Richard Douglas Engle (born April 7, 1957) is an American former

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 ...

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, ...

. He batted right and threw left-handed. Engle graduated from

Clermont Northeastern High School Clermont Northeastern High School is a public high school in northeastern Clermont County near Batavia, Ohio and Owensville, Ohio. It is the only high school in the Clermont Northeastern Schools district. The school mascot is the Rocket A r ...

in Ohio in 1977 and then was signed by the Expos as an amateur free agent. He later said that his goal upon signing with the Expos was to make the majors by 1980. According to the scout who signed him, however, Engle was blocked from joining the team's MLB roster that year by the presence of left-handed pitcher Fred Norman, who the Expos had given a guaranteed contract. Engle was not able to make his Major League debut until the following year against his hometown team, the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

, on September 2, 1981. Despite a shaky start, Engle was able to

strike out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safel ...

George Foster and

Ray Knight Charles Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952) is an American former infielder best remembered for his time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets in Major League Baseball (MLB). Originally drafted by the Reds in the tenth round of the 1970 M ...

to finish his outing. On May 3, 1983, a day after taking the loss for the minor league

Charlotte O's The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

, Engle surprised the team by reporting to the clubhouse in civilian clothes before that day's game and telling them that he was retiring, had packed his bags and would be returning home to

Batavia, Ohio Batavia ( ) is a village in Clermont County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 1,972 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Batavia was surveyed on May ...

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Retrosheet
1957 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Kentucky Charlotte O's players Denver Bears players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Chicks players Montreal Expos players People from Corbin, Kentucky Tigres de Aragua players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela West Palm Beach Expos players Wichita Aeros players People from Batavia, Ohio Baseball players from Clermont County, Ohio 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1950s-stub