Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 23, 1995                   TAG: 9501250028
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EX-PITCHER RICHARD LOST EVERYTHING BUT HIS FRIENDS

James Rodney Richard has known the glory of sports stardom and the difficulty of recovering from a life-threatening stroke.

Now, the former All-Star pitcher knows the despair of homelessness.

Richard, 44, told The Houston Post he lost his house two years ago because he couldn't make the payments and has since lived with friends or under a freeway overpass.

``Being homeless means you're broke and you have no place to stay,'' Richard said in a story published Sunday. ``It doesn't mean you ever give up hope. I'm on the way back. With God, I know I'll make it.''

Richard now works as a part-time solicitor for an asphalt company that provides him the use of a truck and an apartment, but he hasn't been able to make much money, and friends told the newspaper there's no telling how long the job or the apartment will last.

He said Friday that he had $20 to his name.

It's been a long, hard fall for Richard. The 6-foot-8, 240-pound right-hander was one of baseball's dominant pitchers when he played for the Houston Astros from 1971-80.

He also was among the highest-paid players of his time, with a salary of $850,000 per year at his peak.

That all ended July 30, 1980, when Richard had a stroke that knocked him out of baseball and continues to haunt him.

``If I hadn't gotten sick, I could have broken all of Nolan Ryan's records,'' he said.

After a lengthy recovery came two broken marriages and a string of bad investments. He lost $300,000 in what turned out to be a bogus oil venture in California. His divorce from his first wife, with whom he has five children, cost him $669,000.

``I'm batting a flat .000 in my life with investments,'' he said.

Ultimately, he was left on the streets. Twice in the past 18 months, for ``probably a week or so each time,'' he lived under a freeway in southwest Houston.

``There aren't many people who knew exactly how bad off I've been,'' he said. ``Sometimes you have to just be a man and trust God will help you out of this mess.''

Jimmy Wynn, a former Astros teammate, attended a church barbecue for 100 homeless people so he could contact Richard. Wynn told Astros general manager Bob Watson, who also played with Richard, about the situation two weeks ago.

``When I found out for sure he had no home, I had to tell Bob and others, even if J.R. was too proud to do it himself. And J.R. is too proud,'' Wynn said.

Watson said he wants to help his friend by offering him a job with the Astros, possibly as a team spokesman working with youth groups, but first he wants Richard to show he's committed.

``Having said that, I want to do everything we can for him. We have to make sure he's not sleeping under any freeway again,'' Watson said.

Enos Cabell, Richard's longtime friend and former teammate, also wants to help. Cabell, who owns a local car dealership, proposed that a trust fund be established, but only if Richard agrees to let someone else manage it.

Richard has some help on the way in March, when he turns 45 and becomes eligible for a limited major-league pension.

Watson said if there's a lesson to be found in Richard's struggle, it's that ``if it happened to J.R., it can happen to anybody.''

Said Cabell: ``I think he's been a big pawn in people's lives, and that has to end. We wait until our heroes are almost dead before we do something about it.''