Being in contention and having a loaded farm system this season, got me to thinking that this seemed to be a yearly occurrence for me growing up. It seemed as if the Reds always had a good team and help down on the farm. I went back and looked at the Franchise Index and had no idea exactly how good the team was back then. I was 7 years old when the Reds went to the World Series in 1961. From 1961-1981, a span of 21 years, Cincinnati had exactly two losing seasons. They went to the World Series five times, winning it twice. They had two other playoff seasons and were denied the playoffs in 1981 in spite of having the best record in baseball. They were a cumulative 1901-1427 during that span, 474 games over .500. Their winning percentage was .571. That winning percentage in a 162-game season works out to 92.5 wins per year. In other words, winning 92.5 games would have been just an 'average' year for them. You would have seen the following players during that era - including but not limited to - Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson, George Foster, Vada Pinson, Tony Perez, Dave Concepcion, Chico Cardenas, Dan Driessen, Lee May, Ken Griffey, Sr.,
Wally Post, Gus Bell, Johnny Edwards, Gordy Coleman, Jim Maloney, Gary Nolan, Don Gullett, Tom Seaver, Wayne Simpson, Jack Billingham, Joey Jay, Bob Purkey, Jim O'Toole, Ted Abernathy, Wayne Granger, Clay Carroll, Pedro Borbon, Tom Hume, Mario Soto, and a host of others.
May a Second Golden Age of Cincinnati baseball be on the way and may it last as long as the First. It has been a dark decade. Reds' fans deserve a break.
Yearly Record from 1961-1981:
Code:YEAR WON LOST PCT. 1981 66 42 0.611 1980 89 73 0.549 1979 90 71 0.559 1978 92 69 0.571 1977 88 74 0.543 1976 102 60 0.630 1975 108 54 0.667 1974 98 64 0.605 1973 99 63 0.611 1972 95 59 0.617 1971 79 83 0.488 1970 102 60 0.630 1969 89 73 0.549 1968 83 79 0.512 1967 87 75 0.537 1966 76 84 0.475 1965 89 73 0.549 1964 92 70 0.568 1963 86 76 0.531 1962 98 64 0.605 1961 93 61 0.604 TOTAL 1901 1427 0.571
