Name: Richard Dotson
Rank: 67
Position: P
Years With White Sox: 1979-1987, 1989
Richard Dotson joined the White Sox organization, along with Bobby Bonds and Thad Bosley, in a December 5, 1977 trade that sent Brian Downing, Dave Frost, and Chris Knapp to the Angels. He made his major league debut on September 4, 1979 against those same Angels, going 1 and 1/3 innings and giving up 5 earned runs, leaving him with a 33.75 ERA after 1 start. He made 4 more starts over the final month of the season, giving up just 5 additional earned runs and finishing with a 2-0 record with a 3.70 ERA.
Dotson moved into the rotation full time for the White Sox in 1980. He finished second on the team with 12 wins, finishing 12-10 with a 4.27 ERA. He ended up placing 7th in Rookie of the Year voting, behind winner Joe Charboneau and teammate Britt Burns.
Dotson saw improvement in the strike-shortened 1981 season. He finished with a 9-8 record and improved his ERA to 3.77 in 24 starts, leading the league with 4 shutouts.
1982 was a disappointing season for Dotson and the White Sox. He finished with a losing record for the first time and gave up more hits than innings pitched, yet still ended the season with a 3.84 ERA.
Dotson had his breakout season in 1983, as he helped lead the White Sox to their first division title. He finished the regular season 22-7 with a 3.23 ERA, good enough to place 4th in Cy Young Award voting and 20th in MVP consideration. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as successful in the ALCS, giving up 6 runs in 5 innings and earning the loss in Game 3 against the Orioles.
1984 was another good year for Dotson, as he earned his first All Star Game nod, throwing 2 scoreless innings in the mid-summer classic at Candlestick Park. He finished with a losing record for the disappointing White Sox team, going 14-15 with a 3.59 ERA in a career high 245 2/3 innings pitched.
An injury derailed Dotson’s 1985 campaign, as he started only 9 games before undergoing surgery for a career-threatening circulatory problem in his upper chest near the right shoulder. He returned in 1986 and was the only White Sox starter to not miss a turn in the rotation. His results, unfortunately, were not as encouraging as he went 10-17 with a 5.48 ERA.
Dotson bounced back a little in 1987. He went 11-12 with a 4.17 ERA for a White Sox team that finished with a losing record for the second straight year. Following the season, he was traded, along with Scott Nielson, to the Yankees for Dan Pasqua, Steve Rosenberg, and Mark Salas.
After being released by the Yankees at the end of June in 1989, Dotson rejoined the White Sox for the last 3 months of a season in which they would lose over 90 games. Appearing in 17 games, Dotson went 3-7 with a respectable 3.88 ERA. At the end of the season, Dotson became a free agent and left the White Sox for good. After retiring, Dotson rejoined the White Sox organization as a coach and has spent the last 10 seasons as pitching coach for the Charlotte Knights, the team’s Triple A affiliate.
Dotson’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
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Our Throwback Thursday feature continues, as we point the wayback machine back to the 1980s and put our focus on the offensive leaders of that decade. As a reminder, I’ve identified 14 games that I attended during this time period, when I would have been ages 5 through 14.