Greeneville Astros pitching coach Jack Billingham came out
to bid farewell to the home fans a final time Tuesday night, but a standing
ovation by more than 3,400 people let an emotional Billingham know just
how much he means to them.
Top brass from the parent club in Houston flew in for the pregame ceremonies
to honor Billingham, who is retiring after more than 30 years in baseball.
“It’s going to be awfully tough walking away,” Billingham said. “Everybody
is saying ‘Why are you retiring?’ Well, I’m not retiring because I have
lost my love for the game. I’m retiring because I have a beautiful family.
I’ve got grandkids. Baseball has given me the opportunity to retire.
I’m not rich like the players today, but I played in the big leagues.
I’ve got a good pension plan. I’m going to go home and enjoy life. I’m
going to see if I can live with that life. If I can’t, hopefully somebody
will give me a job.”
Billingham might not be in Cooperstown, but he has a storied baseball
career. He began his career in the Dodger organization and became a
solid starter for Houston before being traded to Cincinnati, where he
was a favorite in the pitching rotation of the famed “Big Red Machine”
where he won World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.
Billingham won 19 games in back-to-back seasons in 1973 and 1974. In
1973 he led the National League with 40 starts, 293 innings pitched
and seven shutouts. In three World Series, he allowed just one earned
run in more than 25 innings of work. He was also on the delivering end
of Hank Aaron’s record-tying 714th home run.
Through all that, does Billingham have one specific memory that stands
out above the rest?
“Not really,” he said. “I was in the World Series. I’ve played with
Hall of Famers. I was in an All-Star Game. I tell these kids in the
Minor Leagues, when you play in Greeneville, Tenn., it’s fun, but that’s
not where you want to be. You want to be in the big leagues. It took
me seven years to get to the big leagues, and when I did I think that
was probably the most excited I’ve ever been in my life.”
His life the past few years has been centered around helping prepare
youngsters in the Astros’ farm system for the big leagues.
“That’s my life now, trying to teach these kids,” he said. “We can’t
do it for them. We can maybe show them a few things that can maybe help
them along the way, but these kids have to do it themselves. It’s very
satisfying to turn the TV on and see these kids that maybe you might
have had something to do with. There are only five percent of these
kids that will get to the big leagues. I feel like you prepare them
for life. Life is not simple sometimes, and they have to get out there
in the real world. We try to prepare them for everything. The first
thing is to be Major League ball players.”
This year Billingham has not only helped prepare young players, he
has helped Greeneville’s young first-year manager Tim Bogar.
“It’s been fantastic for me to have Jack’s experience to teach me the
pitching game,” Bogar said. “I was a position player my whole life.
I understand pitching, but I really don’t have a grasp on how to use
guys in the right situation, when to put guys in. Over the course of
the season he has really guided me in that direction.”
The direction Billingham is headed when the Astros’ season is over
is home. He said when winter air begins to warm and the pitchers and
catchers report to training camp, he fully expects to feel that familiar
tug he has felt all these years.
“I live in Florida. I won’t disappear,” Billingham said. “I’m going
to go down to Spring Training. I’ve got a lot of good friends on the
field, off the field, in the front office, field staff, players and
everything else. I’m going to visit, go down and talk to them and things
like that.”