Reds trivia

[JohnU]

This one will trip your trigger. This former Reds pitcher, who went to the Mets in the expansion draft, was the first Mets pitcher to get a victory.

 

[bengaldoug]

Jay Hook?

 

[JohnU]

Very good.

 

[bengaldoug]

I wanted to say Joey Jay first. Had the right name, just on the wrong end.

 

[JohnU]

I think Joey Jay is an interesting name -- the first names of two of our best hitters.

Joey Jay is some pretty interesting trivia in his own right. First Little Leaguer in the bigs ... came over from the Braves for Roy McMillan in a three-way deal in 1960. Won 20 games for the Reds in '61, which was a pretty big reason they won the pennant. (Interesting picture. Note the "C" is not the traditional wishbone style for that year's jersey.)

 

[Hit-n-Run]

John, You're thinking of the early 1950 logo that 'Klu" wore.

The jersey pictured is after the mid-5o "Redlegs" era uniform that featured the plain red wishbone. It's the first home uniform the Reds put the word "Reds" back in the design after dropping it and the name "Reds" in the mid-50's over concerns of McCarthyism and communism. The wishbone returned in the late 60's.

The one Joey is wearing is the same style Pete Rose wore in 1963 rookie season. Pete is known for the #14, but what number did he wear in spring training in 1963?

 

[JohnU]

I am not thinking of anything except the jersey that Jay is wearing, clearly without the traditional wishbone C. This ball card is from 1961, or so it said. Jay did not join the Reds until the winter of 1960.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Not disagreeing with you John. I may of misunderstood your original post. I thought you were saying the logo was wrong for the year of the card. Now I think you were just pointing out the fact that it was different from the traditional style C of other years.

Sorry

 

[JohnU]

No need to be sorry. I recall when the Reds went to the vest jerseys in the middle 50s, mostly because Klu needed to have the sleeveless shirt on account of his arms being so big. Later, the Pirates and Indians went to the vests too. I still like the look and think it's authentically Cincy. I sort of wish they'd go back to it, only without so much black in them.

As well, the team wore a blue cap back in the late 40s that looked oddly not unlike the Cubs caps.

 

[JohnU]

More trivia for you oldies.

When Klu played, the Reds moved the right field fence in at Crosley about 15 feet, so there was a fence in front of the Moon Deck. The idea was to give Klu more dingers, though he usually hit them so far that it didn't matter anyhow.

What was this area called?

 

[Hit-n-Run]

I think it was the goat run.

Did you ever go to Crosley before they painted it white? I only remember it as being white.

 

[JohnU]

I can't recall it being any other color but most of the time, when we were little kids, I think that wasn't something we paid any attention to, being from a tiny town in Indiana. Going to Cincy was a big enough deal and being at the ballgame was overwhelming.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The Reds have had siblings play together a few times over the years. To my knowledge the Boone brothers were the last to be on the field at the same time. The question is;

Who were the last siblings to appear on the field at the same time before Aaron and Brett Boone?

 

[JohnU]

btw, Goat Run is correct.

Ambling through a guess, I think Mike and Frank McCormick were brothers. Maybe not. That would have been around 1940. I will defer to smarter people on this one.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

I like trivia with a few clues, so here's a couple for the sibling question.

It happened in 1998, the Boones played in the same game.

It was the last game of the season and it was the only game one of the brothers would appear in. The brother with one game was removed in the middle of the game leaving Aaron and Brett as the last brothers to appear together.

 

[BigDDude]

Bob Boone isn't correct, but this manager was a catcher also.

Jerry Narron? He was only a part time catcher, and hardly played, so he is my guess.

 

[chico ruiz]

maybe the larkin sibs.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Barry and Stephen Larkin would be correct. The game had Stephen at 1b, Brett at 2b, Barry at SS and Aaron at 3b.

Stephen Larkin only had 3 career AB's, so it was more of a gimmick than anything else.

On the stolen base question BigDDude, someone already got that one. The answer was Russ Nixon with over 2700 AB's without stealing a base.

Jerry Narron was a good guess though, he never stole a base, but with less AB's.

 

[JohnU]

I guess the slowest player ever was Ernie Lombardi, but of course he didn't manage. But what a hitter. Wonder how many singles he had that bounced off the scoreboard.

I did manage to look up the Larkins and, yeah, that was a gimmick.

 

[JohnU]

Here's another for you oldies.

The '55-'59 Reds had a guy who played a little outfield but was mostly a part-timer. But he was quite productive off the bench. They called him "Big Swish." Anybody care to guess who that guy was?