He
was with St. Louis for 2 seasons, 1972 & 73. In 1973, Rick lost a
chance at a second no-hitter against the Reds in the ninth inning and
ended up with a one hit win. He was the starting and winning pitcher
for the National League in the 1973 All Star game.
In the Spring of 1974 he was traded to the Boston
Red Sox and in 1975 he had his best year to date, with 19 regular
season wins. One of these wins was against Milwaukee, a game in which
he had another no-hitter that was broken up in the 9th inning.
The
Red Sox won the American League Championship by sweeping the Oakland
A's and Rick won the 3rd and final game of the series.
In
the 1975 World Series, Rick was the starting pitcher of game 3, which
the Red Sox lost. For some reason, he was passed over as a starter for
the rest of the series. He did come in as a relief pitcher in the 12th.
inning of Game 6. This game is proclaimed to be one of the most
dramatic games in World Series history and he got the win.
He spent
two more seasons in Boston and was traded to the Cleveland Indians in
the Spring of 1978.
He came back to the National League and joined the San Diego Padres in
1980 and remained there until his retirement in 1982.
Rick returned to baseball as a pitching coach in 1985 and has coached
at every level of the minor leagues. His last position was with the
Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League, a position which he held
since their inception in 2005. After the 2008 season, Rick decided to
retire from baseball.
Updated 8.13.2009
