Richard Otto Lange (born September 1, 1948) is a retired professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

who spent four seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) with the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

from

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Career

Lange graduated from Bullock Creek High School in Midland, MI. He attended

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a Public university, public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1892 as a private normal school and became a state institution in 1895. CMU is one of the eigh ...

(CMU) where he was a three-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

with the Chippewas baseball team in 1968, 1969 and 1970. He was inducted into the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987. He was selected by the

in the 7th round (154th overall) of the 1970 MLB June Amateur Draft. He played his whole career (7 seasons) for minor and Major League Baseball teams for the

. Lange is featured in ''A Bitter Cup of Coffee: How MLB and the Players Association Threw 874 Retirees a Curve'', a 2010 book written by Douglas J. Gladstone about the plight of 874 retired ballplayers whose major-league careers ended between 1947 and 1979 who were denied

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

s because of the

Major League Baseball Players Association The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is the labor union representing all current Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held ...

's failure to retroactively included them as beneficiaries in the amended vesting requirements in the

collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with a ...

that resolved the 1980 MLB strike. His three full years in the majors was one shy of qualifying for the pension requirement during his time as an active player. He was not able to earn that needed additional full year because the Angels denied him the opportunity to be selected in the

1976 MLB expansion draft The 1976 MLB Expansion Draft was held November 5, 1976. This expansion draft was conducted by Major League Baseball to stock the major league rosters of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners, new major league expansion franchises establ ...

by removing him from its 40-man roster and a

rotator cuff tear Rotator cuff tendinopathy is a process of senescence. The pathophysiology is mucoid degeneration. Most people develop rotator cuff tendinopathy within their lifetime. As part of rotator cuff tendinopathy, the tendon can thin and develop a defec ...

to his throwing arm in 1977.Bruzewski, Troy A. "The diamond led to coal for some," ''Huron Daily Tribune'' (Bad Axe, MI), Sunday, July 25, 2021.
Retrieved September 21, 2022.

References

External links

Baseball Reference (Minors)
1948 births Living people Baseball players from Michigan California Angels players Central Michigan Chippewas baseball players Central Michigan University alumni Idaho Falls Angels players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball pitchers People from Harbor Beach, Michigan Salt Lake City Angels players Salt Lake City Gulls players Shreveport Captains players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1940s-stub