Table Of ContentCINCINNATI
REDS
by Marty Gitlin
An Imprint of Abdo Publishing
www.abdopublishing.com
www.abdopublishing.com
Published by Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO, PO Box 398166,
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55439. Copyright © 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group,
Inc. International copyrights reserved in all countries. No part of this book
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SportsZone™ is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing.
Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota
052014
092014
Editor: Chrös McDougall
Copy Editor: Nicholas Cafarelli
Interior Design and Production: Carol Castro
Cover Design: Kazuko Collins
Photo Credits: Al Behrman/AP Images, cover, 47; AP Images, 1, 7, 9, 18,
21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33, 37, 42 (middle and bottom), 43 (top); Ron Frehm/AP
Images, 4, 43 (middle); Rusty Kennedy/AP Images, 11; Library of Congress, 12,
15, 17, 42 (top); Tom Uhlman/AP Images, 34; Paul Sakuma/AP Images, 38; Matt
Slocum/AP Images, 41, 43 (bottom); Gene J. Puskar/AP Images, 44
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014932911
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gitlin, Marty.
Cincinnati Reds / by Marty Gitlin.
p. cm. — (Inside MLB)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62403-466-4
1. Cincinnati Reds (Baseball team)—History—Juvenile literature. I. Title.
GV875.C65G58 2015
796.357’640977178—dc23
2014932911
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
Chapter .............The Big Red Machine, 4
2
Chapter .............The First Pros, 12
3
Chapter .............O ne Good Decade, One Bad, 18
4
Chapter .............S truggles, Stars, and the
Sixties, 26
5
Chapter .............Ups, Downs, and Ups, 34
Timeline, 42
Quick Stats, 44
Quotes and Anecdotes, 45
Glossary, 46
For More Information, 47
Index, 48
About the Author, 48
1
CHAPTER
THE BIG RED
MACHINE
I
t seemed unthinkable that the Cincinnati
Reds could lose the 1975 World Series.
They were just too good. The team was
not nicknamed “The Big Red Machine”
for nothing.
The 1975 Reds had one of Joe Morgan to strike fear into
the strongest lineups in base- opposing pitchers. They led the
ball history. Third baseman Reds to 108 wins that season.
Pete Rose would later become That was the highest total in
Major League Baseball’s (MLB) the National League (NL) in 66
career hits leader. In 1975, years.
he combined with first base- Yet in the sixth inning of
man Tony Perez, outfielder the seventh game of the World
George Foster, catcher Johnny Series, the Reds appeared
Bench, and second baseman doomed—again.
PPeettee RRoossee wwaass oonnee ooff tthhee ttoopp bbaatttteerrss iinn bbaasseebbaallll hhiissttoorryy.. HHee lleedd tthhee NNLL iinn
hhiittss sseevveenn ttiimmeess aanndd ffiinniisshheedd hhiiss ccaarreeeerr aass bbaasseebbaallll’’ss aallll--ttiimmee hhiitt lleeaaddeerr..
5
THE BIG RED MACHINE
The Reds had a reputa- dominated the regular season.
tion of being a powerhouse Their bullpen had shut down
during the regular season. the Red Sox’s bats in the fifth.
They had made the playoffs in Then Perez blasted a two-run
three of the past five years. But home run in the sixth. Rose
they fell short of winning the added a single that drove in the
World Series each time. Now tying run in the seventh.
it appeared they were about to The score remained tied
disappoint again. They trailed until the ninth inning. Morgan
the Boston Red Sox 3–0 in the stepped to the plate with run-
top of the sixth inning. ners on first and second and
But then the Reds started two outs. He proceeded to hit
to look like the team that had a bloop single up the middle,
driving in the go-ahead run.
Reds reliever Will McEnaney
JJooee MMoorrggaann
then blanked the Sox in the bot-
RReeddss sseeccoonndd bbaasseemmaann JJooee MMoorrggaann
tom of the inning. Finally, the
lllooooookkkeeeddd ooodddddd aaattt ttthhheee pplllaaattteee... HHHeee ffflllaappppeeddd
hhiiss lleefftt aarrmm lliikkee aa cchhiicckkeenn aass hhee Reds had won their first World
aaaawwwwaaaaiiiitttteeeedddd tttthhhheeee ppppiiiittttcccchhhh ttttoooo mmmmaaaakkkkeeee cccceeeerrrrttttaaaaiiiinnnn
Series title since 1940.
hhee kkeepptt hhiiss eellbbooww uupp.. BBuutt nnoobbooddyy
qquueessttiioonneedd tthhee rreessuullttss.. MMoorrggaann The parade festivities the
bblloossssoommeedd iinnttoo aa HHaallll oofff FFaammeerr uuppoonnn
following day featured beloved
hhhiiisss aaarrrrrriiivvvaaalll iiinnn CCCiiinnnccciiinnnnnnaaatttiii iiinnn 111999777222... HHHeee
ssccoorreeddaatt lleeaasstt 110077 rruunnssaannddssttoollee manager Sparky Anderson.
aaaannnn aaaavvvveeeerrrraaaaggggeeee ooooffff 66660000 bbbbaaaasssseeeessss iiiinnnn tttthhhheeee nnnneeeexxxxtttt
A Sports Illustrated reporter
ssiixx sseeaassoonnss.. HHee wwoonn tthhee NNLL MMoosstt
described the jubilation from
VVVaaallluuuaaabbbllleee PPPlllaaayyyeeerrr (((MMMVVVPPP))) AAAwwwaaarrrddd iiinnn bbbooottthhh
1111999977775555 aaaannnndddd 1111999977776666.... MMMMoooorrrrggggaaaannnn llllaaaatttteeeerrrr ssssppppeeeennnntttt early that morning.
22221111 sssseeeeaaaassssoooonnnnssss ccccaaaalllllllliiiinnggg EEEESSSSPPPPNNNN''''ssss SSSuuunnndddaaayyy
“It was a bright, joyous day
NNNiiiggghhhttt BBBaaassseeebbbaaallllll...
in Cincinnati, and the streets
6
CINCINNATI REDS
The Cincinnati Reds celebrate after beating the Boston Red Sox to win
the 1975 World Series.
were already alive with cel- see the parade. . . . As the Reds
ebrants,” he wrote. “Flakes arrived via another route, sec-
of ticker tape, calendar pads, retaries in office buildings
stationery, toilet paper floated jumped from their desks and
lazily from upper-story win- waved from behind windows.”
dows of downtown buildings. The writer continued,
. . . By noon, townspeople had “Anderson held his arms aloft
overflowed Fountain Square. and, on his arrival at the
“Youngsters scaled trees, podium, bent to embrace a star-
statues, fences, lampposts to tled little boy, a gesture that
7
THE BIG RED MACHINE
SUPER SPARKY earned him even more affec-
tion from the crowd.”
Sparky Anderson had no
That affection for Ander-
managerial experience when Reds
son and his team grew the
general manager Bob Howsam
following season. The Big
interviewed him after the 1969
Red Machine led the league
season. Yet Howsam had a feeling
in runs, hits, doubles, triples,
that Anderson could thrive as the
team's manager. So he took a chance home runs, stolen bases, and
and hired him to take over the young, batting average in 1976. Five
talented team. “I needed a leader, starters hit .300 or better as
somebody to get all that ability out of the Reds averaged 5.3 runs
our players,” Howsam said. per game.
He made a good choice. Many believe that Bench
Anderson guided the Reds to a
was the best hitting catcher in
franchise-best 102–60 record and
baseball history. But he was
the NL pennant in 1970. He led them
not one of those .300 hitters
to the World Series again in 1972
in 1976. In fact, he suffered
before earning titles in 1975 and
through his worst year offen-
1976. His Reds teams won at least 88
sively that season. But he was
games in eight of the nine years he
ready when the Reds faced
served as manager.
the New York Yankees in the
Anderson left the Reds after
World Series. He batted .533
refusing to accept changes in his
for the Series and slugged two
coaching staff following the 1978
home runs in Game 4 as the
season. He was sorely missed as he
Reds completed an unlikely
managed the Detroit Tigers to the
sweep to win their second
1984 World Series title.
World Series in a row.
8
CINCINNATI REDS
