1970s retrospective and 1980 preview from This Week in Baseball.
Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. The team won six National League West Division titles, four National League pennants, and two World Series titles. Its combined record from 1970-1979 was 953 wins and 657 losses, an average of more than 95 wins per season.
The core of that Reds team had the best record in the Major Leagues in 1981, but did not make the postseason because of Bowie Kuhn’s split-season playoff format due to the player’s strike.
The nickname was introduced in a July 4, 1969 article by Bob Hertzel in The Cincinnati Enquirer, but gained prominence in reference to the 1970 team, which posted a regular season record of 102-60 and won the National League pennant. Rookie and future-Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson headed the team, which at its peak featured Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Pérez, and was supported by Dave Concepción, George Foster, César Gerónimo and Ken Griffey, Sr. The Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s garnered more World Series appearances than any other team during that decade, with an overall record of 953 wins and 657 losses. They are the only National League team during the last 97 years to win back-to-back World Championships. Before them, the 1921 and 1922 New York Giants were the last NL team to accomplish this feat. Among NL teams, only the 1996 Atlanta Braves and the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies have returned to the Fall Classic with a chance to repeat as World Champions in years since, both falling to the New York Yankees of the “Core Four” era. The 2010-2014 San Francisco Giants did win three World Championships in five years, at least sparking the debate of whether they could be considered a National League dynasty, but they did not reach the postseason in consecutive years during this span.
The “Great Eight”
The eight players most frequently referenced as members of the Big Red Machine include baseball’s all-time hit leader in Rose; three Hall of Fame players in Bench, Pérez and Morgan; six National League MVP selections; four National League home run leading seasons; three NL Batting Champions; 25 Gold Glove winning seasons, and 63 collective All-Star Game appearances.The starting lineup of Bench, Rose, Morgan, Pérez, Concepción, Foster, Griffey, and Gerónimo (collectively referred to as the “Great Eight”) played 88 games together during the 1975 and 1976 seasons, losing only 19.
Later Years
Dan Driessen took over at first base for Tony Perez in 1977. Although some of the original players departed the team, some extended the Big Red Machine nickname for two more years until the departures of Anderson and Rose following the 1978 season. The Reds turned around to finish in second place in 1977 and 1978. Ray Knight replaced Pete Rose at third base for Cincinnati in 1979 and the rest of the Reds starting lineup still included six of the great eight: Bench, Morgan, Foster, Concepcion, Griffey and Geronimo. The Cincinnati Reds won another division title in 1979, but lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLCS.
The Big Red Machine had one last great run in 1981 when they finished the strike season with the best record in baseball. Only three of the great eight remained in the starting lineup: Foster, Griffey and Concepcion. Bench had an injury plagued season and was moved from catcher to third base. Tom Seaver had a win-loss record of 14-2 and an ERA of 2.54 while starting only 23 games in the Reds’ strike-shortened 108-game regular season. Despite that, the Reds finished second in the National League West in both halves of the season, making them ineligible to compete in the postseason despite having the best overall record in baseball.
Rivalries
The Big Red Machine’s archrival were the Los Angeles Dodgers. The two teams often competed for the NL West division title and finished either first or second in every year from 1970 through 1979 with the one exception being 1971. Reds manager Sparky Anderson once said, “I don’t think there’s a rivalry like ours in either league. The Giants are supposed to be the Dodgers’ natural rivals, but I don’t think the feeling is there anymore. It’s not there the way it is with us and the Dodgers.” The rivalry ended when division realignment moved the Reds to the NL Central. However, they did face one another in the 1995 NLDS.
The Big Red Machine was also part of the rivalry with the two Pennsylvania teams. All of the Reds’ four pennants in the 1970s came against these teams (Pittsburgh Pirates in 1970, 1972, and 1975, and Philadelphia Phillies in 1976). In 1979, Pete Rose added to the notion of the Big Red Machine being part of the rivalry when he signed with the Phillies and helped them win their first World Series championship in 1980.
20 Comments
Those were the days
Dick Wagner = Idiot
Will McEnaney and Rawly Eastwick were the relief pitching stars of the 1975 Reds, as shown in 2:25. (There was also the veterans Clay Carroll and Pedro Borbon, to round off a few formidable bullpen). Looking back at their careers now, it's sad how short the careers of McEnaney and Eastwick turned out to be. McEnaney, who was 23 in that 1975 season and saved 15 games, was out of the MLB at the age of 27. He was off the Reds roster following a disappointing 1976 season. Eastwick was 24 in 1975 and saved 22 games. He had an even better 1976 season with the Reds, but was traded in the middle of the 1977 seasons and managed to eke out a few more seasons in MLB, retiring at the age of 30. He never came close to repeating the success he had with the Reds.
I became a Reds fan in June of 1977 with the trade of my favorite player Tom Seaver and the team was striving for their third title in a row. Little did my 7 year old self know at the time that I would have to wait 13 years until 1990 for their next championship. None the less the years 1977 to 1981 were good years but just not good enough to win it all.
The weakest link on those teams was its Manager, Sparky Anderson. He didn't like to use young players who weren't already established (Ken Griffey the exception) and platooned both Dave Concepcion and George Foster with inferior players their first 5 seasons with the team. I feel Sparky unnecessarily held them back from eventual HOF.
The first two seasons Anderson managed, the Reds had several starting pitchers he completely misused. For any other manager, Gary Nolan, Don Gullett, Ross Grimsley, Milt Wilcox and Wayne Simpson would be a great rotation. The Big Red Machine didn't collapse in 1977 when they traded away Tony Perez, Captain Hook's mismanagement of the pitching staff was exposed.
Greatest team ever
Being frugal (cheap) ruined the "Big Red Machine". The front office didn't want to spend what was needed to keep all the core players together, starting with Tony Perez…
I can remember some great pennate races with Dodgers.
thats the longest description ive ever seen
Cool to see these '70's highlights.
Why can’t today’s Cincinnati Reds go back to wearing these Big Red Machine Uniforms?
Matthew 6:33 but seek ye first the kingdom of God
Man those 70s Reds were something else
the 80's were not all that good. Take away the 81 season when they had the best record but failed to get in the playoffs due to that stupid split decision. Mid 80's were awful until Pete came back and started hat string of 2nd place finishes, then in 89 we know what happened to Pete… 1990 though Wire to Wire with Sweet Lou at the helm.
32 years…still waitn. ugh
Born in ‘95 I was born a reds fan. I still hold out hope that we can be great again. That baseball can be great again.
and yet we still love FRANK..
bad decisions and racism cost us everything in 1970..
yes, Brooks destroyed us but Frank on our side would have been enough to win for years..
imagine the career Bench would have had given modern medical procedures..
i from the small northern cal town as Gary Nolan, he’s the only famous person to come from there. so cool to see this
PETE ROSE H.O.F