Dick Billings

Richard Arlin Billings
(Rich)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lb.
• School Michigan State University
• High School Troy (MI) High School
• Debut September 11, 1968
• Final Game June 27, 1975
• Born December 4, 1942 in Detroit, MI USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"Like most of the players in the summer of 1973, [Dick] Billings was sporting mutton-chop sideburns and looked like someone in a Matthew Brady photograph of Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. And, like some members of Lincoln's cabinet, a lot of these Rangers looked like they should perhaps go somewhere and get a chest X-ray. Billings was sitting on a stool in front of his locker, smoking a cigarette and appearing perplexed. He presented the general appearance of a man who could not make up his mind whether he wanted to go get some Mexican food or climb a light tower in the outfield and jump off. I walked up to Billings and said something like 'it has been suggested, er, that I might have, um, made a bad call on that ball in the eighth inning and--' Billings cut me off. 'Didn't you see that batting average they flash on the scoreboard when I come up to hit?' he said. 'It's .169 and that says it all. When you're batting .169 this late in the year you don't go whining to the official scorer... you consult a hypnotist. Know any good ones?" - Mike Shropshire, from the book Seasons In Hell

Dick Billings spent eight seasons in the big leagues, enjoying the overwhelming majority of his playing time in the last season of the Washington Senators, in 1971, and the first season of the Texas Rangers, in 1972. Wresting the starter's role from Paul Casanova in D.C. in July 1971, Billings established his top marks in 1972 when he batted .254 with 5 home runs, 58 RBI and 41 runs scored in 133 games. The next year, 1973, with Whitey Herzog taking over for Ted Williams as skipper, Dick entered a platoon with Ken Suarez and could not bat his weight (.179 in 81 contests), washing out of the bigs after 3 games with the 1975 St. Louis Cardinals.

Further Reading

• Chris Jones: "Rich Billings", in Steve West and Bill Nowlin, eds.: The Team That Couldn't Hit: The 1972 Texas Rangers, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2019, pp. 16-23. ISBN 978-1-943816-93-4

Related Sites

• Rich Billings at the SABR Bio Project