Adding
to the “Nicknames of the 1970’s” thread, here’s a card for the
juggernaut we all know as the “Big Red Machine”, the back-to-back World
Champion Cincinnati Reds of the mid-decade who packed a line-up about as
good as any during the era:
It really is amazing that they didn’t win more than two championships.
However when your dynasty is sandwiched between two other dynasties
(Oakland & NY Yankees), it certainly wasn’t easy.
The Reds built their team through good old scouting, as well as shrewd
trades, leading up to a team that had (at last count) three Hall of
Famers in Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, as well as Pete Rose,
whose a HOFer in my book anyway.
Throw in guys like George Foster, Ken Griffey Sr, Dave Concepcion, and
it’s almost not even fair to the rest of the league at this point.
Though they didn’t have that top “Ace” that the era had with so many
other teams, they had reliable, solid arms in guys like Gary Nolan, Don
Gullett, Jack Billingham and Fred Norman, with a bullpen that was ahead
of it’s time.
“Captain Hook” Sparky Anderson led the team, pretty much using a six-man
rotation at time along with bringing in relievers at the drop of a hat,
which was really not the norm at a time when pitchers still routinely
reached 300-innings pitched.
An absolute steamrolling team that squashed THIS seven-year-old’s dreams
when they swept my Yanks in the 1976 World Series, the very fist one I
watched as a baseball fan.
It still amazes me that the team had SIX MVP’s during the decade: 2x
Bench and Morgan, Pete Rose and George Foster! What a line-up!