OD roster

[JohnU]

Every Reds fan old enough to remember the Big Red Machine knows the story of Pete Rose moving to 3rd and Foster becoming the starting left fielder.

Having some insight as to the player Rose was, I'd imagine he saw very early in the process that he would need to play 3B, so I imagine he spent a lot of time learning that position. I don't know that Rose was ever overly talented in the field but he certainly would have come to grips with the reality that Vukovich was not going to get them out of 2nd place. It would not have taken much convincing for Sparky to see that.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Reds official team historian and former Executive Director of the Reds Hall of Fame told the story of how it came to be in a interesting collaboration with John Erardi.

The Big Red Machine

 

[JohnU]

Reds official team historian and former Executive Director of the Reds Hall of Fame told the story of how it came to be in a interesting collaboration with John Erardi.

The Big Red Machine

Curiously does not mention any pitchers.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The article's title "1975: The year the lineup was set" pretty much describes what the article is about. Sadly it's an accurate depiction of the way the Big Red Machine is immortalized and remembered by most fans.

If your only knowledge of the Big Red Machine was gathered by a trip to GABP, you'd think the team consisted of only the 8 players depicted in the mural. I'd guess most modern fans in attendance can't name those eight, much less the pitching staff.

 

[JohnU]

The article's title "1975: The year the lineup was set" pretty much describes what the article is about. Sadly it's an accurate depiction of the way the Big Red Machine is immortalized and remembered by most fans.

If your only knowledge of the Big Red Machine was gathered by a trip to GABP, you'd think the team consisted of only the 8 players depicted in the mural. I'd guess most modern fans in attendance can't name those eight, much less the pitching staff.

Long running discussions back when we were on the CBS board about how often the "great 8" were on the field together and it was not that often. It really is irrelevant when you figure that when the team opened up a double-digit lead that Sparky was able to give a lot of players the day off over a whole week. Guys like Plummer and Rettenmund got plenty of ABs.
I think the pitching was better than it's given credit for but it's easy to pitch for a team that gets a lead in the first inning. In fact, the odds of winning go up extremely fast if you go into the 2nd inning up 2-0.
Mixed in with all this is that the Dodgers, Pirates and Phils all had very good teams that get swept aside by the legend of the BRM. It was a time when the NL clearly had the dominant players and that had led to the introduction of the DH.
It was also a time when managers began to think of ways to neutralize these power offenses. The nature of pitching changed and the back ends of the bullpen took on new importance.
Enter Bruce Sutter and suddenly ... holy shit ... we need a guy like that!

 

[chico ruiz]

fan 0.5: gary who?

i say……. gary nolan! you a little hard of the hearing?

fan 0.5: bobby tolan?

no no, gary nol……aw forget it. you can look him up on the inter-web.

fan 0.5: i remember the big red machine, says he indignantly.

the reds went to the world series in 70,72, 75, and 76. it was no coincidence that those were nolan's
best years. threw very hard, but by 70 had developed wicked snapping breaking stuff. he was a bit pigeon toed. remember?

fan 0.5: oh yeah, right. he threw a 10 inning no-hitter once.

 

[JohnU]

Nolan, according to him, pitched part of one season in extreme pain because of bone spurs in his elbow. Nobody much cared about that in those days.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I remember a big criticism among Reds fans back then, was that the BRM never had enough pitching. Looking back, they had plenty, they just couldn't stay healthy. Merritt was devastating in his time. Gullett was among the best lefties in the game (and could hit too) before he started having arm issues, and Nolan was one of the better righties when healthy. Wayne Simpson had scary good stuff as a youngster. Jack Billingham and Fred Norman were better than they were given credit for, and the Reds bullpen was arguably one of the best in the game for a decade, albeit with a lot of different faces.

BRM defense was overlooked. 4 perennial gold glovers up the middle, and the others held their own. There were no BAD gloves on the team. Rose couldn't run or throw above average, but I never saw him boot balls or make mental mistakes. George Foster was a hitter, but not a great OF-consistently the least hustle among the 8. Griffey could do everything except hit for power. The best thing I could say about the bench was they must have learned quite a bit, because a whole bunch of them later managed and coached, and one was even a GM.

There were several great teams during that span-Oakland was absolutely loaded, and the Yankees had great talent... IMO, the Dodgers had better pitching than the Reds, and the Redsox and Pirates could hit, but no team played better D than the Reds, or had more HOF hitters in the lineup.