After three seasons in the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Leonard had been sent back to the minor leagues where he played with Richards in Atlanta. 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. Richards played for the Crackers from to . From 1938 to 1942 he served as a player-manager for the Crackers. Richards led the Crackers to the pennant in and "The Sporting News" named him as minor league manager of the year. 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. 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. Richards also served as an unofficial pitching coach for manager Steve O'Neill. His strong defensive play continued in 1944, leading the league's catchers in fielding percentage, range factor and baserunners caught stealing percentage, and finished second in putouts and baserunners caught stealing as, the Tigers lost the pennant on the last day of the season. In 1945, Richards' batting average improved to career-high .256 and he once again led the league's catchers in fielding percentage and in range factor, as the Tigers won the American League championship, then, defeated the Chicago Cubs in the 1945 World Series. In the deciding Game 7 of the series, he hit 2 doubles and had 4 runs batted in. 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. Despite his low batting average, he ended the season ranked in 10th place in the American League Most Valuable Player Award voting, due in part to his handling of the Tigers' pitching staff which led the league in winning percentage, strikeouts, shutouts and finished second in earned run average. Richards was one of the annual The Sporting News All-Stars for 1945  After hitting only .201 in 1946, he returned to the minor leagues, playing three more seasons as a player-manager with the Buffalo Bisons. He led Buffalo to the International League pennant in before, retiring as a player at the age of 40. In an eight-year major league career, Richards played in 523 games, accumulating 321 hits in 1,417 at bats for a .227 career batting average along with 15 home runs and 155 runs batted in.