American baseball player (born 1948)
Baseball player
Charles Oliver Hough
(
; born January 5, 1948) is an American former
Major League Baseball
(MLB)
knuckleball
pitcher
and
coach
who played for the
Los Angeles Dodgers
,
Texas Rangers
,
Chicago White Sox
, and
Florida Marlins
from 1970 to 1994.
Playing career
[
edit
]
Amateur
[
edit
]
Hough was drafted out of
Hialeah High School
in the 8th round of the
1966 Major League Baseball draft
by the
Los Angeles Dodgers
.
[1]
While in high school, he had spent the summer of 1964 pitching against collegiate competition for the
Chatham A's
of the
Cape Cod Baseball League
where he was named a league all-star.
[2]
[3]
Minor leagues
[
edit
]
After pitching in the low minor leagues from 1967 to 1969 with the
Ogden Dodgers
,
Santa Barbara Dodgers
and
Albuquerque Dodgers
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
in AAA, where he led the
Pacific Coast League
in saves and posted a 1.95 ERA.
Los Angeles Dodgers
[
edit
]
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. With the Dodgers, he was one of the pitchers who served up one of the three home runs that
New York Yankees
slugger
Reggie Jackson
hit on three straight pitches in Game 6 of the
1977 World Series
.
Texas Rangers
[
edit
]
He was converted into a starting pitcher in Texas, where he pitched from 1980 to 1990, making his only All-Star team in 1986. He left Texas as the franchise leader in wins (139), strikeouts (1,452), innings pitched (2,308), complete games (98), and losses (123), which all still stand as club records as of 2024. He was famous for his "dancing knuckleball" pitch that he threw around 80% of the time. Hough complemented his knuckleball with a
fastball
and
slider
. Hough was well known for throwing a large number of complete games each season and led the league in 1984 with 17. In his last complete game of the season, the opposing pitcher,
Mike Witt
of the
California Angels
, hurled a
perfect game
.
In 1987, Hough, in battery with
Geno Petralli
, put Petralli in the record books as Petralli committed four
passed balls
in one inning to tie the major league record of
Ray Katt
, catching
knuckleballer
Hoyt Wilhelm
in 1954.
[4]
The record was tied by
Ryan Lavarnway
of the
Boston Red Sox
in 2013, catching knuckleballer
Steven Wright
in his first major league start.
[4]
Chicago White Sox
[
edit
]
He pitched for the
Chicago White Sox
from 1991 to 1992, where, at 43 years old, he was a teammate of 43-year-old
Carlton Fisk
.
Florida Marlins
[
edit
]
He joined the expansion
Florida Marlins
for the 1993 season and started the first regular season game in team history, on April 5, pitching six innings for the win as the Marlins defeated the Dodgers 6?3. He retired at age 46 after the 1994 season. He was the last active player who was born in the 1940s.
Career totals
[
edit
]
During a 25-season career, Hough compiled 216 wins, 216 losses, 2,362
strikeouts
and a 3.75
earned run average
. His 216 wins rank 86th all-time on the
all-time win list
, tied with
Wilbur Cooper
and
Curt Schilling
. However, Hough also recorded 216 losses, making him the winningest pitcher in history to have lost as many games as he won.
Coaching career
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
- 1995:
Mays
,
Mantle
,
Snider
- 1996:
Rizutto
,
Reese
,
Dark
- 1997:
Jones
,
Agee
,
Swoboda
- 1998:
Spahn
,
Sain
- 1999:
Seaver
,
Koosman
- 2000:
Larsen
,
Cone
,
Wells
- 2001:
Thomson
,
Branca
- 2002:
Torre
,
Zimmer
,
Stottlemyre
- 2003:
Dent
,
Torrez
- 2004:
Hernandez
,
Mattingly
- 2005:
1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
- 2006:
Buckner
,
Wilson
- 2007:
Jackson
,
Hough
- 2008:
Gibson
,
McLain
,
Tiant
- 2009:
Kranepool
,
Williams
- 2010: "
Core Four
" (
Jeter
,
Pettitte
,
Rivera
,
Posada
)
- 2011:
Torre
,
Cox
,
Piniella
- 2012:
1962 New York Mets
- 2013:
1973 New York Mets
- 2014:
Aaron
,
Downing
- 2015:
Koufax
,
Hendley
,
Scully
- 2016: "
Big Three
" (
Hudson
,
Mulder
,
Zito
)
- 2017:
Betances
,
Chapman
,
Miller
- 2018:
1998 New York Yankees
- 2019:
1969 New York Mets
- 2020:
Leiter
,
Sojo
- 2021:
Piazza
,
Karsay
- 2022: Cast of
A League of Their Own
- 2023:
Cohen
,
Hernandez
,
Darling
- 2024:
Olerud
,
Alfonzo
,
Ordonez
,
Ventura
|