Dick Ruthven: From College Campus to the Big Leagues

Phillies fans of a certain age have a clear memory of right-handed pitcher Dick Ruthven on the mound as the Phillies clinched their trip to the 1980 World Series with an improbable 10-inning, 8-7, victory over the Houston Astros. This Phillies team, which had been the best team in the National League for five straight seasons, finally got over the playoff hump and advanced to the biggest prize of them all. Ruthven, normally a starter, pitched the final two innings of this gut-wrenching game, shutting down the Astros, six up, six down, using almost entirely fastballs. When the final out landed in centerfielder Garry Maddox's glove, Ruthven was mobbed by his teammates on the Astrodome mound.

Ruthven's journey to that moment began when the Sacramento native was the number one draft pick out of California State University, Fresno in the January 1973 secondary-phase draft.  The 22-year-old featured a devastating 12-6 curve ball and a fastball that some scouts thought was not fast enough for major league standards. He would prove those scouts wrong.

After impressing in spring training, Ruthven was rushed straight to the major leagues by the pitching starved Phillies. Ruthven took a regular turn as the fifth starter behind Steve Carlton, Jim Lonborg, Wayne Twitchell, and Ken Brett. The Phillies, in their first season under manager Danny Ozark, improved by 12 games over their dismal 1972 mark, but still finished last in the NL East Division, 11 1/2 games behind the first place New York Mets. 

The young pitcher with no minor league experience held his own. After a poor outing in his first start on April 17 (1 2/3 innings, five hits, two walks, four earned runs), he bounced back with fine outing on April 22, matching the legendary St. Louis Cardinal right-hander, Bob Gibson, pitch for pitch. Ruthven worked 7 2/3 innings to a no decision, in a game the Phillies eventually won, 2-1, with two out in the ninth on a Mike Schmidt walk-off home run. Ruthven did it without his curve ball, relying mainly on a good, well-located fastball. "Let those scouts tell me his fastball isn't good enough now," challenged Ozark.

Ruthven's first win came in his next outing on April 28, when he outpointed Cincinnati Reds ace Don Gullett, 1-0. He was spectacular in this game, allowing no runs and only one hit, while walking two and striking out 10. Relievers Billy Wilson and Mac Scarce closed out the victory for him. For this game, his curve ball returned. "I got back the curve ball nobody thought I had, or at least they were starting to doubt," said Ruthven. "That's the first time it's felt like a curve ball since the end of spring training."

Over the next two months, Ruthven had a few good outings and a few bad outings, but no victories. He was riding a five-game losing streak, when he faced off against the Cardinals and Gibson again on June 26, pitching six innings as the Phillies romped 10-3.  In his next outing on July 1, Ruthven was again matched up against the daunting Gibson, this time at Busch Stadium, St. Louis. Dick responded with one of the greatest games of his career, besting Gibson with a complete game, 1-0 victory. After giving up two hits and three walks over the first four innings, Ruthven retired the final 17 hitters in a row. It was his third victory and first complete game. 

Ruthven mostly abandoned his curveball in this game, using his new pitch, the slider, effectively. Phillies pitching coach Ray Ripplemeyer said, "He needed another pitch he could throw for strikes when the curve ball wasn't working." Greg Luzinski drove in the only run of the game with an eighth inning single that scored Bill Robinson, who had singled and moved up on a Denny Doyle sacrifice. For the record, the rookie Ruthven faced the veteran Gibson three times in 1973 and the Phillies emerged 3-0 in those games.

Over the next two years, Ruthven's lack of minor league seasoning seemed to catch up with him. He was a regular, if inconsistent, part of the Phillies rotation in 1974, but by 1975 he was replaced in the rotation by another young phenom, Larry Christenson. Along the way, "Rufus" as his teammates called him, had developed a reputation as a bit of a flake. Fined $50 for getting thrown out of a game by umpire Bruce Froemming, he sent a check to the league office that bounced. He could be surly to teammates while on the mound. Larry Bowa said, "He thinks everybody is on him, when we're just trying to help him. I feel sorry for him, because he has never been in the minor leagues." At the end of spring training 1975, that was corrected. Ruthven started the season at the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Toledo. 

After going 10-12, 3.18 at Toledo, Ruthven was back with the big club for August and September, but he did not pitch particularly well. The Phillies seemed to lose interest in him and traded Ruthven to the Chicago White Sox for Mike Buskey and Jim Kaat. The White Sox immediately turned around and traded Ruthven to the Atlanta Braves. After a couple of pretty good seasons with a very bad Atlanta team, even making the All-Star team in 1976, Ruthven returned to the Phillies in a June 1978 deal for popular and highly effective reliever, Gene Garber. 

Ruthven forced the trade. He liked playing for Atlanta manager Bobby Cox, bur he hated Braves owner, Ted Turner. Ruthven accused Turner of making a pass at his wife and demanded an apology that Turner then turned into a public spectacle. Ruthven also felt hard done in salary negotiations with Atlanta, where his agent, Jim Bunning, was unable to convince an arbitrator that Ruthven deserved more money. At any rate, Cox promised to trade Ruthven, if he could. Ruthven slotted into the Phillies rotation right behind Carlton and Christenson and he was terrific. He had the best sustained stretch of pitching in his career going 13-5, with a 2.99 ERA in 20 starts as the Phillies again captured the NL East Division, He lost his only playoff start to Tommy John and the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0.

Elbow problems cost Ruthven effectiveness and time on the disabled list in 1979, but he rebounded with a fine year in the 1980 championship year. He remained a regular in the Phillies rotation until he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for reliever Willie Hernandez in May 1983. He had one good season with the Cubs and was released in 1986.

Dick Ruthven had a 123-127 career won-loss record, 78-65 with the Phillies. Would Ruthven and the Phillies have been better off if the #1 draft pick had spent some time in the minor leagues learning his craft? Probably. Ruthven, himself, said that he was just a thrower in his first stint as a Phillie. After two+ years in Atlanta, he returned to the team as a more mature pitcher and a more mature human being. That grown-up Ruthven was on the mound when the Phillies needed him most that October day in 1980.

Here's a condensed version of that 1980 playoff game that ends with Ruthven on the mound for the Phillies. It was named the 18th greatest game in baseball history.