Baseball Playing Career
Born in Waxahachie, Texas, Richards began his professional baseball in the minor leagues as an infielder in 1926 at the age of 17. In a baseball oddity, Richards pitched with both hands in Minor League game on July 23, 1928 for the Muskogee Chiefs of the Class C Western Association against the Topeka Jayhawks. Called to the pitcher's mound from his shortstop position, he pitch both right-handed and left-handed in a brief appearance, including facing a switch-hitter, which briefly resulted in both pitcher and batter switching hands and batter's boxes, respectively, until Richards broke the stalemate by alternating hands with each pitch, regardless of where the batter positioned himself. Later in his minor league career, he became a catcher.
After playing for seven years in the minor leagues, he made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 17, 1932. Richards' contract was then purchased by the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in June 1932. In 78 games with Minneapolis, he posted a .361 batting average and, he was subsequently purchased by John McGraw's New York Giants in September 1932.
With the Giants, Richards served as a reserve catcher working behind Gus Mancuso for the 1933 season. Richards' future managing style was influenced by his time spent playing for Giants manager Bill Terry. Terry's no-nonsense style of managing that concentrated on pitching and defense, made an impact on Richards. The Giants went on to win the 1933 World Series however, Richards did not get to play in the post-season. After Richards batted just .160 in 1934, he was traded in May 1935 to Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. He caught the majority of the Athletics' games in 1935 before being traded to the Atlanta Crackers for pitcher Al Williams in November.
Richards was already showing a keen baseball mind as Atlanta's catcher in 1936 when, he helped turn around pitcher Dutch Leonard's career. After three seasons in the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Leonard had been sent back to the minor leagues where he played with Richards in Atlanta. Richards encouraged him to throw a knuckleball and, within two years, Leonard was back in the major leagues with the Washington Senators where, he became a twenty-game winner in 1939. Richards played for the Crackers from 1936 to 1942. From 1938 to 1942 he served as a player-manager for the Crackers. Richards led the Crackers to the pennant in 1938 and The Sporting News named him as minor league manager of the year.
When professional baseball experienced a shortage of players during the Second World War, Richards returned to the major leagues in 1943 with the Detroit Tigers at the age of 34. While his batting average was a relatively low .220 in 100 games played, he led the American League catchers in fielding percentage, range factor, baserunners caught stealing and putouts and, finished second in assists. Richards also served as an unofficial pitching coach for manager Steve O’Neill. His strong defensive play continued in 1944, leading the league's catchers in fielding percentage, range factor and baserunners caught stealing percentage, and finished second in putouts and baserunners caught stealing as, the Tigers lost the pennant on the last day of the season.
In 1945, Richards' batting average improved to career-high .256 and he once again led the league's catchers in fielding percentage and in range factor, as the Tigers won the American League championship, then, defeated the Chicago Cubs in the 1945 World Series. In the deciding Game 7 of the series, he hit 2 doubles and had 4 runs batted in. Richards was the Tigers' starting catcher in six games of the seven-game series and, contributed 6 runs batted in, second only to the 7 produced by Hank Greenberg. Despite his low batting average, he ended the season ranked in 10th place in the 1945 American League Most Valuable Player Award voting, due in part to his handling of the Tigers' pitching staff which led the league in winning percentage, strikeouts, shutouts and finished second in earned run average. After hitting only .201 in 1946, he returned to the minor leagues, playing three more seasons as a player-manager with the Buffalo Bisons. He led Buffalo to the International League pennant in 1949 before, retiring as a player at the age of 40.
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