Dick Hughes (baseball)

{{short description|American baseball player (born 1938)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Dick Hughes

|image=Dick Hughes in 2017 - 1967 St.Louis Cardinals Reunion team (cropped).jpg

|caption=Hughes in 2017

|position=Pitcher

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1938|2|13}}

|birth_place=Stephens, Arkansas, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=September 11

|debutyear=1966

|debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 28

|finalyear=1968

|finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=20–9

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=230

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=2.78

|teams=

• St. Louis Cardinals ({{by|1966}}–{{by|1968}})

|highlights=

• World Series champion ({{wsy|1967}})

}}

Richard Henry Hughes (born February 13, 1938) is an American former professional baseball player who pitched in three seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). In his rookie year, 1967, he led the National League in WHIP (walks+hits per IP), and finished second to Tom Seaver in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.{{cite web|title=NL Rookie of the Year Voting|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1967.shtml#NLroy|website=baseball-reference.com|publisher=sports-reference.com|access-date=July 25, 2015}}

Hughes was born in Stephens, Arkansas. His family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1946.{{Cite web|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/9a4e0501|title=Dick Hughes {{!}} Society for American Baseball Research|website=sabr.org|access-date=2020-02-23}} Very near-sighted, he began wearing glasses in 7th grade, and learned for the first time that there were people who could see across the street.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/142282045/|title=Bob Broeg, "Hughes Took Long Way Up", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Wednesday, March 22, 1967, Page 26|date=March 22, 1967 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1967/10/02/611719/the-cardinals-againstwho|title=THE CARDINALS AGAINST—WHO?|last=Leggett|first=William|website=Vault|language=en|access-date=2020-02-23}} He graduated from C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport in 1956,{{Cite book|last=Yearbook editorial staff|url=https://archive.org/details/Gusher1956|title=Gusher 1956|date=1956 |language=rw}} and pitched for the Byrd baseball team that won the AAA state championship.{{Cite web|url=https://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2015/05/legion-ball-part-2-on-road-to-majors.html|title=Once A Knight ...: Legion ball, part 2: On the road to the majors|last=Thyn|first=Nico Van|date=2015-05-30|website=Once A Knight ...|access-date=2020-02-23}}{{Cite web|url=https://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2019/02/thats-old-ballgame-shreveport-chapter-3.html|title=Once A Knight ...: That's the old ballgame Shreveport, chapter 3 (the major players)|last=Thyn|first=Nico Van|date=2019-02-04|website=Once A Knight ...|access-date=2020-02-23}} He played collegiate baseball on a scholarship at the University of Arkansas for two years before beginning his professional career in 1958.

Contrary to some reports,{{which|date=July 2015}} it was Nelson Briles, not Hughes, who replaced Bob Gibson in the starting rotation for the 1967 St. Louis Cardinals when Gibson suffered a fractured leg due to a Roberto Clemente line drive. Hughes actually replaced veteran left-hander Al Jackson in the Cardinals' rotation in late May, pitching a two-hit shutout against Atlanta in his first start of the season. He went on to win 16 games that year to lead the Redbirds.

In spring training of 1968, Hughes was warming up in the bullpen when he felt pain in his throwing shoulder. Though undiagnosed at the time, the injury was later determined to be a torn rotator cuff. At the time, there was no surgery to fix such an injury. Despite the injury, Hughes was able to pitch 63.2 innings during the 1968 season, but those were the last he would throw as the injury ultimately ended his major league career.{{cite web|last1=Noles|first1=Corey|title=From the pitching mound to the tractor...The Dick Hughes Story|url=http://www.dailystatesman.com/story/1857010.html|website=dailystatesmen.com|publisher=The (Dexter) Daily Statesmen|access-date=July 25, 2015|location=Dexter, MO|date=June 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815064154/http://www.dailystatesman.com/story/1857010.html|archive-date=August 15, 2017|url-status=dead}}