Ray Knight

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This article is about the baseball player Ray Knight. For the article on Alberta settler and cowboy Ray Knight, see Raymond Knight.

Charles Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952 in Albany, Georgia) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball player who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He was primarily a third baseman, although he did see some action at first base, second base, designated hitter, shortstop and in the outfield. He played for the Cincinnati Reds (1974-1981), Houston Astros (1982-1984), New York Mets (1984-1986), Baltimore Orioles (1987), and the Detroit Tigers (1988). He is now a studio analyst for MASN's coverage of the Washington Nationals.

Knight made his major league debut with Cincinnati in 1974, but didn't become a regular there until replacing the exiting Pete Rose at third base in 1979 (Rose had signed with the Philadelphia Phillies). Knight was not on the major league roster for the Reds two championship teams in 1975, and 1976. Knight was an All Star in 1980 with Cincinnati, and made the team once again in 1982 while a member of the Astros. In 1984 Knight was traded mid-season to the Mets, where he would wind up on the World Champion Mets team of 1986.

While he is notable as being a very high quality hitter, making the Top 10 leaderboard in batting three times, he is mostly known for his role in the 1986 World Series, when he not only scored the winning run in Game 6 on Mookie Wilson's famous grounder through Bill Buckner's legs, but he also hit the tiebreaking home run in Game 7. Due to his contributions Knight won the World Series MVP award, and then became the first player to join a new team the season after winning the award, signing with the Orioles in 1987. The Mets granted Knight free agency after it was decided that Howard Johnson would be the Mets everyday third baseman. His all-time statistics in the postseason include a .279 BA, with 1 home run and 7 RBIs.

In 1986, he also won the Babe Ruth Award for the National League and The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award.

He was also a winner of the Hutch Award in 1983.

In a 13-season career, he put together a .271 batting average with 84 home runs and 595 RBIs in 1495 games. He had 490 runs and 14 career stolen bases. He accumulated 266 doubles and 1311 hits in total, in 4829 at bats.

In his managerial career, he is 125-137, managing the Reds from 1996-97 and in 2003 for 1 game. In 1997, he forgot how many outs there were in a game and called for a bunt at an inopportune time. He later fined himself 250 dollars for the incident. The team's lack of success would lead to his eventual firing and his replacement with Jack McKeon.

Knight is married to LPGA star Nancy Lopez, and briefly caddied for her after retiring.

Knight was one of several members of the 1986 championship team not to attend the 20th anniversary celebration on August 19, 2006; the others include manager Davey Johnson, (who was managing Team USA in Cuba), Dwight Gooden (who is serving a jail sentence), Roger McDowell (who is the Atlanta Braves pitching coach), Lee Mazzilli (who is the New York Yankees bench coach), and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre (whose reasons for not attending are unknown). While the official reason given for Knight's absence was a previous commitment, many have speculated that it was more likely because of his treatment by the organization immediately following his heroics in the 1986 World Series.

[edit] Broadcasting career

• Analyst for ESPN
• Pre-and post-game analyst for MASN, 2007

[edit] Facts

• (May 13, 1980) After an 0-for-15 slump with the Reds, Knight homered twice in one inning (5th) in a 15-4 win over the Mets, and is still the only Red to homer twice in one inning.

Preceded by Bret Saberhagen	World Series MVP 1986	Succeeded by Frank Viola
Preceded by Bret Saberhagen	Babe Ruth Award 1986	Succeeded by Frank Viola
Preceded by Rick Reuschel	NL Comeback Player of the Year 1986	Succeeded by Rick Sutcliffe
Preceded by Davey Johnson	Cincinnati Reds Manager 1996-1997	Succeeded by Jack McKeon