Reds History

The Reds procured Ken Griffey Jr. from the Seattle Mariners, who was currently coaching the Reds and had once served as a member of the Reds roster. Griffey Jr. in his first season with the team he hit his 400th HR and became the youngest player to achieve this feat. The Reds finished the season in second place with a record of 85-77. In 2001, Ken Griffey Jr. missed most of his season due to a torn hamstring. They accumulated the worst home record in baseball since CINergy Field's Out Field bleachers were removed to make a space for the construction of the Reds new ballpark scheduled to open in 2003. After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the schedule for the regular-season also changed. The Reds spent the remaining season in cellar and finished the season in 5th place with a hideous 66-96 record. The only god thing happened was the comeback of Jose Rijo after having been sidelined for god 5 years due to an arm injury. In 2002, Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field was bulldozed to be replaced by the Great American Ball Park. It took only 37 seconds to change the stadium into a mountain of debris. Over 25,000 people saw the mutilation.

The Reds in their last season at the aging ballpark opened the season with a strong start. Griffey after coming back from the knee injury hit just 8 HR and 23 RBI and played only 70 games. The Reds with a terrible performance in the 2nd half of the season finished the season in 3rd place with a record of 78-84. In 2003, the Big Red Machine inaugurated their new ballpark located on the banks of river Ohio. In their home opening game, the Reds hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates and were defeated by Pittsburgh Pirates by 10-1 before a sellout crowd of 42,343. The loss on the opening day indicated something bad for the rest of the season. Ken Griffey Jr. was injured again. However, the Reds managed to climb above .500; the ownership sensed the team’s incapability to enter the pennant chase even and began to trade off the players. Reds even replaced Manager Bob Boone with Dave Miley. Later the father-son combo of manager Bob Boone and third baseman Aaron Boone was broken with the trade of Aaron to the New York Yankees. The Reds finished the season in 5th place with a record of 69-93. The Reds finished the first half of the season above .500 and were surprisingly in first place. Junior Griffey hit 20 HRs and belted his 500th home run on Father's Day, but due to a torn hamstring played only 3 games in the second half of the season, which left the Reds with a 76-86 record at season's end. The Reds finished the season in 4th place with 76-86 record. In 1869 the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional baseball organization in the United States, and played its first game as the Cincinnati Red Stockings against the Mansfield Independents.

The exclusive thing about the game was that players played under a contract. The lay out of the salary was $11,000. Seven years later in 1876 the team joined the NL and shortened their nickname to Reds. The Cincinnati Red Stockings are among the 8 original teams that begin play in the newly formed National League and without any doubt became the worst in the new league as they only win 9 times in 65 tries. In 1878, the team started showing some signs of improvement, but before it could reach the summit, the team was ejected from the league, because the team refused to follow the new NL rule to ban the sale of beer at Sunday games. As a result, the Reds along with six other teams formed the American Association (AA) in 1881. The following season Cincinnati won the first AA pennant. The Reds rejoined the NL in 1890 and the following season, the American Association folded. The Red Stockings signed local stars & aging veterans. The Reds in a run to become prominent struggled for almost 30 years, but finished no better than third place until 1918. In 1919, finally the Reds chase for prominence materialized when they won their first NL pennant and first World Series. Powered by outfielder Edd Roush and pitchers Hod Eller, Dutch Ruether, and Slim Sallee, the Reds bested the Chicago White Sox. But the glory tainted when it was revealed that eight Chicago players accepted the bribe to lose the game. In the remainder of the 1920s and early 1930s the Reds were finished no better than second division dwellers. By 1931 the team became broke.

In 1933, Powell Crosley Jr. and Lewis M. Crosly bought the team and hired Larry McPhail to be the General Manager. In 1938 Vander Meer threw two straight no-hitters, becoming the only pitcher in major league history to do so. Led by catcher Ernie Lombardi, first baseman Frank McCormick, and pitcher Bucky Walters, the Reds repeated as NL Champions in 1939 and 1940 with a World Series victory in 1940. The Reds during the decade of 1940s and 1950s faded. Powered by outfielders Vada Pinson and the season’s NL MVP, Frank Robinson the Reds won their fourth pennant but were swept by the New York Yankees in the World Series. In the 1970s, the Reds were at their best. They won two World Series championships, four NL pennants, and six division titles under Manager Sparky Anderson with the line-up featuring Johnny Bench, George Foster, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Pete Rose, and Tom Seaver, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Kevin Mitchell, and Reggie Sanders. From 1985 to 1988, the Reds finished the seasons in second-place under the player-manager Rose who was later on eliminated from the baseball fraternity for betting on major league games. In 1990 first-year manager Lou Piniella led the Cincinnati to its fifth World Series title powered by outfielder Eric Davis, shortstop Barry Larkin, and third baseman Chris Sabo. In 1999, the Reds they won 96 games, but lost the Wild Card berth to the New York Mets in a one game playoff. The logo of the team has a red "C" with the word "REDS" inside and the mascot of the team is Mr. Red & Gapper