Quote of the day
Posted: October 17, 2020 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baltimore Orioles, Baseball, Cincinnati Reds, Jim Palmer, Joe Morgan, Major League Baseball, MLB, quotes, sports Leave a commentI knew if I walked him and he felt good, he’d steal second. And if he felt really good, he’d steal third. That would be like throwing a triple. So I gave him a low fastball, and he hit a home run.
~Jim Palmer on Joe Morgan

Jim Palmer and Joe Morgan (Getty Images)
RIP Joe Morgan
Posted: October 12, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century | Tags: All-Star Game, Baseball, Cincinnati Reds, Gold Glove Award, Houston Astros, Joe Morgan, Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Silver Slugger, sports, World Series 2 CommentsLegendary second baseman Joe Morgan played Major League Baseball for the Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Oakland Athletics from 1963 to 1984. Over the course of his career, Morgan won two World Series championships with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and was also named the National League MVP in each of those years. Morgan was also a ten-time All-Star, a five-time Gold Glove winner, and won the Silver Slugger award in 1982. Morgan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, and he has also been inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame and the Astros Hall of Fame.
Joe Morgan died on October 11, 2020 in Danville, California at the age of 77.
Rest in peace.

Joe Morgan, 1973 (Baseball Hall of Fame)
RIP Tom Seaver
Posted: September 3, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: All-Star Game, Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, coronavirus, COVID-19, Cy Young Award, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, National League, New York Mets, Rookie of the Year, Tom Seaver 1 CommentWith a nickname like “Tom Terrific,” you know he was good at his job. Born November 17, 1944, Tom Seaver pitched for twenty seasons in Major League Baseball. Over the course of his career, he played for the New York Mets, the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago White Sox, and the Boston Red Sox.
Seaver won the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 1967, and during his career, he won three NL Cy Young Awards. He was also a 12-time All-Star, compiling 311 wins, 3,640 strikeouts, 61 shutouts, and a 2.86 ERA. Just to pad the résumé a little, Seaver even threw a no-hitter in 1978.
Tom Seaver was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. He passed away a few days ago, on August 31, 2020 from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19.
Rest in peace.

Wikimedia Commons
Sparky Anderson’s Hall of Fame induction speech
Posted: April 11, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century | Tags: Baseball, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Sparky Anderson, sports Leave a commentThis might be my favorite Hall of Fame induction speech that I have listened to thus far. Sparky Anderson speaks with an energy and an attitude that makes me smile. I particularly like how he pronounces “Cincinnati.” Sparky Anderson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.
King Kelly
Posted: March 17, 2020 Filed under: 19th Century | Tags: American Association, American Civil War, Baseball, Boston Beaneaters, Boston Reds, Cap Anson, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Cincinnati Reds, history, Holidays, King Kelly, National Baseball Hall of Fame, National League, New York Giants, Players' League, sports, st patricks day, vaudeville 4 Comments
Wikimedia Commons
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d take a moment to look at the life of Michael Joseph “King” Kelly: outfielder, catcher, baseball manager, and the son of Irish immigrants. Many even consider Kelly to be the game’s first true superstar.
Michael Joseph Kelly was born on December 31, 1857 in Troy, New York. He was the son of Mike and Catherine Kelly, who had left Ireland during the 1840s to escape the potato famine. In 1862, when little Mike was four years old, his father joined the Union army in the American Civil War, leaving Catherine to raise Mike and his older brother, James. Following the war, the family moved to the Washington, D.C. area. However, after his father fell ill, he left the army, and the Kelly family moved to Paterson, New Jersey. Sadly, the older Mike’s health continued to decline, and in the early 1870s, he passed away. His wife followed him in death shortly thereafter.
The now-orphaned Mike Kelly found work in a factory to support himself. At the end of each work day, he would spend his evenings playing baseball around town. Paterson was home to several amateur clubs, and in 1873, the fifteen-year-old Kelly was invited to play baseball on Blondie Purcell’s amateur team, which played teams throughout the New York metro area. From 1875 to 1877, he played three seasons of semi-pro ball in Paterson and in other cities.
In 1878, the Cincinnati Red Stockings offered Kelly a contract, making him a major league ballplayer at the age of twenty. The Red Stockings signed Kelly as a catcher and an outfielder, but he played primarily in the outfield since the Red Stockings already had an established catcher in Deacon White. After playing in Cincinnati for two years as an outfielder and backup catcher, Kelly took part as players from the Cincinnati team and the Chicago White Stockings went on a barnstorming tour of California. During the tour, Cap Anson invited Kelly to join the Chicago team for the 1880 season.
As a member of the White Stockings, King Kelly was among the league leaders in most offensive categories every year, including leading the league in runs from 1884 through 1886 and in batting in 1884 and 1886. He was also one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, becoming one of the first to use a glove, mask, and wear a chest protector. Cap Anson even gave credit to Kelly for inventing the hit-and-run, and he participated in devising strategies for the game that are now considered commonplace, including playing off first and third base, adjusting the outfield positions according to the player batting, the double steal, and the infield shift. Chicago won five pennants while Kelly played for the White Stockings.
Off the field, however, Kelly was known for his drinking, his charm, and his tendency to bend the rules. Kelly’s off-the-field behavior did not hurt his popularity with the fans, but he frequently was fined by team owners for disorderly conduct. Anson tried, but generally failed, to try to keep Kelly in line behaviorally, and to keep him physically fit.
After the 1886 season Chicago sold Kelly to the Boston Beaneaters for a then-record $10,000. By this time, the 28-year-old Kelly was arguably the biggest star in the National League. Newspapers and fans called him “King” Kelly or “The Only” Kelly. As a member of the Beaneaters, Kelly continued to produce offensively, scoring 120 runs in 1887 and 1889. He also continued to draw large crowds to games, even though Boston didn’t win any pennants. In addition, now that he was no longer under Cap Anson’s supervision, Kelly became even less self-disciplined, especially off the field.
During the 1890 season, Kelly managed and played for the Boston Reds in the Players’ League, and the Reds won the only Players’ League title under his leadership. Then, in 1891, Kelly returned to Cincinnati as the captain of a newly established American Association Reds. However, by August, the team folded, and Kelly signed back with the Boston Reds, who had moved to the American Association after the Players’ League folded. Kelly spent just four games with the Reds before returning to the Beaneaters to finish out the season.
After spending the 1892 season with the Beaneaters, batting a career-worst .189, his contract was assigned to the New York Giants for 1893. He played just twenty games for the Giants, batting .269 and driving in 15 runs.
Kelly’s big league career ended after the 1893 season, having collected 1,357 runs, 69 home runs, 950 RBIs, and a .308 batting average. He won eight pennants with various teams during his sixteen seasons, and he also hit better than .300 eight times. He led the league three times in both doubles and runs scored, and is one of the few NL players to have scored a record six runs in a game. In his career Kelly played every position on the diamond, even making appearances on the mound. Kelly was also known throughout the game for making controversial plays, including this play that led to the creation of Rule 3.03.
Off the field, King Kelly took on an acting career shortly after he first arrived in Boston. In March 1888, Kelly made his regular play debut, as Dusty Bob in Charley Hoyt’s “A Rag Baby.” He was also popular enough to book a vaudeville act during the 1892-1893 off season, where he was billed as “King Kelly, the Monarch of the Baseball Field.” In the off season of 1893-94, Kelly performed in “O’Dowd’s Neighbors.” Additionally, in 1889, he was the subject of the popular song, “Slide, Kelly, Slide.” Kelly’s autobiography, Play Ball was published while he was with the Beaneaters in 1888, the first autobiography by a baseball player.
King Kelly died of pneumonia in November 1894 in Boston. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945.
This day in baseball: Cincinnati signs Nuxhall
Posted: February 18, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Cincinnati Reds, history, Joe Nuxhall, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports, World War II 4 CommentsHaving obtained his parents’ permission, Joe Nuxhall signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds on February 18, 1944 at the age of fifteen years old. Nuxhall would become the youngest player ever to appear in a major league game, tossing 2/3 of an inning for Cincinnati that June, with forty-nine days to go until his sixteenth birthday.

Joe Nuxhall (MLB.com)
This day in baseball: Carl Mays sold to Reds
Posted: December 23, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Carl Mays, Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball, Miller Huggins, MLB, New York Giants, New York Yankees, sports 9 CommentsYankees submarine pitcher Carl Mays was sold to the Reds for $85,000 on December 23, 1923. Mays had a personality that tended to clash with most people, and he never really got along with manager Miller Huggins in New York. Mays would go 49-34 in Cincinnati before ending his career with the New York Giants.

sabr.org
This day in baseball: Joe Tinker traded to the Reds
Posted: December 15, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Art Phelan, Baseball, Bert Humphries, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Franklin Pierce Adams, Grover Lowdermilk, Harry Chapman, Major League Baseball, Mike Mitchell, MLB, Pete Knisely, Red Corriden, sports Leave a commentOn December 15, 1912, the Chicago Cubs traded Joe Tinker, as well as Harry Chapman and Grover Lowdermilk, to the Cincinnati Reds for Red Corriden, Bert Humphries, Pete Knisely, Mike Mitchell, and Art Phelan. Tinker, who had been canonized in Franklin Pierce Adams’ baseball poem “Tinker to Evers to Chance,” went on to serve as the player-manager for Cincinnati.

1912 Joe Tinker baseball card (Wikipedia)
This day in baseball: Frank Robinson is Rookie of the Year
Posted: December 1, 2019 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Cincinnati Reds, Frank Robinson, Major League Baseball, MLB, National League, Rookie of the Year, sports Leave a commentFrank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds was unanimously voted the National League Rookie of the Year on December 1, 1956. After making his major league debut that year, Robinson had tied the then-record of 38 home runs by a rookie.

Baseball Almanac