[1][2] During his playing career, he was a catcher and right-handed batter with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1932), New York Giants (1933–1935), Philadelphia Athletics (1935) and Detroit Tigers (1943–1946).

[3] Born in Waxahachie, Texas, Richards began his professional baseball career in the minor leagues as an infielder in 1926 at the age of 17.

[4] In a baseball oddity, Richards pitched with both hands in a minor-league game on July 23, 1928, for the Muskogee Chiefs of the Class C Western Association against the Topeka Jayhawks.

[7] In 78 games with Minneapolis, he posted a .361 batting average and, he was subsequently purchased by John McGraw's New York Giants in September 1932.

[9][10] Richards was already showing a keen baseball mind as Atlanta's catcher in 1936 when he helped turn around pitcher Dutch Leonard's career.

Richards encouraged him to throw a knuckleball and, within two years, Leonard was back in the major leagues with the Washington Senators, where he became a 20-game winner in 1939.

[3] When professional baseball experienced a shortage of players during World War II, Richards returned to the major leagues in 1943 with the Detroit Tigers at the age of 34.

[1] While his batting average was a relatively low .220 in 100 games played, he led the American League catchers in fielding percentage, range factor, baserunners caught stealing and putouts and, finished second in assists.

[14] Richards was the Tigers' starting catcher in six games of the seven-game series and, contributed 6 runs batted in, second only to the 7 produced by Hank Greenberg.

[5] Richards concentrated on signing good defensive players (such as Brooks Robinson) and hard-throwing young pitchers (such as Steve Barber, Milt Pappas and Chuck Estrada).

[24] Richards stocked the Houston club (soon renamed the Astros) with young players – including Joe Morgan, Jimmy Wynn, Mike Cuellar, Don Wilson and Rusty Staub – but he was fired after the 1965 season when the on-field results did not match owner Roy Hofheinz' expectations.

He inherited a strong core of players including Henry Aaron, Joe Torre, Felipe Alou, and Rico Carty.

[3] He added several young pitchers and position players to the mix and converted knuckleballing reliever Phil Niekro into a successful starter.

[3] In 1976, after three and a half years out of the game, Richards was hired by Bill Veeck to return to Chicago as manager of the White Sox.

[3] After a losing record, he retired from the field at the end of the season, but stayed in the game as a player personnel advisor with the White Sox, and the Texas Rangers.