1982 Cincinnati Reds

The last time we checked in on the Reds, they had the best record in the National League, but were getting robbed out of playoff appearance due to the playoff settings in the strike shortened year of 1981. In 1982, they fell all the way down to being the worst team in the National League. Not only did the Big Red Machine breakdown in 1982, this was the only Reds team in history to lose over 100 games and the worst percentage wise since the 1937 Reds.

MVP/Cy Young
It's hard to give an MVP award to an offensive player on this team. This team really had an awful offense. Cesar Cedeno led in batting average with a .289 average. Dan Driessen led the team in home runs (17), co-led in RBIs with Cedeno (57!), OBP and SLG percentage. But they were very dismal numbers. To give you an idea how bad, the Padres were a .500 team and Driessen would've been 2nd in home runs on that team, but 6th in RBI.

The pitching side wasn't much better. Only one pitcher who had at least 46 innings of work had a winning record, and that was Mario Soto. Tom Seaver even went 5-13 on this team. Soto had a 14-13 record, but had a 2.79 ERA to go with 274 strikeouts. He definitely was the ace of the pitching staff and also was the MVP of this team.

Rookie Card of the Year
It seems like the Reds have more local players on their team then any other (Pete Rose, Barry Larkin come to mind), and even though he was from Columbus, Eddie Milner would probably have to be considered another one of these local kids. His rookie card was in the Topps Traded set.

Although he was one of those players whose career probably got derailed by cocaine use in the 1980s, he was a solid speedy outfielder throughout the '80s for the Reds and one year for the Giants.

Most Interesting Non-Topps Card
Another player born in nearby Columbus, Paul Householder was looked at as a great prospect for the Reds going into the 1980s. He was a regular for this team in 1982. He improved his numbers in 1983, but was never more than a part time player after 1983 playing for the Cardinals, Brewers, and Astros.

Householder was on the Reds prospects card in the Topps set in 1981. He had solo cards in the 1981 Fleer and Donruss sets. Even though he came up in 1980 and had solo cards in other sets, Topps still put him on the Reds prospects card in the 1982 set. Again, he had his own card in the 1982 Donruss and Fleer sets. He wouldn't get his own Topps card until the 1983 set.

Note: Another former top prospect was traded to the Reds in December of 1981, Clint Hurdle. He appeared in only 19 games for the Reds, and did not have a card in the traded set. His 1982 card showing him in a Royals uniform is listed here.

Starters

__	TT	120	C	Alex Trevino	CIN
__	TO	785	1B	Dan Driessen	CIN
__	TO	427	2B	Ron Oester	CIN
__	TO	400	3B	Johnny Bench	CIN
__	TO	660	SS	Dave Concepcion	CIN
__	TT	72	LF	Eddie Milner	CIN
__	TT	19	CF	Cesar Cedeno	CIN
__	DO	314	RF	Paul Householder (or FL 68)	CIN
__			OF	Duane Walker

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	63	SP	Mario Soto	CIN
__	TO	459	SP	Bruce Berenyi	CIN
__	TO	128	SP	Frank Pastore	CIN
__	TO	30	SP	Tom Seaver	CIN

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	763	CL	Tom Hume	CIN
__	TT	105	RP	Bob Shirley	CIN
__	TT	56	RP	Jim Kern	CIN
__	TO	492	RP	Joe Price	CIN
__	TO	169	RP	Charlie Leibrandt	CIN
__	TT	41	RP	Greg Harris	CIN

Other Players

__	TO	159	UT	Larry Biittner	CIN
__	TT	58	3B	Wayne Krenchicki	CIN
__	TO	194	LF	Mike Vail	CIN
__			2B	Tom Lawless
__			C	Dave Van Gorder
__	TO	361	IF	Rafael Landestoy	CIN
__			LF	Gary Redus
__	TO	562	C	Mike O'Berry	CIN
__			2B	German Barranca
__	TO	297	OF	Clint Hurdle	KCR
__			RP	Ben Hayes
__			RP	Brad Lesley
__			RP	Bill Scherrer
__	FL	65	RP	Joe Edelen	CIN

Manager/Coaches

__	DO	526	MG	John McNamara	CIN
__			MG	Russ Nixon