Ray Knight

Charles Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952) is an American former Major League Baseball infielder best remembered for his time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets.

Originally drafted by the Reds in the tenth round of the 1970 Major League Baseball Draft, he is best remembered to Reds fans as the man who replaced Pete Rose at third base, whereas Mets fans remember Knight as the man who scored the winning run of game six of the 1986 World Series and as the MVP of that series.

Knight made his major league debut with Cincinnati as a September call-up in 1974.

He spent all of 1975 and 1976 with the triple A Indianapolis Indians.

In 1976, with only one home run coming into the final month of the season, Knight borrowed a bat from Reds star George Foster and hit nine in the remaining games of the year.

He would later borrow Foster's bat again in the major leagues when Foster was injured.

During those seasons, the Reds won two World Series titles.

He returned to the majors in 1977.

Knight was a .232 hitter with two home runs and 19 runs batted in when he assumed the role of starting third baseman for the "Big Red Machine" following Rose's signing with Philadelphia Phillies in 1979.

Knight responded with a .318 Batting average, 10 home runs, 79 RBIs and 64 runs scored to finish fifth in National League Most Valuable Player balloting.

On May 13, 1980, Knight broke out of an 0-for-15 slump by homering twice in the fifth inning of a 15–4 win over the Mets.

He was the first Red to hit two home runs in one inning.

He made his first All-star appearance in 1980, hitting a single off Tommy John in his first at-bat.

In 1981, Knight batted .259 with six home runs and 34 RBIs.

On December 18, 1981, he was traded to the Houston Astros for César Cedeño, to accommodate Johnny Bench's move from behind the plate to third base.

Knight split his time between third and first base with the Astros.

He made the All Star team in 1982, and played third base in the game.

However, he made more appearances at first than he did at third during the regular season.

After batting .304 in 1983, Knight was batting only .237 in 1984, he was traded on August 28, 1984, to the New York Mets for three players to be named later (Gerald Young, Manuel Lee and Mitch Cook).

Knight platooned third base with the newly acquired Howard Johnson for the 1985 and 1986 seasons.

In his first full season with the Mets, Knight batted only .218 with six home runs and 36 RBIs.

During the off-season, the Mets attempted to trade Knight to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Lee Mazzilli, but were denied.

Knight adopted a new batting stance in 1986 and saw immediate results, crushing six home runs and batting .306 with twelve RBIs in the month of April.

Teammate Ron Darling spoke highly of Knight's contributions in a midseason interview: "Besides our pitching, it has been Ray Knight's emergence that has been the difference. He carried us for a long time."

On July 22, Knight incited a bench clearing brawl at Riverfront Stadium against his former teammates.

Eric Davis pinch-running for Reds player/manager Pete Rose in the tenth inning stole second and third base.

Knight took the throw from Mets catcher Gary Carter late, brought his glove to Davis' face and knocked his helmet off.

A stare off ensued, followed by a right cross from Knight.

The benches emptied and as a result of all the ejections from this fight (along with Darryl Strawberry who had previously been ejected for arguing balls and strikes), back-up catcher Ed Hearn was brought into the game, and Carter moved from behind the plate to third.

The Mets won the game in fourteen innings.

The Mets won 108 games in 1986 and took the National League East convincingly by 21.5 games over the Phillies.

For the season, Knight batted .298 with eleven home runs and 76 RBIs to earn NL Comeback Player of the Year honors.

Knight batted only .167 in the 1986 National League Championship Series against his former teammates, the Houston Astros.

In the World Series, however, Knight broke out with a .391 batting average and five RBIs.

The Mets won the 1986 World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox.

Knight's single in the tenth inning of game six of the Series drove in Gary Carter for the first run of the inning, and also pushed Kevin Mitchell to third, allowing him to score on Bob Stanley's wild pitch.

Knight then scored the winning run from second after Mookie Wilson's ground ball went through the legs of Bill Buckner, and Knight's celebration as he rounded third to score was one of the indelible images of the series.

Aaron Boone matched the feat on August 9, 2002.

He was most recently a studio analyst and occasional game analyst for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network's coverage of the Washington Nationals from 2007 to 2018.

Knight grew up in Albany, Georgia, and attended Dougherty High School and Albany Junior College.