Major League Baseball ToDay

In 1970, little known George “Sparky” Anderson was hired as manager, and the Reds embarked upon a decade of excellence, with a team that came to be known as “The Big Red Machine”. Playing at Crosley Field until June 30, 1970, when the Reds moved into brand-new Riverfront Stadium, a 52,000 seat multi-purpose venue on the shores of the Ohio River, the Reds began the 1970s with a bang by winning 70 of their first 100 games. Johnny Bench, Tony Pérez, Pete Rose, Lee May and Bobby Tolan were the early Red Machine offensive leaders; Gary Nolan, Jim Merritt Jim Maloney and Jim McGlothlin led a pitching staff which also contained veterans Tony Cloninger and Clay Carroll and youngsters Wayne Simpson and Don Gullett. The Reds breezed through the 1970 season, winning the NL West and captured the NL pennant by sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in three games. By time the club got to the World Series, however, the Reds pitching staff had run out of gas and the veteran Baltimore Orioles beat the Reds in five games.

After the disastrous 1971 season (the only season of the ’70s during which the Reds finished with a losing record) the Reds reloaded by trading veterans Jimmy Stewert, May, and Tommy Helms for Joe Morgan, César Gerónimo, Jack Billingham, Ed Armbrister, and Denis Menke. Meanwhile, Dave Concepción blossomed at shortstop. 1971 was also the year a key component of the future world championships was acquired in George Foster from the San Francisco Giants in a trade for shortstop Frank Duffy.

The 1972 Reds won the NL West in a baseball first ever strike-shortened season and defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in an exciting five-game playoff series–that fifth game in Cincinnati was the last major league game Pittsburgh’s great Roberto Clemente ever played–then faced the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. Six of the seven games were won by one run. With powerful slugger Reggie Jackson sidelined due to an injury incurred during Oakland’s playoff series against Detroit, Ohio native Gene Tenace got a chance to play in the series for manager Dick Williams, delivering four home runs that tied the World Series record for homers, propelling Oakland to a dramatic seventh game series win. This was the first World Series in which no starting pitcher for either side pitched a complete game. The Reds won a third NL West crown in 1973 after a dramatic second half comeback, that saw them make up 10½ games on the Los Angeles Dodgers after the All-Star break. However they lost the NL pennant to the New York Mets in five games. In game one, Tom Seaver faced Jack Billingham in a classic pitching duo, with all three runs of the 2-1 margin being scored on home runs. John Milner provided New York’s run off Billingham, while Pete Rose tied the game in the seventh inning off Seaver, setting the stage for a dramatic game ending home run by Johnny Bench in the bottom of the ninth inning. The New York series provided plenty of controversy with the riotious behavior of Shea Stadium fans towards Pete Rose when he and Bud Harrelson scuffled after a hard slide by Rose into Harrelson at second base during the fifth inning of Game 3. A full bench-clearing fight resulted after New York’s Wayne Garrett came over from third base to take cheap shots at Rose. The resulting on-field tension led to two separate incidents in which play was stopped. The Reds trailed 9-3 and New York’s manager, Yogi Berra, and legendary outfielder Willie Mays at the request of National League president Warren Giles appealed to fans in left field to restrain themselves. The next day the series was extended to a fifth game when Rose homered in the 12th inning to tie the series at two games each. The Reds won 98 games in 1974 but they finished second to the 102-win Los Angeles Dodgers and MVP Steve Garvey.

The 1974 season started off with much excitement, as the Atlanta Braves were in town to open the season with the Reds. Fans were sporting their Cincinnati Reds Merchandise to the game. Hank Aaron entered opening day with 713 homeruns, one shy of tying Babe Ruth’s record of 714. On a three ball one strike count, the first pitch Aaron swung at in the 74 season was the record tying homerun off Jack Billingham. The next day the Braves benched Aaron, hoping to save him for his record breaking homerun on their season opening homestand. The commissioner of baseball, Bowie Kuhn, ordered Braves management to play Aaron the next day, where he narrowly missed the historic home run in the fifth inning. Aaron went on to set the recond in Atlanta two nights later off Al Downing and the Los Angeles Dodgers. 1974 also was the debut of Hall of Fame radio announcer Marty Brennaman, who replaced Al Michaels, after Michaels left the Reds to broadcast for the San Francisco Giants.

With 1975, the Big Red Machine lineup solidified with the starting team of Johnny Bench (c), Tony Perez (1b), Joe Morgan (2b), Dave Concepcion (ss), Pete Rose (3b), Ken Griffey (rf), César Gerónimo (cf), and George Foster (lf). The starting pitchers included Don Gullett, Fred Norman, Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham, Pat Darcy, and Clay Kirby. However, it was the bullpen that was the key to the Reds’ pitching (and Anderson’s reputation as “Captain Hook”) with Rawly Eastwick and Will McEnaney as the key closers with a combined 37 saves. Pedro Borbon and Clay Carroll filled in as stretchers between the starters and the finishers. However, this was not the lineup on Opening Day. At that time, Rose still played in left field, Foster was not a starter, while John Vuckovich, an off-season acquisition from the Milwaukee Brewers was the starting third baseman, replacing Dan Driessen, who was a decent hitter, but whose defensive skills were considered a weakness. While Vuckovich was a superb defensive shortstop, he was a weak hitter. In May, with the team off to a slow start and trailing the Dodgers, Sparky Anderson made a bold move by moving Rose to third base (a position where he had very little experience) and inserting Foster in left field to bat cleanup. This was the jolt that the Reds needed to propel them into first place, with Rose proving to be reliable on defense, while adding Foster to the outfield gave the offense some added punch. During the season, the Reds compiled two notable streaks: (1) by winning 41 out of 50 games in one stretch, and (2) by going a month without committing any errors on defense.

In the 1975 season, Cincinnati clinched the NL West with 108 victories, then swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in three games to win the NL pennant. In the World Series, the Boston Red Sox were the opponents. After splitting the first four games, the Reds took Game 5. After a three-day rain delay, the two teams met in Game 6, one of the most memorable baseball games ever played and considered by many to be the best World Series game ever. The Reds were ahead 6-3 with 5 outs left, when the Red Sox tied the game on former Red Bernie Carbo’s three-run home run. It was Carbo’s second pinch-hit three-run homer in the series. After a few close-calls either way, Carlton Fisk hit a dramatic 12th inning home run off the foul pole in left field (which is considered to be one of the greatest TV sports moments of all time) to give the Red Sox a 7-6 win and force a deciding Game 7. Cincinnati prevailed the next day when Morgan’s RBI single won Game 7 and gave the Reds their first championship in 35 years.

1976 saw a return of the same starting eight in the field. The starting rotation was led by Gary Nolan. The remaining starters, Don Gullet, Jack Billingham, Pat Zachary, Santo Alcola, and Fred Norman comprised an underrated staff in which four of the six had ERAs below 3.10. Rawley Eastwick, Pedro Borbon, and Will McEnany shared closer duties, recording 26, 8, and 7 saves respectively.

In 1976, the Reds won the NL West by ten games. They went undefeated in the postseason, sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies (winning Game 3 in their final at-bat) to return to the World Series. They continued to dominate by sweeping the Yankees in the newly renovated Yankee Stadium, the first World Series games played in Yankee Stadium since 1964. This was only the second ever sweep of the proud Yankees in the World Series. In winning the Series, the Reds became the first NL team since the 1921-22 New York Giants to win back-to-back World Series championships.