Barry Larkin

[cincinnati chili]

I favor a wax museum of Reds supporting characters.

Billy Bates stepping on home plate
Dan O’Brien carrying his binder
Aroldis Chapman firing a handgun into the wall of his garage
Schottzie dropping a deuce on the astroturf
Bret Boone hitting a long fly to the warning track
Rob Dibble with Lou Piniella in a headlock
A jaundiced Paul Householder during bed rest
A baseball operations intern placing Reggie Jefferson on waivers
Adam from Milwaukee placing a call from the clubhouse pay phone
Ron Oester refusing to shake Jim Bowden’s hand

[foster15]

Eric Davis literally almost gave his Life to win a Championship for the REDS.

Sorry if that's not good enough for you.

He could have played a cushy position like SS, as it was his position when he became a RED, but his incredible talent that was better than Larkin's forced the obvious move to CF, where he was the best to ever play the position for the Cincinnati REDS. Only Marge Schott's refusal to replace the hard concrete and artificial turf and horrible walls prevented Eric Davis from becoming a Hall-of-Fame player. How many World Series' did Larkin get to after Davis left? None. It was Davis who set the tone in the World Series with his 1st Inning HR. Anyone who had a brain knew he was going to hit one off of Stewart in the 1st Inning of that game.

The constant abuse of the hard concrete, turf and walls at Riverfront killed Davis' career. His best far exceeded Larkin's best.

I stand corrected. This is the most ridiculous post I've ever seen. The other one moves to 2nd place.

[REDREAD]

I think it was Bench who said they want a statue of every starter of the BRM. If that;s the case, Concepcion, Foster, Geronimo and Senior are on deck.
As for Nuxhall, it was a vote of the fans. If theyu wanted Joe, then he was going to have a statue. If they wanted Bob Bailey, he would have had a statue. I think it was more of Nuxhall's popularity as an announcer and as a community figure. You're right in that his career, save for his debut, wasn't memorable. In 1960 he was basically booed out of town. But what's done is done and there are worse people that there could be statues of than him.
.

I Agree, there are worse people than Joe to make statues of.
I guess I don't understand why Cincy worships its radio announcers, but that's just me I guess.
Joe was a nice guy.

[Sea Ray]

I Agree, there are worse people than Joe to make statues of.
I guess I don't understand why Cincy worships its radio announcers, but that's just me I guess.
Joe was a nice guy.

Cincinnati does worship their announcers, but I think for Joe they were honoring all of his decades of service to the team. Didn't hurt that he is from the area as well

[REDREAD]

Joe Nuxhall is a Reds icon, also if you dive deeper he's one of the better LH pitchers the team ever had. Totally understand the placement of a statue for him

Is that just because the Reds haven't had many good LH pitchers?
Just curious why you say that.
He played for 14 years.
His career WAR is 26.8
Two time all star
3.90 Career ERA
Career WHIP 1.34
ERA+ 102

He seems just marginally better than Browning (other than longevity). In the past, you said Browning was a middle of the rotation guy at best.
I don't want to argue Browning, I am just using that as a bench mark to help establish a baseline.

[cumberlandreds]

Is that just because the Reds haven't had many good LH pitchers?
Just curious why you say that.
He played for 14 years.
His career WAR is 26.8
Two time all star
3.90 Career ERA
Career WHIP 1.34
ERA+ 102

He seems just marginally better than Browning (other than longevity). In the past, you said Browning was a middle of the rotation guy at best.
I don't want to argue Browning, I am just using that as a bench mark to help establish a baseline.

Nuxhall was one of the Reds best LH pitchers in their history. But more than that he was beloved iconic person who was made in his mark in radio. He came from an era when most fans made their connection with the Reds through radio. That as much as anything was what made him popular and beloved. He spoke like the common person and could laugh at his mistakes. That resonated with most fans. IMO he was deserving of a statue just as all that have at one put up outside of GABP.

[westofyou]

Is that just because the Reds haven't had many good LH pitchers?
Just curious why you say that.
He played for 14 years.
His career WAR is 26.8
Two time all star
3.90 Career ERA
Career WHIP 1.34
ERA+ 102

He seems just marginally better than Browning (other than longevity). In the past, you said Browning was a middle of the rotation guy at best.
I don't want to argue Browning, I am just using that as a bench mark to help establish a baseline.

Correct, the Reds have had a really bad history with LH pitchers, true he's right on par with Browning who is without question, average and the most successful LH Reds pitcher in the division era.

Joe get a statue because he was the one pitcher that folks remember from the late 50's team (which people LOVED and talked about all during the 70's) and the simple fact of being a consistent and highly loved icon of the franchise for decades. Joe is also from the area and that plays into the adulation.

Honoring a player isn't always for their accomplishments on the field, otherwise the hand wringing over the loss of Kyle Farmer would be miniscule

[UKFlounder]

I don’t think it’s unusual with long-term baseball announcers. Names like Mel Allen, Ernie Harwell, Red Barber, Vin Scully, Bob Prince, Harry Carry, and probably others are beloved in thrir towns, if not the sport.



[QUOTE=REDREAD;4488929
I guess I don't understand why Cincy worships its radio announcers, but that's just me I guess.[/QUOTE]

[westofyou]

I don’t think it’s unusual with long-term baseball announcers. Names like Mel Allen, Ernie Harwell, Red Barber, Vin Scully, Bob Prince, Harry Carry, and probably others are beloved in thrir towns, if not the sport.

Lord no... not unusual at all.

Vin Scully, Dave Niehouse, Bill King, Lon Simmons owned the West Coast. Jack Buck was the King of St Louis, people in Atlanta still talk about Skip Carey.

It's not a bug to love the announcer in Baseball, it's a feature. The fact is the reason it happens is because baseball plays well on the radio, it has pauses and lulls and bursts of action and provides an ample time to mull the game over, to tell stories and complain about stuff.

[foster15]

Correct, the Reds have had a really bad history with LH pitchers, true he's right on par with Browning who is without question, average and the most successful LH Reds pitcher in the division era.

Joe get a statue because he was the one pitcher that folks remember from the late 50's team (which people LOVED and talked about all during the 70's) and the simple fact of being a consistent and highly loved icon of the franchise for decades. Joe is also from the area and that plays into the adulation.

Honoring a player isn't always for their accomplishments on the field, otherwise the hand wringing over the loss of Kyle Farmer would be miniscule

As far as your first sentence, Don Gullett says "Hi".

The rest of your post is spot on.

[westofyou]

As far as your first sentence, Don Gullett says "Hi".

The rest of your post is spot on.

True, I'm probably leaning too much on the longevity part too. Hell, I'd likely take peak Fred Norman over Tom Browning most days

[foster15]

True, I'm probably leaning too much on the longevity part too. Hell, I'd likely take peak Fred Norman over Tom Browning most days

Really, longevity is fine, but seems kind of unfair to overlook Gullett in favor of Browning because of it. 7 seasons should be enough that longevity doesn't disqualify nor lesson your accomplishments. And of course, has any pitcher, other than Browning spent 11 seasons with the Reds in the division era? And how many prior to the division era. The reason Browning spent so much time is that never became so good that the Reds couldn't afford him.

I understand not considering someone who only spent 1, 2 or 3 good seasons with the Reds, but after that longevity shouldn't play into it. How good they were during their time here should.

To me it's simple, I ask myself, if I had a choice, would I have rather had 7 seasons of Gullett or 11 seasons of Browning? Gullett wins hands down.

[Sea Ray]

True, I'm probably leaning too much on the longevity part too. Hell, I'd likely take peak Fred Norman over Tom Browning most days

Seems to me that Johnny VanderMeer is the best LHP in Reds history without much hesitation

[foster15]

Seems to me that Johnny VanderMeer is the best LHP in Reds history without much hesitation

Can you tell me, other than longevity(another 11 year player for the Reds), why he beats out Don Gullett?

And how in the heck does he beat out Eppa Rixey or Noodles Hahn "without much hesitation"?