Ray Knight

Charles Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952) is an American former infielder best remembered for his time with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets in Major League Baseball (MLB). 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 for scoring the winning run of game six of the 1986 World Series, hitting a go-ahead home run in game 7 to give the Mets a lead they would not relinquish, and as the MVP of that series. 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.

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. Aaron Boone matched the feat on August 9, 2002. 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).