Richard Arlin Billings (born December 4,1942) is an American former professional baseball player. [1] He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher,outfielder and third baseman for the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers (1968–74) and St. Louis Cardinals (1974–75). [1]
Billings was born in Detroit,Michigan where his father was a factory worker. [2] His father moved the family to Troy,Michigan where Billings attended Troy High School. [2] After high school,Billings attended Michigan State University where he played as a third baseman and outfielder for the Michigan State Spartans baseball team. [2] On June 8,1965,the Washington Senators selected Billings in the 25th round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft. [3]
Billings played as an outfielder and occasional third baseman in the Senators' minor league system for four years before making his major league debut at the age of 25 as a pinch hitter on September 11,1968. [1] [4] He had his first appearance as a starting player on September 20,1968 as a left fielder in a game against the Detroit Tigers. [5]
Billings began the 1969 season with the Senators but,with the team experiencing a weakness at the catcher's position,he agreed to return to the minor leagues in June in order to be converted into a catcher. [2] [6] In 1970,he posted a .305 batting average with 15 home runs and 67 runs batted in while playing for the Denver Bears. [4] His performance earned him a late-season return to the major leagues in September 1970,where he served as a backup catcher behind Paul Casanova. [1]
Billings won the starting catcher's job in July 1971 when Senators manager Ted Williams benched Casanova for weak hitting. [7] Although he led American League catchers with 16 passed balls,he ended the season with a career-high .992 fielding percentage in 116 games. [8]
After the season,the Senators sent Billings to play for the Águilas del Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter Baseball League during the 1971–1972 season to gain additional catching experience. [2] [9] When his manager,Larry Doby was fired midway through the season,the Águilas installed Billings as their player-manager. [2] He then guided the team to its first playoff appearance in team history,with Billings finishing the season as one of the top 10 hitters in the league. [2] His success earned him a return to Venezuela as the Águilas player-manager for the following winter-league season as well. [2]
In 1972 the Senators relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and were renamed the Texas Rangers. Billings started the season in a platoon role alongside left-hand hitting catcher Hal King. [10] King was sent to the minor leagues in July and Billings eventually played in a career-high 133 games. [1] [11] He also posted career-highs with a .254 batting average,15 doubles,5 home runs,and led the Rangers with a team-leading 68 runs batted in. [1] On August 13,1972,Billings produced 5 runs batted in on 4 hits in a 13-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals. [12] [13]
Williams resigned and was replaced by Whitey Herzog as the Rangers' manager,who employed Billings in a platoon role alongside Ken Suarez for the 1973 season. [14] In May,Billings went on the 15-day disabled list. [15] On July 30,1973,Billings caught Jim Bibby's no-hitter against the Oakland Athletics. [16] [17] Batting as the Rangers' cleanup hitter,Billings' average dropped to .179 with 3 home runs and 32 runs batted in. [1] [18]
With the arrival of new manager Billy Martin in 1974,Billings found himself in a backup role behind defensive standout Jim Sundberg. Billings suffered an ankle injury on April 27 and was placed on the disabled list. [2] He ultimately was sidelined for most of the year with a variety of injuries. [2] In August 1974 his contract was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals and was sent to the minor leagues to play for the Tulsa Oilers. [4] [19] He was called as a back up to the major leagues late in the season where he appeared in only one game on September 11. [20] Billings began the 1975 season with the Tulsa Oilers before being promoted to the Cardinals in June. [4] [21] After only 3 games with the Cardinals,he was sent back to Tulsa in order to make room on the roster for outfielder Buddy Bradford. [22] Billings retired at the end of the season at the age of 32. [1]
In an eight-year major league career,Billings played in 400 games,accumulating 280 hits in 1,231 at bats for a .227 career batting average along with 16 home runs,142 runs batted in and an on-base percentage of .281. [1] He had a .984 career fielding percentage in 248 games as a catcher,a .966 fielding percentage in 92 games as an outfielder and,a .906 fielding percentage in 14 games as a third baseman.
After his playing career Billings obtained his real-estate license and worked as a real-estate broker in Texas and Michigan. [2]
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