Rick Reuschel, baseball player, 1972-1991

Rick Reuschel

Born: 5/16/1949 in Quincy, IL, USA

MLB Debut: 1972-06-19 | Final Game: 1991-04-22

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'3" | Weight: 215 lbs

Full name: Rickey Eugene Reuschel

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Biography

Rick Reuschel was a prominent Major League Baseball pitcher whose career spanned from 1972 to 1991. Born in 1949, Reuschel established himself as a reliable starter, amassing a career record of 214 wins and 191 losses, with a commendable earned run average (ERA) of 3.37. Over the course of his career, he struck out 2,015 batters and recorded five saves, demonstrating both his durability as a starting pitcher and his ability to perform under pressure. Reuschel's contributions to the game were recognized with three All-Star selections, highlighting his status among the elite pitchers of his era. Reuschel played during a time when the game was transitioning, facing hitters from the tail end of the deadball era into the more offensive-friendly landscapes of the 1980s and early 1990s. Known for his exceptional control and ability to induce ground balls, he was a key figure for teams such as the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants. His legacy is marked not only by his impressive statistics but also by his influence on succeeding generations of pitchers who admired his work ethic and competitive spirit.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
214 191 557 529 102 26 5 3548.3 3588 1330 221 935 2015 3.37 0

Career ERA 3.37 vs. league average 3.80 across their career seasons — 11.2% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1972 CHC NL 10 8 21 18 5 4 0 129.0 127 42 29 87 2.93 3.26 (+10%) -
1973 CHC NL 14 15 36 36 7 3 0 237.0 244 79 62 168 3.00 3.75 (+20%) -
1974 CHC NL 13 12 41 38 8 2 0 240.7 262 115 83 160 4.30 3.63 (-19%) -
1975 CHC NL 11 17 38 37 6 0 1 234.0 244 97 67 155 3.73 3.71 (-1%) -
1976 CHC NL 14 12 38 37 9 2 1 260.0 260 100 64 146 3.46 3.51 (+1%) -
1977 CHC NL 20 10 39 37 8 4 1 252.0 233 78 74 166 2.79 4.00 (+30%) -
1978 CHC NL 14 15 35 35 9 1 0 242.7 235 92 54 115 3.41 3.69 (+7%) -
1979 CHC NL 18 12 36 36 5 1 0 239.0 251 96 75 125 3.62 4.00 (+10%) -
1980 CHC NL 11 13 38 38 6 0 0 257.0 281 97 76 140 3.40 3.84 (+12%) -
1981 CHC NL 4 7 13 13 1 0 0 85.7 87 33 23 53 3.47 3.58 (+3%) -
1981 NYY AL 4 4 12 11 3 0 0 70.7 75 21 10 22 2.67 3.58 (+25%) -
1983 CHC NL 1 1 4 4 0 0 0 20.7 18 9 10 9 3.92 3.87 (-1%) -
1984 CHC NL 5 5 19 14 1 0 0 92.3 123 53 23 43 5.17 3.81 (-36%) -
1985 PIT NL 14 8 31 26 9 1 1 194.0 153 49 52 138 2.27 3.89 (+42%) 6618.4
1986 PIT NL 9 16 35 34 4 2 0 215.7 232 95 57 125 3.96 3.97 (avg) 1413.0
1987 PIT NL 8 6 25 25 9 3 0 177.0 163 54 35 80 2.75 4.29 (+36%) 3440.3
1987 SFG NL 5 3 9 8 3 1 0 50.0 44 24 7 27 4.32 4.29 (-1%) -
1988 SFG NL 19 11 36 36 7 2 0 245.0 242 85 42 92 3.12 3.73 (+16%) -
1989 SFG NL 17 8 32 32 2 0 0 208.3 195 68 54 111 2.94 3.71 (+21%) -
1990 SFG NL 3 6 15 13 0 0 1 87.0 102 38 31 49 3.93 3.86 (-2%) -
1991 SFG NL 0 2 4 1 0 0 0 10.7 17 5 7 4 4.22 3.91 (-8%) -

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
579 1115 82 187 35 4 4 79 3 46 317 0.168 0.202 0.217 0.419 -6501.1

Career AVG .168 vs. league average .258 across their career seasons — 35.0% below league average.

Career OBP .202 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 37.7% below league average.

Career SLG .217 vs. league average .383 across their career seasons — 43.4% below league average.

Career OPS 0.419 vs. league average 0.707 across their career seasons — 40.8% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1972 CHC NL 21 44 3 6 1 0 0 3 0 2 15 0.136 — — — — 0.0
1973 CHC NL 36 73 3 9 1 0 0 2 0 1 27 0.123 .256 (-52%) .325 (-59%) .378 (-64%) .703 (-62%) -761.9
1974 CHC NL 41 86 4 19 4 1 0 2 0 0 27 0.221 .256 (-14%) .324 (-33%) .369 (-21%) .693 (-27%) -419.0
1975 CHC NL 38 77 3 16 2 0 1 7 0 3 11 0.208 .257 (-19%) .327 (-27%) .374 (-27%) .701 (-27%) -357.6
1976 CHC NL 38 83 9 19 4 0 0 6 0 6 16 0.229 .255 (-10%) .320 (-10%) .360 (-23%) .681 (-17%) -216.3
1977 CHC NL 41 87 9 18 3 1 1 8 0 1 18 0.207 .264 (-22%) .329 (-32%) .401 (-25%) .730 (-28%) -441.9
1978 CHC NL 35 73 5 10 2 0 0 4 1 4 23 0.137 .257 (-47%) .323 (-41%) .378 (-57%) .702 (-50%) -606.0
1979 CHC NL 38 79 8 13 2 1 0 6 0 7 26 0.165 .265 (-38%) .329 (-29%) .397 (-46%) .727 (-38%) -519.5
1980 CHC NL 44 82 4 13 3 1 0 5 0 1 23 0.159 .264 (-40%) .326 (-48%) .387 (-43%) .714 (-46%) -653.7
1981 CHC NL 16 25 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 7 0.080 — — — — 0.0
1981 NYY AL 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1983 CHC NL 4 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.143 — — — — 0.0
1984 CHC NL 20 29 2 7 3 0 0 3 0 2 8 0.241 — — — — 0.0
1985 PIT NL 31 59 8 10 2 0 1 7 1 3 17 0.169 .257 (-34%) .323 (-35%) .390 (-35%) .714 (-35%) -350.1
1986 PIT NL 43 70 7 11 2 0 0 6 0 3 19 0.157 .257 (-39%) .325 (-41%) .395 (-53%) .720 (-48%) -572.4
1987 PIT NL 25 60 7 9 2 0 1 5 1 4 23 0.150 .262 (-43%) .331 (-39%) .415 (-44%) .746 (-42%) -432.0
1987 SFG NL 9 19 1 2 1 0 0 5 0 1 3 0.105 — — — — -432.0
1988 SFG NL 36 73 4 8 1 0 0 3 0 2 25 0.110 .254 (-57%) .317 (-58%) .377 (-67%) .695 (-63%) -754.1
1989 SFG NL 32 61 2 10 1 0 0 3 0 5 16 0.164 .254 (-35%) .319 (-30%) .375 (-52%) .694 (-42%) -416.7
1990 SFG NL 15 26 2 4 1 0 0 3 0 0 11 0.154 — — — — 0.0
1991 SFG NL 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
8 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1989 NLCS SFN 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
1989 WS SFN 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1987 NLCS SFN 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
1981 AEDIV NYA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1981 WS NYA 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1 4 8 7 0 32.3 43 21 12 14 5.85

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1989 NLCS SFN 1 1 2 2 0 8.7 12 5 2 5 5.19
1989 WS SFN 0 1 1 1 0 4.0 5 5 4 2 11.25
1987 NLCS SFN 0 1 2 2 0 10.0 15 7 2 2 6.30
1981 AEDIV NYA 0 1 1 1 0 6.0 4 2 1 3 3.00
1981 WS NYA 0 0 2 1 0 3.7 7 2 3 2 4.91

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 557 529 328 667 29 39

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1972 CHN P 21 18 9 15 1 1
1973 CHN P 36 36 24 49 3 0
1974 CHN P 41 38 28 51 5 4
1975 CHN P 38 37 23 39 0 5
1976 CHN P 38 37 23 53 4 0
1977 CHN P 39 37 27 45 1 4
1978 CHN P 35 35 24 44 2 1
1979 CHN P 36 36 27 49 3 9
1980 CHN P 38 38 28 56 2 5
1981 CHN P 13 13 4 21 2 2
1981 NYA P 12 11 6 14 0 0
1983 CHN P 4 4 4 7 0 0
1984 CHN P 19 14 6 20 1 1
1985 PIT P 31 26 24 40 0 2
1986 PIT P 35 34 24 44 2 0
1987 PIT P 25 25 17 31 2 2
1987 SFN P 9 8 8 7 0 0
1988 SFN P 36 36 12 32 0 2
1989 SFN P 32 32 8 33 0 0
1990 SFN P 15 13 2 16 1 1
1991 SFN P 4 1 0 1 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 557

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1989 Pitcher of the Month May
1987 Gold Glove P
1987 Player of the Week Week of 1987-07-24
1985 Gold Glove P
1985 Hutch Award
1985 TSN Comeback Player of the Year
1980 Pitcher of the Month August
1979 Pitcher of the Month August
1977 Pitcher of the Month July
1977 Pitcher of the Month June
1977 TSN All-Star RHP

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1991 SFN NL $1,350,000
1989 SFN NL $1,175,000
1988 SFN NL $800,000
1987 PIT NL $750,000
1986 PIT NL $700,000
1985 PIT NL $200,000
Total Career Earnings $4,975,000

College History

School Name City State Years Attended
Western Illinois University Macomb IL 1969, 1970

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1989 Cy Young Award NL 8th 3.0 120 0
1987 Cy Young Award NL 3rd 54.0 120 8
1977 Cy Young Award NL 3rd 18.0 120 1
1977 Most Valuable Player NL 21th 3.0 336 0