 Richards became a successful manager with the Chicago White Sox in 1951.In a baseball era when many teams relied on home runs for much of their offensive production, Richards went against the perceived common wisdom by relying on pitching, good defense, speed and stolen bases to manufacture runs with a strategy now known as small ball.It was during that stint that he once had starting pitcher Billy Pierce play first base for one batter, bringing in a right handed pitcher to face a right handed hitter, taking out the starting first baseman, and then replacing him when Pierce went back to pitch one hitter later.