1954 Cincinnati Redlegs

The Redlegs
Cold War politics makes an appearance in major league baseball in 1954. From 1954 through 1959, the Cincinnati Reds weren't known as the Reds, but the Redlegs. The name change was due to the Red scare, but I am not sure how going from the Reds to the Redlegs prevents any confusion. Maybe that is why they changed back to the reds after 1959. The previous four seasons, the Reds finished in 6th place in the National League, but with a name change they moved up to 5th place in 1954. The Reds/Redlegs would finish in the middle of the pack in the National League until they finally made a World Series appearance in 1961. Then of course, shortly after, the Big Red Machine started coming together.



Big Klu
The '54 Redlegs were in the upper half of the league in hitting, but didn't have a solid pitching staff. The offense was led by Ted Kluszewski, who had a monster year with 49 home runs, 141 RBIs (both categories he led the league) and a .326 batting average. This is one of the few players big time players that Topps had in their set, but wasn't in the Bowman set. Looking at Ted Kluszewski, he looks like he would have fit right in during the steroid era, as he would often wear his uniform with cut0off sleeves. He had several big season in the mid-1950s, but injured himself during a clubhouse fight in 1956. He was never the same, and was a part time player from 1957-1961, bouncing around from the Reds to the Pirates to the White Sox, and finally appearing with the Angels during their first season in 1961. It seems funny now, as scouting seems that no player is unfound, but in the mid-1940s, Klu was discovered when the Reds were in spring training in Indiana and he was on the grounds crew.

Starter and Hall-of-Fame/All-Star Scores
Exclusive players to a set are in italics

Topps Regulars (8): Ted Kluszewski, Bobby Adams, Roy McMillan, Jim Greengrass, Chuck Harmon, Bud Podbeilan, Frank Smith, Harry Perkowski

Bowman Regulars (11): Andy Seminik, Bobby Adams, Roy McMillan, Jim Greengrass, Gus Bell, Frank Baczewski, Frank Smith, Joe Nuxhall, Jackie Collum, Karl Drews (shown with Phillies, split time with Reds and Phillies, getting more playing time with the Reds), Harry Perkowski

Topps All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (1): Ted Kluszewski

Bowman All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (1): Gus Bell

This is the first team we come across in 1954 that produces no hall-of-famers. The two all-star game representatives for the Reds in 1954 are each in two of the different sets. Neither set has the top two starting pitchers, Art Fowler or Corky Valentine. Johnny Temple is also missing, but his rookie card wouldn't appear until the 1955 Bowman set. Topps scores by having the best pitcher on this team on a card, in Frank Smith, and by having the only card of longtime Reds catcher Ed Bailey, although he didn't play enough to be considered a regular in 1954. I would say this is a very evenly matched team as far as what set to collect, as Topps has more of the bench players.

Starters

__	BO	172	C	Andy Seminick	CIN
__	TO	7	1B	Ted Kluszewski	CIN
__			2B	Johnny Temple
__	TO	123	3B	Bobby Adams	CIN
__	TO	120	SS	Roy McMillan	CIN
__	TO	22	LF	Jim Greengrass	CIN
__	BO	124	CF	Gus Bell	CIN
__			RF	Wally Post
__	TO	182	3B	Chuck Harmon	CIN

Starting Pitchers

__			SP	Art Fowler
__			SP	Corky Valentine
__	TO	69	SP	Bud Podbielan	CIN
__	BO	60	SP	Fred Baczewski	CIN

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	71	CL	Frank Smith	CIN
__	BO	76	RP	Joe Nuxhall	CIN
__			RP	Howie Judson
__	BO	204	RP	Jackie Collum	CIN
__	BO	191	RP	Karl Drews	PHI
__	TO	125	RP	Harry Perkowski	CIN

Other Players

__	TO	184	C	Ed Bailey	CIN
__	TO	138	RF	Bob Borkowski	CIN
__			OF	Lloyd Merriman
__	BO	220	C	Hobie Landrith	CIN
__			UT	Nino Escalera
__	BO	156	MI	Rocky Bridges	CIN
__			CF	Jim Bolger
__			PH	Dick Murphy
__			PH	Grady Hatton
__	TO	19	PH	Johnny Lipon	BAL
__	TO	136	PH	Connie Ryan	CIN
__			RP	Herm Wehmeier
__			RP	Moe Savransky
__			SP	Jim Pearce
__	TO	97	RP	Jerry Lane	WSH
__	TO	46	RP	Ken Raffensberger	CIN
__			RP	Mario Picone
__			RP	George Zuverink
__			RP	Cliff Ross

Manager

__

MG

Birdie Tebbetts

1983 Cincinnati Reds

We reach the last place team in the NL West. The Reds were improved from the previous season though. The big news in 1983 was that this was the final season for long time Red and arguably the best catcher of all time, Johnny Bench.

Best Player & Pitcher: Mario Soto, he finished 2nd in Cy Young voting in '83. I think he gets overlooked as the heart of his career fell in between the Big Red Machine and the team that won the World Series in 1990, but from 1980-1984, Mario Soto was one of the best in the game. He led the league in complete games in 1983, so this may have something to do with why he fell off after '84.

All-Stars: Johnny Bench, Mario Soto

Hall-of-Famers: Johnny Bench

Rookie Card of the Year: Gary Redus...had the longest career of all the players with a rookie card on this team. He was largely a platoon outfielder through 1994 with the Reds, Phillies, White Sox, Pirates, and Rangers.

Other rookies: Dann Bilardello, Ben Hayes, Tom Lawless, Brad Lesley, Dave Van Gorder, Duane Walker

First Red card: Rich Gale, Alan Knicely, Russ Nixon, Charlie Puleo

Most interesting non-Topps card: Brad Lesley, not much of a playing career, playing for the Reds and Brewers through 1985...but checking out his wikipedia page, he apparently was a fixture on a Japanese game show and appeared in several sports movies.

Starters

__	TT	11	C	Dann Bilardello	CIN
__	TO	165	1B	Dan Driessen	CIN
__	TO	269	2B	Ron Oester	CIN
__	TO	720	SS	Dave Concepcion	CIN
__			3B	Nick Esasky
__	TT	94	LF	Gary Redus	CIN
__	TO	449	CF	Eddie Milner	CIN
__	TO	475	RF	Cesar Cedeno	CIN
__	TO	34	OF	Paul Householder	CIN
__	TO	60	CI	Johnny Bench	CIN
__	TO	243	OF	Duane Walker	CIN

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	215	SP	Mario Soto	CIN
__	TO	139	SP	Bruce Berenyi	CIN
__	TO	658	SP	Frank Pastore	CIN
__	TO	191	SP	Joe Price	CIN
__	TT	88	SP	Charlie Puleo	CIN

Relief Pitchers

__			CL	Bill Scherrer
__			SP	Jeff Russell
__			RP	Ted Power
__	TO	86	RP	Tom Hume	CIN
__	TT	35	RP	Rich Gale	CIN
__	FL	591	RP	Ben Hayes	CIN

Other Players

__	TO	632	C	Alex Trevino	CIN
__			IF	Kelly Paris
__	TT	57	C	Alan Knicely	CIN
__			SS	Tom Foley
__			3B	Wayne Krenchicki
__			UT	Jeff Jones
__			CI	Skeeter Barnes
__			OF	Dallas Williams
__			C	Steve Christmas
__	TO	684	UT	Rafael Landestoy	CIN
__	DO	547	RP	Brad Lesley	CIN
__			RP	Keefe Cato
__	TO	296	RP	Greg Harris	CIN

Minor Leagues

__	TO	423	MN	Tom Lawless	CIN
__	TO	607	MN	Charlie Liebrandt	CIN
__	TO	322	MN	Dave Van Gorder	CIN

Manager

__

TO

756

MG

Russ Nixon

CIN

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

1981 Cincinnati Reds

Unplugging The Big Red Machine
This was the last hurrah for the Big Red Machine, as they would fall off of a cliff and be nearly the worst team in the majors for 1982. Major League Baseball didn't give the Big Red Machine a chance to make a curtain call because of the crazy playoff format in 1981. Although the Reds had the best overall record in all of baseball, they didn't get into the playoffs. The way the playoff format worked, it rewarded teams that were hot at either the start of the season or at the end and punished teams such as the Reds that were consistent throughout. The Reds finished 2nd in both halves of the season.

This was a shell of the team that won back to back World Series in 1975 and 1976 by 1981 anyway. Gone were Sparky Anderson, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Cesar Geronimo along with the entire pitching staff. George Foster, Ken Griffey, and Dave Concepcion were the only starters still around. Johnny Bench was still around, but was playing more first base than catcher in '81, and even that was in a back up role.

The Baseball Bunch
I was 8 years old in 1981, this was about the time I started really paying attention to major league baseball. The name Johnny Bench to me has always meant the host of "The Baseball Bunch", more than a hall-of-fame catcher. By the time I started paying attention, he wasn't as good of a player as he once was and was perceived in my 8 year old world to be more important for hosting a TV show than playing baseball. It was a show that could only be on in the early 1980s. It wasn't really that good, and I am not sure if I watched it all that much, but I do always think of the show when Johnny Bench gets mentioned.

Starters

__	TO	149	C	Joe Nolan	CIN
__	TO	655	1B	Dan Driessen	CIN
__	TO	21	2B	Ron Oester	CIN
__	TO	325	3B	Ray Knight	CIN
__	TO	375	SS	Dave Concepcion	CIN
__	TO	200	LF	George Foster	CIN
__	TO	280	CF	Ken Griffey	CIN
__	TO	175	RF	Dave Collins	CIN
__	TO	600	1B	Johnny Bench	CIN

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	220	SP	Tom Seaver	CIN
__	TO	354	SP	Mario Soto	CIN
__			SP	Bruce Berenyi
__	TO	499	SP	Frank Pastore	CIN
__	TO	474	SP	Mike LaCoss	CIN

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	419	CL	Tom Hume	CIN
__	TO	258	RP	Joe Price	CIN
__	TO	546	RP	Paul Moskau	CIN
__	TO	73	RP	Doug Bair	CIN

Other Players

__			C	Mike O'Berry
__	FL	217	OF	Paul Householder (or DO 303)	CIN
__	TT	736	UT	Larry Biittner	CIN
__	TO	521	OF	Sam Mejias	CIN
__	TO	447	IF	Junior Kennedy	CIN
__	TT	848	RF	Mike Vail	CIN
__	TO	94	CI	Harry Spilman	CIN
__	TT	786	2B	Rafael Landestoy	CIN
__			PH	German Barranca
__			OF	Eddie Milner
__			PH	Neil Fiala
__	TO	126	SP	Charlie Leibrandt	CIN
__			RP	Geoff Combe
__			RP	Scott Brown
__			RP	Joe Edelen

Manager/Coaches

__

MG

John McNamara