KC2HMZ’s 10 Greatest Moments In Reds History
By
KC2HMZ
Posted at 8:34 pm
Because it's almost time to bring down the curtain on 2006, and this is a time we tend to look back at the past (as well as ahead to the future…that's why they put Janus on the calendar, folks!), I've decided to help offset the shortage of Reds-related news during this holiday season by posting this, my list of the ten greatest moments in Reds history.
It wasn't easy. Also, I limited it to events that happened during my time as a Reds fan…so stuff like Johnny Van Der Meer's consecutive no-hitters isn't here because that stuff was before my time. OK, here goes…the first three were no-brainers:
1. Reds Sweep Oakland in 1990 World Series - Nobody, and I mean nobody (except maybe the Reds themselves) gave the Reds a prayer against Oakland in the 1990 WS. Everybody you talked to was sure the A's were going to clobber the Reds. One person - only one - asked me if I thought so too. She didn't like the answer, either. I told her, “Well, don't bet your house on it.” Eric The Red - Eric Davis - set the tone in Game One with a homer in his first at-bat of the series. The Reds never looked back. So Dawn, if you're reading this - I was the guy in Good Guys West who told ya so. Hope you enjoyed the Series!
2. Reds Sweep Yankees in 1976 World Series - No offense to anyone who's a Yankees fan, but I live in the Buffalo area…I'm a Reds fan…and because of the Yankees it's almost impossible to see a Reds game on TV here. Due to this, I hate the Yankees, and enjoy watching them lose almost as much as I enjoy watching the Reds win. So imagine how much fun it was watching the Reds beat the Yankees four times in a row to repeat as World Champs following…
3. Reds Win 1975 World Series - This was the one featuring Carlton Fisk's famous homer in Game Six, but the Reds overcame a 3-0 fifth-inning deficit to win Game 7. Ken Griffey Sr. scored the last two runs.
4. Johnny Bench's game-tying homer leading off the ninth inning of the 1972 NLCS against the Pirates. I can still hear Al Michaels on WLW radio: “Change hit in the air to deep right field! Back goes Clemente!! At the fence!! SHE'S GONE!!!”
5. Pete Rose Collects #4192 - Charlie Hustle lines a first-inning single into right center off the Padres' Eric Show to break Ty Cobb's record. There followed a standing ovation that went on for a full seven minutes. A much better September 11 (1985) event than the one that comes to mind when that date is mentioned now.
6. On Fathers' Day 2004, with his father and his son watching from the stands, Ken Griffey Jr. takes Matt Morris deep for his 500th career homer.
7. Tom Browning's perfect game against the Dodgers in 1988.
8. Tom Seaver's No-Hitter - How perfect it was that the cover of the Reds program in 1978 was a tribute to Tom Seaver. Almost a year to the day he was traded to Cinci from the Mets, Seaver pitched the only no-hitter of his career, a 4-0 win over the Cardinals.
9. Pete Rose ends the 1970 All-Star Game (played in Cinci) by annihilating AL catcher Ray Fosse at the plate.
10. June 2, 1989 - Eric Davis saves the hard one for last, getting a triple in his final AB as he hits for the cycle.
Here's hoping 2007 brings something to add to the list. To Amanda and Jon and all of you out there, best wishes for a Happy and prosperous New Year!
HMZ
Nice recap.
And don’t worry, we Yankee fans are used to abuse. 😉
Last night, a Red Sox fan signed my guestbook. Loves Bubba, hates the Yanks. Apparently, Bubba has fans in Red Sox Nation who are thrilled that he’s escaped from New York. Now that he’s a Red, they can root for him without rooting for the Evil Empire. 😀
1976 is before my time, anyway, so it’s not like I have any bad memories about it. One of my best friends is a Pirates fan who loves to talk about Maz’s game 7 walkoff homer in 1960. And I love hearing about it, actually, even though it was the Yanks who were vanquished with that swing. She was a little girl at the time, and used to walk to Forbes Field after school. They let people in free in the later innings, and school let out just in time to get in free.
It just boggles my mind. What a different world. People let in free, even during the World Series? The World Series played during the day? And a world where parents could let their little girls go to pro ball games alone. Nowadays, a lot of parents I know won’t even even bring their kids to games, because of fans behaving badly.
Very nice, HMZ. I’ll look forward to the ten WORST moments in Reds history. I’m thinking Danny Graves has a place on there somewhere.
The ten WORST moments? Hmmm…
Well, yeah, Graves would be among them for sure, for that game against the Indians where he gave up five runs and one middle finger in less than an inning of work.
But, I’d have to say the worst moment I can remember was the night during a game against the Twins when Ken Griffey Jr. swung at a pitch, and had the bat slip out of his hands and fly into the seats in the front row behind the Reds’ dugout, where it conked Carl Lindner’s ten-year old granddaughter, Christine Lindner, upside the dome.
Eight stitches in the left side of her forehead. Probably not anything like what the young lady had expected to take home from that night’s game.
I seem to recall that a few days later, she met with Griffey and he autographed the bat for her. Which I suppose was the least he could do under the circumstances.
Also on the list would probably be Pete Rose getting suspended and subsequently banned from baseball, Pete Rose getting suspended for 30 days after his run-in with umpire Dave Pallone in which pallone poked Pete in the eye, and Rick Wise of the Phillies back in 1971 not only throwing a no-hitter against the Reds, but also hitting two homers in the game.
We could also do the ten funniest moments in Reds history. Anybody else out there remember Nolan Ryan’s parody of Brad Lesley on the mound during a game in ’82? That would be my #1.
HMZ