Ray Knight

Knight grew up in Albany, Georgia, and attended Dougherty High School and Albany Junior College.{{Cite news |date=1982-10-27 |title=Nancy Lopez marries Ray Knight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-nancy-lopez-marr/162519210/ |access-date=2025-01-07 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |page=12 |via=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press}}

Knight made his major league debut with Cincinnati as a September call-up in {{by|1974}}.{{cite web |date=1974-09-10 |title=Cincinnati Reds 5, San Diego Padres 2 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197409100.shtml |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Baseball-Reference.com}} He spent all of {{by|1975}} and {{by|1976}} with the triple A Indianapolis Indians. In 1976, with only one home run coming into the final month of the season, Knight borrowed a bat from Reds star George Foster and hit nine in the remaining games of the year. He would later borrow Foster's bat again in the major leagues when Foster was injured.{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Frank |date=August 2, 1979 |title=Foster sidelined, but his bat still assisting Reds |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19790802&id=T14gAAAAIBAJ&pg=1565,262830&hl=en |access-date=January 9, 2020 |newspaper=The Lewiston Evening Journal |pages=21 |via=Google News Archive}} During those seasons, the Reds won two World Series titles. He returned to the majors in {{by|1977}}.

Knight was a .232 hitter with two home runs and 19 runs batted in when he assumed the role of starting third baseman for the "Big Red Machine" following Rose's signing with Philadelphia Phillies in {{by|1979}}. Knight responded with a .318 Batting average, 10 home runs, 79 RBIs and 64 runs scored to finish fifth in National League Most Valuable Player balloting.

On May 13, {{by|1980}}, Knight broke out of an 0-for-15 slump by homering twice in the fifth inning of a 15–4 win over the Mets.{{cite web |date=1980-05-13 |title=Cincinnati Reds 15, New York Mets 4 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198005130.shtml |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Baseball-Reference.com}} He was the first Red to hit two home runs in one inning. Aaron Boone matched the feat on August 9, 2002.{{cite web |title=Two Home Runs in One Inning |url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/rare_feats/index.jsp?feature=two_homers_inning |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402104730/http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/rare_feats/index.jsp?feature=two_homers_inning |archive-date=2008-04-02 |website=MLB.com}} He made his first All-star appearance in 1980, hitting a single off Tommy John in his first at-bat.{{cite web |date=1980-07-08 |title=1980 All-Star Game Box Score, July 8 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/allstar/1980-allstar-game.shtml |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Baseball-Reference.com}}

In {{by|1981}}, Knight batted .259 with six home runs and 34 RBIs. On December 18, 1981, he was traded to the Houston Astros for César Cedeño, to accommodate Johnny Bench's move from behind the plate to third base.{{cite web |title=Ray Knight Trades and Transactions |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/trades.php?p=knighra01 |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Baseball Almanac}}

Knight split his time between third and first base with the Astros. He made the All Star team in {{by|1982}}, and played third base in the game. However, he made more appearances at first than he did at third during the regular season.

After batting .304 in {{by|1983}}, Knight was batting only .237 in {{by|1984}}, he was traded on August 28, 1984, to the New York Mets for three players to be named later (Gerald Young, Manuel Lee and Mitch Cook).

Knight platooned third base with the newly acquired Howard Johnson for the 1985 and 1986 seasons. In his first full season with the Mets, Knight batted only .218 with six home runs and 36 RBIs. During the off-season, the Mets attempted to trade Knight to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Lee Mazzilli, but were denied.

File:Ray Knight 1986.jpg

Knight adopted a new batting stance in 1986 and saw immediate results, crushing six home runs and batting .306 with twelve RBIs in the month of April.{{cite news |last=Lawrence |first=Mitch |date=July 10, 1986 |title=Even the Mets are amazed... |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19860710&id=qMhGAAAAIBAJ&pg=898,1585870&hl=en |access-date=January 9, 2020 |newspaper=The Day |location=New London, Connecticut |page=D5 |via=Google News Archive}} Teammate Ron Darling spoke highly of Knight's contributions in a midseason interview: "Besides our pitching, it has been Ray Knight's emergence that has been the difference. He carried us for a long time." On July 22, Knight incited a bench clearing brawl at Riverfront Stadium against his former teammates.{{cite web |last=Salfino |first=Michael |date=2008-02-26 |title=Best of the bunch. Mets no strangers to fisticuffs on the diamond |url=http://www.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080226&content_id=1451945&vkey=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724093223/http://www.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080226&content_id=1451945&vkey=9 |archive-date=2011-07-24 |website=SNY.tv}} Eric Davis pinch-running for Reds player/manager Pete Rose in the tenth inning stole second and third base. Knight took the throw from Mets catcher Gary Carter late, brought his glove to Davis' face and knocked his helmet off. A stare off ensued, followed by a right cross from Knight. The benches emptied and as a result of all the ejections from this fight (along with Darryl Strawberry who had previously been ejected for arguing balls and strikes), back-up catcher Ed Hearn was brought into the game, and Carter moved from behind the plate to third. The Mets won the game in fourteen innings.{{cite web |date=1986-07-22 |title=New York Mets 6, Cincinnati Reds 3 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198607220.shtml |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Baseball-Reference.com}}

The Mets won 108 games in 1986 and took the National League East convincingly by 21.5 games over the Phillies. For the season, Knight batted .298 with eleven home runs and 76 RBIs to earn NL Comeback Player of the Year honors. Knight batted only .167 in the 1986 National League Championship Series against his former teammates, the Houston Astros. In the World Series, however, Knight broke out with a .391 batting average and five RBIs.

The Mets won the 1986 World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. Trailing 5–3 with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6 of the Series, Knight drove in Gary Carter for the first run of the inning, and also pushed Kevin Mitchell to third, allowing him to score on Bob Stanley's wild pitch. Knight then scored the winning run from second after Mookie Wilson's ground ball went through the legs of Bill Buckner, and Knight's celebration as he rounded third to score was one of the indelible images of the series.{{cite web |date=1986-10-25 |title=1986 World Series, Game Six |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198610250.shtml |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Baseball-Reference.com}}

He hit the tiebreaking home run in game seven, and was rewarded with the World Series MVP award and the Baseball Writers' Association of America's Babe Ruth Award for the best performance in the World Series.

Unable to agree on a contract with general manager Frank Cashen for {{by|1987}}, Knight became the first player to join a new team the season after winning the World Series MVP award, signing with the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles finished sixth in the American League East in 1987, narrowly avoiding one hundred losses (95). For his own part, Knight batted .256 with 65 RBIs and tied his career high with fourteen home runs. Following the season, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Mark Thurmond. Knight served primarily as the Tigers' first baseman or designated hitter, though he did see some playing time at third and in the outfield. Knight batted only .217 with three home runs, and retired at the end of the season.

Upon retiring from baseball, Knight became an ESPN broadcaster. He accepted his first coaching job with the Reds in {{by|1993}}. Early in the {{by|1995}} season, Reds owner Marge Schott announced that Knight would replace Davey Johnson as manager of the Reds in {{by|1996}} regardless of how the Reds did. Schott and Johnson had never gotten along, and relations between the two had deteriorated to the point that she almost fired Johnson after the {{by|1994}} season. However, the Reds were doing so well under Johnson (they led the National League Central at the time of the 1994 Major League Baseball strike and won the division in 1995) that she instead opted to name Knight as assistant manager, with the understanding that he would succeed Johnson in 1996.

Knight managed the Reds from 1996 to {{by|1997}}, and served as acting manager for a single game in {{by|2003}}. He made his managerial debut on April 1, 1996, but the game was postponed when home plate umpire John McSherry suffered a severe cardiac episode and later died after only seven pitches.{{cite news |date=April 1, 1996 |title=Umpire dies on the field: Heart attack kills John McSherry on Opening Day |url=https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/1996/04/02/umpire-dies-on-field-heart/50846409007/ |accessdate=May 5, 2024 |work=The Record |agency=Associated Press}} In 1997, he forgot how many outs there had been in a half-inning in which the Reds were at bat and called for a bunt at an inopportune time. He later fined himself $250 for the incident. The team's lack of success would lead to his firing midway through the 1997 season in favor of Jack McKeon.

From 2007 to 2018, Knight was a broadcaster with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) and co-hosted Nats Xtra, MASN's pregame and postgame show for its Washington Nationals broadcasts.{{cite news |last1=Janes |first1=Chelsea |date=4 November 2018 |title=Ray Knight will not return to MASN's Nationals broadcasts next season |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/04/ray-knight-will-not-return-nationals-masn-broadcasts-next-season/ |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105121905/https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/04/ray-knight-will-not-return-nationals-masn-broadcasts-next-season/ |archive-date=2018-11-05 |access-date=2025-01-07 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Johnny Holliday, Knight's fellow MASN broadcaster and Nats Xtra co-host, playfully referred to him as the "Silver Fox."

{{updated|August 2, 2016}}

Knight was one of several members of the 1986 championship team not to attend the 20th anniversary celebration at Shea Stadium on August 19, 2006; the others included manager Davey Johnson, (who was managing Team USA in Cuba), Dwight Gooden (who was serving a jail sentence), Roger McDowell (who was the Atlanta Braves pitching coach at the time), Lee Mazzilli (who was the New York Yankees bench coach at the time), and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre. Knight's absence was due to a previous commitment.{{cite web |last=Noble |first=Marty |date=2006-08-19 |title='86 Mets reunite at Shea |url=http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060819&content_id=1618842&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006140831/http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060819&content_id=1618842&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |website=MLB.com}}

Knight married LPGA golfer Nancy Lopez on October 25, 1982, in Pelham, Georgia. The wedding, the second for both, was at the home of his partner in a Pelham sporting goods store. Knight and Lopez met by chance in Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo in 1978.{{Cite news |last=Durso |first=Joseph |date=1985-03-31 |title=Knight and Lopez Keep Home and Heart in Play |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/31/sports/knight-and-lopez-keep-home-and-heart-in-play.html |access-date=2021-09-17 |work=The New York Times |pages=5–1 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He and Lopez had three daughters together, Ashley Marie (1983), Erinn Shea (1986) and Torri Heather Knight (1991).{{Cite web |title=Nancy Lopez {{!}} Bio |url=https://www.lpga.com/athletes/nancy-lopez/81218/bio |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Ladies Professional Golf Association |language=en}} They lived in Albany, Georgia, and also had a home in The Villages, Florida.{{Cite web |date=2020-01-04 |title=Villages 101: Did Hall of Fame golfer Nancy Lopez ever call The Villages home? |url=https://www.villages-news.com/2020/01/04/villages-101-did-hall-of-fame-golfer-nancy-lopez-ever-call-the-villages-home/ |access-date=2021-09-17 |website=Villages-News |language=en-US}} Lopez designed her first golf course for The Villages and the three nines of the 27-hole Lopez Legacy course are named for the daughters: Ashley Meadows, Torri Pines, and Erinn Glenn.{{Cite web |title=NANCY LOPEZ - Clubhouse |url=https://www.golfthevillages.com/championship-golf/LOPEZ%20LEGACY/clubhouse.asp?course=LOPEZ+LEGACY |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Golf The Villages}} In 1985, he had a 7 handicap in golf and sometimes caddied for her, but not in big tournaments. Knight and Lopez divorced in 2009.{{Cite web|title=Nancy Lopez And Ray Knight Splitting After 27 Years|url=https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2009/07/exclusive-nancy-lopez-and-ray-knight-splitting-after-27-years/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=RadarOnline|date=July 20, 2009 |language=en-US}} A son from his first marriage, Brooks Knight, died in 2022.

In 2013, Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany, Georgia, unveiled a street on the property named Ray Knight Way.{{Cite web |date=March 8, 2013 |title=Knight and Lopez honored with Albany streets |url=https://www.walb.com/story/21551297/knight-and-lopez-honored-with-albany-streets/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=WALB |language=en}}

Knight is good friends with former Reds' teammate Harry Spilman, who grew up twenty minutes away from Knight in Georgia. While they were both in the Reds' system, the two spent $700 on a pitching machine to work on their hitting.{{cite news |date=March 12, 1978 |title=Replace Rose is dream of Spilman |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19780312&id=oQwpAAAAIBAJ&pg=2764,1976220&hl=en |access-date=January 9, 2020 |newspaper=The Gadsden Times |pages=51 |via=Google News Archive |agency=Associated Press}}

Knight is a member of the Golden Gloves boxing association.

On October 23, 2017, Knight was arrested after an altercation at his condo in the Alexandria, Virginia, area with an unidentified 33-year-old man. Both were taken to the hospital and Knight was charged with assault and battery.{{Cite news |title=Washington Nationals TV analyst Charles Ray Knight arrested for assault and battery in Alexandria |url=http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/washington-nationals-tv-analyst-charles-knight-arrested-for-assault-and-battery-in-alexandria |access-date=2017-10-23 |work=WTTG |language=en-US}} The charges were subsequently dropped.{{cite news |last=Jouvenal |first=Justin |date=2017-01-08 |title=Assault charges against Washington Nationals TV analyst Ray Knight are dropped |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/assault-charges-dropped-washington-nationals-tv-analyst-ray-knight/2018/01/08/18d6fe50-f489-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html |url-access=registration |access-date=2025-01-08 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Knight participated in the 2021 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary series about the 1986 New York Mets season, Once Upon a Time in Queens.{{Cite web|last=Botte|first=Peter|date=2021-08-25|title='Debauchery' and a decapitated cat: Inside ESPN's wild Mets documentary|url=https://nypost.com/2021/08/25/espns-mets-documentary-filled-with-debauchery-wild-tales/|access-date=2021-09-17|website=New York Post|language=en-US}}

• Houston Astros award winners and league leaders

{{Reflist}}

{{baseballstats| mlb=117191| espn=143 | br=k/knighra01 | fangraphs=1007043| brm=knight002cha}}

{{Hutch Award}}

{{New York Mets}}

{{1986 New York Mets}}

{{NL Comeback Players of the Year}}

{{World Series MVPs}}

{{Babe Ruth Award}}

{{Washington Nationals}}

{{ESPN Major League Baseball}}

{{Cincinnati Reds managers}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Ray}}

Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:National League All-Stars

Category:Cincinnati Reds players

Category:Houston Astros players

Category:New York Mets players

Category:Baltimore Orioles players

Category:Detroit Tigers players

Category:ESPN people

Category:Indianapolis Indians players

Category:Major League Baseball third basemen

Category:Major League Baseball first basemen

Category:Cincinnati Reds managers

Category:Cincinnati Reds coaches

Category:Sportspeople from Albany, Georgia

Category:Major League Baseball broadcasters

Category:Washington Nationals announcers

Category:Mid-Atlantic Sports Network

Category:World Series Most Valuable Player Award winners

Category:Sioux Falls Packers players

Category:Trois-Rivières Aigles players

Category:20th-century American sportsmen