Jack Billingham
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John Eugene (Jack) Billingham (born February 21, 1943 in Orlando, Florida) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1968), Houston Astros (1969-1971), Cincinnati Reds (1972-1977), Detroit Tigers (1978-1980) and Boston Red Sox (1980). Nicknamed "Cactus Jack," the 6-foot-4 hurler won at least 10 games for 10 consecutive seasons, and he helped lead Cincinnati's legendary "Big Red Machine" to back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and 1976. He batted and threw right handed.
Billingham proved to be one of baseball's greatest World Series pitchers. In seven games (including three starts) for Cincinnati, he went 2-0 with a 0.36 ERA, allowing just one earned run in 25.3 innings pitched. Jack came to the Reds in one of baseball's biggest trades. The Reds sent Lee May, Tommy Helms and Jimmy Stewart to the Astros for Billingham, Joe Morgan, Dennis Menke and (then minor leauger)Ed Armbrister.
Originally signed as a free agent by the Dodgers in 1961, Billingham was groomed as a reliever in the Los Angeles farm system. He was used primarily as a reliever in the majors from 1968-1971 but was moved to the starting rotation when he was traded to Cincinnati prior to the 1972 season. For his career, Billingham went 145-113 with a 3.83 ERA and 1,141 strikeouts in 2,230.2 innings.
[edit] Awards
- Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame inductee: 1984
- National League All-Star: 1973
- Johnny Vander Meer Award (Reds' Most Outstanding Pitcher): 1973
[edit] NL leader
- Innings pitched: 1973 (293.1)
- Shutouts: 1973 (7)
- Hit batsmen: 1971 (16) and 1977 (10)
[edit] Trivia
- Billingham is a distant relative of National Baseball Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson.
- In his first start of the 1974 season, Billingham gave up Hank Aaron's 714th home run, which tied Aaron with Babe Ruth for first place on the all-time list.
