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For the Cincinnati Reds, 1981 was a hallmark in two ways
"You can look at the 1981 season in two ways from the perspective of the Reds: It was the season the franchise got a raw deal from Major League Baseball, or it was the season that the Big Red Machine Era ended.
It was both."...
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...ys/5205915002/
There were only five players left on the 1981 Reds who were also on the 1976 World Champion club:
Johnny Bench
George Foster
Dave Concepcion
Ken Griffey
Dan Driessen
Of course, in addition to those five, there were a few more holdovers from the 1979 NL West Champion club:
Ray Knight
Dave Collins
Junior Kennedy
Tom Seaver
Mario Soto
Frank Pastore
Mike LaCoss
Tom Hume
Paul Moskau
Two other players from the 1979 club also played for the Reds in 1981, but were traded before the end of the season:
Doug Bair
Harry Spilman
Additionally, Ron Oester, Sam Meijas, and Charlie Leibrandt were September call-ups in 1979.
I met Moskau and LaCoss at a Baseball Scouts dinner in LA, Moskau was a good hitter for a pitcher
I remember Moskau hitting a home run on an NBC Game of the Week. It was the first time I remember seeing a pitcher hit a home run.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Berenyi
Mike LaCoss
Attachment 16091
The Big Red Machine was a monster team filled with superstars. 1981 was not the end of the BRM, not by a long shot. 1981 was a good team that had the best record in baseball in a shortened season that might have done good things in the post season if given the chance. But the BRM was done when Perez left. It was further in rear view mirror when Rose left. Morgan and Bench were on the descent of their careers. Foster wasn't hitting 40 or 50 homers anymore. Dreissen, Oester, Knight and Collins don't make up half a BRM. And actually Joe Nolan caught more games than Bench did that season.
1981 was the end of string of competitive rosters, but the BRM was gone 4 seasons earlier.
As much as I hate to say this. I don't think the 81 team would have went far in the playoffs. Outside of Seaver and Soto the starting staff was well below average.
Hume and Price were decent out of the pen, but the rest of the staff was not very good. That team over achieved.
Most overrated Reds team IMOQuote:
Originally Posted by KeefeCato
Hard to say, on paper I agree. But that team split with the Dodgers at 8-8 and only had a losing record against the Braves(5-6) and the Cardinals(OUCH 0-5). I think all of baseball was down that season and the Reds were almost as mediocre as anybody else. But looking at the Dodgers starting pitching and you can see why they won it all and the Reds would've probably gotten taken down by them in a short series.Quote:
Originally Posted by westofyou
If they had just won 1 freaking game against the Cards in the first half. I don’t know how well they would have played in 2nd half knowing they win the 1st. The Dodgers were coasting most of the 2nd half. They didn’t look good. The Expos really put up some big games against the Reds in that 2nd half. 1 hit by Ray Burris and losing 12-0. In my dreams Of a just baseball world they face the Cardinals who had the 2nd best record on the NL. A lot of times the teams that met in the NLCS from 1970-80 more often the team that beat the other more ended up losing. Like in 1972. 73 and 79.
They play the Brewers in the WS instead of the Yankees. The Brewers had the best record in the East and as much as an As and Reds rematch was I was looking forward to a Midwest series. The Reds won in 7 and next year they don’t go all Florida Marlins on their roster. The Brewers beat the Cardinals in 82 to get their ring and St Louis has to wait even longer to win a WS. Except they don’t win in 2O06 in 2011 either in my just baseball world.
I thought Berenyi was the wild card in that staff. Or depending if he had his head on right and focused. The Joker.Quote:
Originally Posted by KeefeCato
He could dominate in some games and then he would turn in a 7 walk in 2 inning performance against the Dodgers during a DH.
They had the starters to go close to the full 9 in those 3. Needing only Price and Hume after that. I believed.
That part about the Dodgers coasting is why MLB screwed it up. But in all its greed, it wasn't going to sacrifice playoff series. To make things kosher, they should've made the rule that if a team wins both halves, they automatically win their division and skip the inner-division playoff series. Then the Dodgers would've had motivation to play in the 2nd half.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony Cloninger
Instead the rule was that if a team won both halves, they had to play the team with the 2nd best overall record in their division. So 4 teams had nothing to play for. This skewed the whole season and probably allowed the Reds to have the best record without getting to the playoffs, same with Cards. If the Dodgers and Phillies had motivation to play the 2nd half, Reds and Cards probably still don't make the playoffs and we all feel better about how things played out.
I always found it kind of ironic, that since the mid 60s, the Dodgers have only won one legitimate World Series(1988). They were considered the Yankees of the National League kind of. Yet in close to 55 years, they only won one World Series that didn't involve a strike season(where they didn't even have the best record in their division). I also believe that the Reds being in the same division as the Dodgers was a good thing for us as I don't think the Reds would have had nearly the resume they did in the 70s if they had to play the pitching rich Dodgers in a 5 game series for the pennant. So overall, the Dodgers got screwed more than the Reds overall from the 70s through the 80s.
Yes sadly I was inconsistent,, I gave up very few homers, and threw a "heavy" ball, but walked too many, alas how lugubrious, I could have been the next Kip Gross
You were undisciplined and unrefined. Your attitude soured badly in 1982 due to frustrations over run support. You strangely got better when traded to the Mets in the middle of 1984. I was sorry for your arm troubles after that. I will always remember you dominant performances in 1981 with some 1 and 2 hitters.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Berenyi
thank you just like I will always remember your grand slams off sadecki, and you coming to the reds with clay carroll, although I am not fond of your 1970 world series effort