go on to become MLB pitchers. BUT. J.R.'s slider was the only pitch that I ever saw that I said the following:

"There is no fucking way I could EVER hit that goddamn pitch."

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