Jack Billingham

Career: Played in the big leagues for parts of 13 seasons with five different teams, including the Dodgers as a rookie in 1968.

Did you know? Claims to be a distant cousin of Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson ... however, unlike his more famous relative who won 20 or more games for a record 12 straight seasons, "Captain Jack" never registered a 20-victory season, but did win a career-high 19 games in 1973 and 1974, and won 10 or more games for 10 straight years (1970-79) ... was originally signed by the Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1961 and made his big league debut with the club seven years later ... in 50 games as a Dodger rookie, he was 3-0 with a sparkling 2.14 earned run average, while registering eight saves, including two against the Mets on the same day ... made just one start as a Dodger, shutting out the Pirates for eight innings, on August 5, 1968, but was not involved in the decision ... was left unprotected in the 1968 expansion draft by the pitching-rich Dodgers and was selected by Montreal with the 10th pick ... never pitched for the Expos as he was shipped to Houston for outfielder Rusty Staub prior to the start of the 1969 campaign ... after three ho-hum seasons with the Astros, was traded to the Reds as part of the infamous Joe Morgan blockbuster deal during the winter meetings of 1971 ... gave up Hank Aaron's record-tying 714th career home run at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium on Opening Day, April 4, 1974 ... his 0.36 earned run average in World Series play is the second lowest of any pitcher with a minimum of 25 innings pitched ... won World Series titles with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 ... closed out his career pitching for the Tigers and Red Sox, retiring in 1980.

Post-game: Owned a sporting goods store, and was a longtime minor league pitching coach, retiring after the 2004 season ... was inducted into the Reds HOF in 1984 and the Winter Park High Sports HOF in 1995.

Sources: Baseball Reference; SABR Bio; Retrosheet; Charleston Daily Mail, 4/3/1976; Sacramento Bee, 8/14/1977; Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/12/1986; Dayton Daily News, 11/23/1975, 6/28/1987; Orlando Sentinel, 6/15/1961, 4/30/1995; Knoxville News-Sentinel, 5/9/2005.