100 Greatest Phillies: 68 – Dick Ruthven
Starting Pitcher
1973-1975, 1978-1983
Career w/Phillies: 1262.2 IP / 78-65 / 3.99 ERA / 717 K
Dick Ruthven is the classic example of a pitcher who gave his team just enough to win. Always sporting good win-loss records, Ruthven was an expert at going six or seven innings, giving up two or three runs per start. Of course, he was also very good at pitching into the ninth inning, doing that countless times during his Phillie career. He had two stints in Philly, first as a rookie having a mixed experience — his ERA hovered at 4.00, but he won very little. He returned in 1978 when the Phils traded Gene Garber to Atlanta for him. While Garber pitched well in Atlanta, Ruthven did a nice job in Philly, winning 61 games in his six seasons during that second stint.
Comment: Ruthven wasn’t a dominant pitcher by any means, but he won a lot of games and provided a stable No. 3 during those great Phillie teams of the Schmidt-Carlton years.
