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Charles Oliver Hough (/ˈhʌf/; born January 5, 1948) is a former Major League Baseball knuckleball pitcher. Hough was drafted out of Hialeah High School in
the 8th round of the 1966 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. After
pitching in the low minor leagues from 1967 to 1969 with the Ogden Dodgers, Santa Barbara Dodgers and Albuquerque Dodgers with
limited success, Hough's career and fortunes changed dramatically when he
learned how to throw a knuckleball in spring training in
1970, leading to a successful season with the Spokane Indians in AAA, where he led the Pacific Coast League in
saves and posted a 1.95 ERA. He made his major league debut against
the Pittsburgh Pirates in
1970 but did not join the Dodgers bullpen full-time until the 1973 season. He
became a top reliever for the Dodgers from 1973 until he was sold to the Texas Rangers in
1980. With the Dodgers, he was one of the pitchers who served up one of the
three home runs that New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson hit on three straight pitches in Game 6 of
the 1977 World Series. He was
converted into a starting pitcher in Texas, where he pitched from 1980 to 1990,
making his only All-Star team in 1986. He left Texas as the franchise leader in
wins, strikeouts, complete games and losses. He was famous for his
"dancing knuckleball" pitch that he threw around 80% of the time.
Hough complemented his knuckleball with a fastball and slider. Hough additionally was well known for throwing a large
number of complete games each season and led the league in 1984 with 17. In
1987, Hough, in battery with Geno Petralli, put Petralli in the record books as Petralli
committed four passed balls in one inning to tie the
major league record of Ray Katt, catching knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm in 1954.[1] The record was later tied by Ryan Lavarnway of the Boston Red Sox in 2013, catching knuckleballer Steven Wright in his
first major league start.
He
pitched for the Chicago White Sox from
1991 to 1992, where, at 43 years old, he found himself pitching to
43-year-old Carlton Fisk as his batterymate. He
joined the expansion Florida Marlins for the 1993 season and started the first
regular season game in team history on April 5, pitching six innings for the
win as the Marlins defeated the Dodgers 6-3. He retired at age 46 after the
1994 season. He was the last active player to have been born in the 1940s. During
a 25-season career, Hough compiled 216 wins, 2,362 strikeouts and a 3.75 earned run average. His
216 wins ranks 82nd all-time on the all-time win list, tied with Wilbur Cooper and Curt Schilling.