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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 was a .232 hitter with two 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 . 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, , 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 , 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.
After batting .304 in , Knight was batting only .237 in , 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 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. Trailing 5–3 with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6 of the Series, Knight 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.
He hit the tiebreaking home run in game seven, and was rewarded with the World Series MVP award and the Baseball Writers' Association of America's Babe Ruth Award for the best performance in the World Series.
| 13 | 1495 | 4829 | 490 | 1311 | 266 | 27 | 84 | 595 | 14 | 343 | 579 | 36 | .271 | .390 |
Knight managed the Reds from 1996 to , and served as acting manager for a single game in . He made his managerial debut on April 1, 1996, but the game was postponed when home plate umpire John McSherry suffered a severe cardiac episode and later died after only seven pitches. In 1997, he forgot how many outs there had been in a half-inning in which the Reds were at bat and called for a bunt at an inopportune time. He later fined himself $250 for the incident. The team's lack of success would lead to his firing midway through the 1997 season in favor of Jack McKeon.
From 2007 to 2018, Knight was a broadcaster with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) and co-hosted Nats Xtra, MASN's pregame and postgame show for its Washington Nationals broadcasts. Johnny Holliday, Knight's fellow MASN broadcaster and Nats Xtra co-host, playfully referred to him as the "Silver Fox."
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In 2013, Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany, Georgia, unveiled a street on the property named Ray Knight Way.
Knight is good friends with former Reds' teammate Harry Spilman, who grew up twenty minutes away from Knight in Georgia. While they were both in the Reds' system, the two spent $700 on a pitching machine to work on their hitting.
Knight is a member of the Golden Gloves boxing association.
On October 23, 2017, Knight was arrested after an altercation at his condo in the Alexandria, Virginia, area with an unidentified 33-year-old man. Both were taken to the hospital and Knight was charged with assault and battery. The charges were subsequently dropped.
Knight participated in the 2021 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary series about the 1986 New York Mets season, Once Upon a Time in Queens.
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