Thursday, July 22, 2010

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

2 comments:

  1. Awesome As Always.

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  2. I am almost done with the '82 sets and will be moving onto 1983 in the next few posts...I only have one 1982 team left, the Minnesota Twins

    ReplyDelete