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 may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher 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 Chapter 1 The Big Red Machine 4 Chapter 2 The First Pros 12 Chapter 3 One Good Decade One Bad 18 Chapter 4 Struggles Stars and the Sixties 26 Chapter 5 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
CHAPTER 1 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 the strongest lineups in base ball history Third baseman Pete Rose would later become Major League Baseball’s MLB career hits leader In 1975 he combined with first base man Tony Perez outfielder George Foster catcher Johnny Bench and second baseman Joe Morgan to strike fear into opposing pitchers They led the Reds to 108 wins that season That was the highest total in the National League NL in 66 years Yet in the sixth inning of the seventh game of the World Series the Reds appeared doomed again Pete Rose was one of the top batters in baseball history He led the NL in Pete Rose was one of the top batters in baseball history He led the NL in hits seven times and finished his career as baseball’s all-time hit leader hits seven times and finished his career as baseball’s all-time hit leader THE BIG RED MACHINE 5
