For a number of years he was their ace. Killer fastball.
RIP
What I remember about him was that he had a severe and undiagnosed medical problem that affected his pitching, which he reported, and was accused of being a slacker. Then the condition damn near killed him.
At their heights, a few extra issues made them difficult to hit. The angle of the ball had to be tough, and being so tall, their release point of the ball was probably a foot closer to home plate. At 100+ MPH, that’s a lot extra time and space for the batter to surrender.
Lots of teams probably look back and say, “if only so-and-so hadn’t gotten injured, we would have won the title.” The 1980 Astros are probably unique in that the injury was a near-fatal stroke.
Had he been vaccinated for Covid-19?
He was the best pitcher in baseball when he had a stroke in 1980. No telling what he could have done if that had not happened.
He had a lot of medical problems that cut his career short. He was an amazing pitcher and a decent fellow. RIP, James Rodney.
2nd that!
The most intimidating pitcher I ever saw. With a super fast fastball and just enough wildness, when he pitched in the Astros rotation was the day a lot of opposing teams’ players took the day off.
LOL Someone poasted a Randy Johnson video once called “One baseball, one bird”.
RIP.
RIP.
He would’ve rivaled Nolan Ryan if not for health problems.