Any child of the '70's remembers the "Big Red Machine." They dominated the sport for over half a decade. In 1976, there was a representative from Cincinnati at every infield station in the All-Star Game: Tony Perez at first, Joe Morgan at second, Dave Concepcion at short, Pete Rose at third and Johnny Bench behind the plate. While these guys sucked up most of the attention (deservedly so) there were smaller parts of the "machine" that went virtually unnoticed. Those bios ended up getting omitted from the final version of my book. So here they are--components of Cincinnati's "Little Red Machine."
CINCINNATI REDS
(1972-1976)
NUMBER OF PENNANTS: 3
NUMBER OF CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2
BEST RECORD: 108-54/ 1975
HALL OF FAMERS: Sparky Anderson (MGR), Tony Perez (1B), Joe Morgan (2B), Johnny Bench (C)
OMITTED BIOS
Rawly
Eastwick
Pitcher
A
New Jersey native, Eastwick was the most successful ballplayer to hail from
Haddonfield High School. Selected in the third round of the ‘69 amateur draft,
he was groomed as a reliever. He spent portions of seven seasons on the farm
before becoming a regular in Cincinnati.
During
the ‘74 slate, the right-hander earned a September call-up. He appeared in 8
games and showed a lot of promise with a 2.04 ERA. Though he didn’t make the
club out of spring training in ‘75, he received another summons to Cincinnati
in late-May. He assembled a stellar rookie campaign, making fifty-eight
appearances—forty as a closer. He converted 22 save opportunities, leading the
league in that category. Notoriously impatient with starting pitchers, Sparky
Anderson leaned heavily on Eastwick during the postseason. The hard-throwing
rookie entered seven October games in ‘75, emerging with 3 wins and a
save. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting.
In ‘76,
Eastwick was Anderson’s go-to guy. He made seventy-one appearances and put up
the best numbers of his career with 11 wins, 26 saves (tops in the NL) and a
2.09 ERA. He received both MVP and Cy Young consideration though he didn’t come
close to winning either award. He did, however, win the Rolaids Relief Award in
addition to being named Reliever of the Year by the Sporting News. Eastwick’s self assurance on the mound alarmed
teammate Joe Morgan at times. “To be honest, I thought he was too confident,
too cocky,” Morgan told reporters. “…But he was right and I was wrong. That’s
the way he is, always in control.” Eastwick
got hammered in the ‘76 NLCS against the Phillies, but picked up a win in the
deciding game. Anderson decided not to use him in the World Series as the Reds coasted
to a sweep of the Yankees.
In
1977, Eastwick got into a contract dispute and ended up getting shipped to the
Cardinals midway through the season. He angrily referred to the management team
in Cincinnati as “a bunch of backstabbers.” That December, the Yankees offered
him a lucrative five-year deal. It’s difficult to say what executives in the
Bronx were thinking when they already had Sparky Lyle and Goose Gossage on
their roster. There was little work to be had for Eastwick and he ended up
getting traded again in June of ‘78 to the Phillies. He made one ineffective
postseason appearance against the Dodgers in the NLCS that year. He finished
his career with the Cubs in 1981.
Ken
Griffey
Outfield
After
Griffey’s retirement in 1991, he became more famous for his association with
the power-hitting, slick-fielding centerfielder of the same name. Griffey Sr.
was a terrific player in his own right, though he lacked the extraordinary home
run power of his son. The elder Griffey was born in Donora, Pennsylvania and
attended the same high school that had issued a degree to Stan Musial. A
left-handed hitter, Griffey was solidly built and blessed with exceptional
speed. Selected in a late round of the ‘69 amateur draft, he entered the Reds’
farm system, hitting no lower than .318 as a minor leaguer between 1971 and
1974. The Reds promoted him briefly in ‘73 and he accrued a robust .384 average
in twenty-five games. Unfortunately, the outfield slots were already occupied
and George Foster was waiting in the wings.
With
the departure of Bobby Tolan in ‘74, Sparky Anderson penciled Griffey into eighty-eight
games. He slumped in early-May and was sent back down to the minors to find his
swing. Returning in July, he gradually increased his batting average by nearly a
hundred points.
Griffey enjoyed his
most productive stretch in the majors from 1975 through 1980, hitting no lower
than .288 while stealing 20 or more bags on three occasions. He was named to
three All-Star teams and finished among the top ten in triples four times.
During the ‘76 campaign, he was a runner-up for the NL batting crown with a
.336 average (second to Bill Madlock of the Cubs). Griffey continued his torrid
hitting in the NLCS that year, raking Philadelphia pitching at a .385 pace. He
would appear in five postseason series with the Reds altogether, scoring 11
runs and collecting the same number of RBIs.
By the end of the ‘81
slate, Griffey was thirty-one years old and no longer fit into the Reds’ plans
for the future. His career was far from over, however, as he enjoyed several
fine seasons with the Yankees and Braves before returning to Cincinnati in
August of ‘88. In 1990, he left the Reds again to join his son in Seattle. They
occupied the same dugout for portions of two seasons and became the first
father/son tandem to take the field together. In nineteen seasons, Griffey Sr. rapped
out more than 2,000 hits and fashioned a highly competent .296 average.
When his playing days
were over, Griffey coached for the Mariners, Rockies and Reds. He was reunited
with his son again in 2000. Griffey has donated a substantial amount of time to
the U.S. State Department’s “Sports United” program, which fosters positive
life skills such as leadership, diplomacy and academic achievement in foreign
youth. Since 2002, the program has reached out to participants in more than one
hundred and forty countries. Griffey managed the Reds Class-A affiliate
Bakersfield Blaze from 2011-13. Notable players from the team’s past include
Pedro Martinez and Mike Piazza.
In a 2014 interview,
Griffey aimed a good-natured jab at his son. Asked if Junior was a better
player, the elder Griffey joked: “You always want what’s best for your child, so
if he’s better than me, that’s fine. Just remember, he’s got all the home runs,
I’ve got all the rings.”
Gary
Nolan
Pitcher
A
California native, Nolan had aspirations of becoming a major league pitcher at
an early age. In his senior year of high school, he attracted droves of scouts
to every game with his blazing fastball (which would later be clocked in the ninety-five
mph range). The Reds picked him up in the first round of the ’66 Amateur draft,
offering him a hefty signing bonus of $40,000.
By
‘67, Nolan was pitching for the Reds. The National League had a strong rookie
crop that year and, if not for Tom Seaver’s sensational debut, Nolan would have
had a legitimate shot at Rookie of the Year honors. He finished the year at
14-8 with a 2.58 ERA and 206 strikeouts. Arm trouble derailed his progress in ‘68
and ‘69, but he came back strong in 1970, helping the Reds to a pennant with an
18-7 record. He fared poorly in two World Series starts against the Orioles,
coughing up 8 runs in 9.1 innings of work.
The
Reds had an off-year in ‘71 and Nolan’s won/loss record suffered because of it.
He went 12-15 despite posting a commendable 3.16 ERA. The club bounced back the
following year and Nolan posted the lowest earned run average of his career at
1.99. He had accrued 13 wins by mid-July and was named to the NL All-Star team,
but couldn’t play due to severe neck and shoulder pain. He barely pitched at
all in the second half, finishing the season with the highest winning
percentage in the league at .750.
Nolan
encountered serious arm difficulties in ‘73 and ‘74, appearing in just two
games. During the latter season, a calcium spur was removed from his shoulder
by renowned sports surgeon Frank Jobe. Before then, many of Nolan’s teammates
didn’t believe there was anything wrong with him. According to Nolan, Sparky
Anderson kept telling him it was normal for pitchers to experience pain on the
mound. Embittered by the experience, Nolan sold his home in Cincinnati and
moved back to Oroville, California, where he had grown up.
Jobe’s
surgery corrected the problem—for awhile at least. Nolan got back in shape and
was a major contributor to the Reds’ championship runs of ‘75/’76. He won 15
games both years and registered a cumulative ERA of 3.32. Sparky Anderson used
him cautiously in the postseason during those two campaigns, never letting him
pitch beyond the seventh inning. His lone victory came in the ‘76 finale, when
he yielded just 2 runs in 6.2 innings of work. After the game, he told
reporters: “I didn’t set the world on fire out there but I got them out. Some
day, when I’m telling my grandson about tonight, I might stretch things a bit.”
Nolan’s
career ended abruptly when his arm woes returned in ‘77. He was traded to the
Angels, but made just five appearances before landing back on the disabled
list. He signed with the Brewers in ‘78, but never appeared in a single game
with the team. Nolan moved to Las Vegas and worked for a major resort. He
harbored a grudge against his former club for years, refusing to wear his World
Series rings and declining participation in his ‘83 induction into the Reds
Hall of Fame. He eventually reconciled with the organization. As of this
writing, he was living in Oroville and working as a high school coach. A sign
on an Oroville highway identifies the city as his home.
Cesar
Geronimo
Center Field
When
the Astros sent Cesar Geronimo to the Reds before the 1972 campaign, they had
no idea what they were losing. Geronimo had served mainly as a pinch-runner and
late inning defensive replacement over portions of three seasons. But the
fleet-footed, smooth-fielding outfielder would become an important member of
two championship squads.
Geronimo
was born in the Dominican Republic and didn’t start playing baseball until the
age of seventeen. The Yankees signed him to a contract after a scout saw him
play with his father’s softball team. The Astros ended up plucking him out of
the New York farm system. They were taking a major gamble at the time since
reports indicated that Geronimo’s swing left much to be desired.
When
Geronimo arrived in Cincinnati, he worked closely with hitting coach Ted
Kluszewski (one of the premier sluggers of the 1950s) and improved his
mechanics. Aside from an injury plagued season in ‘73, Geronimo hit .266 or
better every year from ‘72-‘76. He reached the height of his career offensively
in ‘76, when he assembled a .307 average, stole 22 bases and collected 37
extra-base hits. In fifteen seasons, he ended up with a lifetime batting mark
of .258.
Though
Geronimo was little more than a competent hitter, his defense was exceptional.
He had a strong, accurate arm that was often compared to Roberto Clemente. The
Reds even tried converting him to a pitcher at one point. Sparky Anderson
referred to Geronimo’s defensive work as “ungodly.” The wide-ranging outfielder
captured four straight Gold Gloves from 1974-‘77.
A
reliable World Series performer, 5 of his 14 hits in the Fall Classic went for
extra bases. He homered twice in the 1975 Series against the Red Sox. His
eighth inning clout in Game 6 gave the Reds a 6-3 lead that they would
ultimately fail to hang onto. After the sweep of the Yankees in ‘76, he told
reporters: “My dream as a boy was to play alongside Mickey Mantle. The Yankees
as a team were my heroes, but at this minute, I would not want to change
uniforms.” Geronimo scored 7 runs and collected the same number of RBIs in a
total of eighteen World Series games.
The
Dominican native stuck around longer than several other members of the “Big Red
Machine,” finishing the 1980 campaign with Cincinnati. He was traded to Kansas
City after that and retired as a member of the Royals. Interestingly, Geronimo
was the three-thousandth strikeout victim of both Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan. He
later worked as a Latin American scout for the Cleveland Indians. He was
inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2008.
Jack
Billingham
Pitcher
An
interesting claim to fame, Billingham was a distant cousin of deadball pitching
great Christy Mathewson. Though he never attained the lofty credentials of his
famous relative, he was a vital component of the “Big Red Machine.”
The
right-hander was born in Orlando, Florida and came up through the Dodger
organization. There weren’t many pitching slots available in L.A. during the
‘60s and Billingham toiled for seven seasons on the farm before earning a
full-time roster spot in ’68. He made fifty appearances, almost exclusively in
relief, gathering 3 wins and 8 saves with a 2.14 ERA. The Expos chose him in
the expansion draft then dished him to the Astros. He spent three seasons in Houston, compiling
a sub-.500 record due primarily to poor run support.
Before
the ‘72 slate, Billingham was included in the blockbuster deal that brought Cesar
Geronimo and Joe Morgan to Cincinnati. It was the turning point of Billingham’s
career. “I didn’t know how good I could be,” he later said. “For years, players
like Roberto Clemente and Joe Rudi told me there was no way I could be a .500
pitcher with the stuff I have. Then, when I came [to Cincinnati], coach Shepard
started driving confidence into my head.” Billingham emerged as the most
durable pitcher on the club. Between 1972 and 1975, he started more games than
any other staff member. He led the team in victories three times in that span
(tying for the lead in ’75). He would finish with double digit win totals every
year from 1970-1979.
Billingham
enjoyed his finest season in 1973, when he led the NL with 7 shutouts, 40
starts and 293.1 innings of work. His 16 complete games were third in the
league. The fact that he put up those kind of numbers while playing for the
fickle Sparky Anderson, nicknamed “Captain Hook” for his intolerance of
starting pitchers, is especially impressive.
Known
for his elusive sinker, Billingham was virtually unhittable in World Series
play. In three Fall Classics, he allowed just 1 earned run in more than twenty-five
innings of work. His finest start came in Game 3 of the ‘72 World Series versus
Oakland. He stymied the A’s powerful attack for eight innings, striking out 7
while allowing just 3 hits. The Reds squeaked out a narrow 1-0 victory and
Billingham was the pitcher of record.
By
the end of the ‘77 campaign, the Reds figured Billingham had reached his peak
and traded him to the Tigers. The thirty-five year-old hurler still had a
little something left as he compiled a 25-15 record during his two full seasons
in Detroit. His downfall came in 1980, when he compiled a cumbersome 10.23 ERA.
He was finished in the majors after that.
Billingham
established a small place in baseball history when he surrendered Hank Aaron’s
714th home run in April of ‘74. Before the event, Billingham told
the Associated Press: “It will be just another home run if he gets it off of
me. It’s not something that’s going to haunt me the rest of my life.”
Nevertheless, when his name surfaces nowadays, it is often in association with
Aaron’s milestone achievement.
After his playing days
were over, Billingham spent fifteen seasons as a minor league pitching coach in
the Astros organization. He retired in 2002.
Dan
Driessen
Third Base/ First Base
Driessen arrived
in the majors at the wrong time. He wasn’t quite gifted enough defensively to
excel at third base and was stuck behind Tony Perez at first. When Perez was
traded after the ‘76 slate, Driessen was unfairly blamed for the loss and many
fans turned against him. Given a chance to prove himself, the team tumbled into
the second division despite his best efforts.
Driessen
was signed by the Reds as an amateur free agent in ‘69. He made his Cincinnati
debut in June of 1973. Though he had been groomed as a first baseman in the
minors, Sparky Anderson used him to fill a hole at third. He played in 102
games and performed well, hitting .301 and fielding his position competently.
He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Sparky Anderson felt he
deserved more, commenting: “There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s the best
rookie in the league.”
In
1974, Driessen was a full-timer again at third. He put up similar offensive
numbers with a .281 batting mark, 36 extra-base hits and 56 RBIs. But his
defense slipped as he finished fourth among NL third basemen in errors. By ‘75,
Anderson didn’t know what to do with his budding star. Pete Rose was shifted to
third base and Perez wasn’t going anywhere, so Driessen ended up splitting time
at three different positions. In eighty-eight games, he performed well at the
plate, duplicating his .281 average from the year before. In the World Series
against the Red Sox, he was used twice as a late-inning replacement. He failed
to hit safely in two at-bats.
Driessen
continued his utility role in ‘76, though Anderson kept him away from third
base altogether. After putting up a mediocre .247 regular season batting
average, he was chosen as the National League’s first designated hitter in the
World Series. He picked the right time to get hot, fashioning a .357 average
and a .438 on-base percentage with 4 runs scored. His solo homer off of Dock
Ellis in the fourth inning of Game 3 put the Reds up, 4-1. He was 3-for-3 in
the game with a walk.
Things
changed dramatically for Driessen after the trade of Perez. He had been used as
a utility player for two straight seasons and admitted that it was “super
difficult just keeping [his] head together.” With Perez out of the picture, the
first base job was his to lose. Between ‘77 and ‘85, he placed among the top
five in fielding percentage six times while leading the league on three
occasions. He finished with double digit home run totals during seven seasons,
peaking at 18 long balls in 1979. He also demonstrated a keen batting eye,
leading the league in walks during the 1980 campaign. Unfortunately, the team slowly
crumbled around him and he gained little favor with fans. “You’d get a smart
person in the stands now and then who would holler out some negativity,”
Driessen later recalled. “The main thing was to try to ignore them and, you
know, you can’t please everyone all of the time.”
Traded
to Montreal in ’84, he would make three more stops before falling from the
major league ranks in 1987. He played in the Mexican League during the ‘89
campaign then moved on to the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball
Association. He was elected to the Reds Hall of Fame in 2012.
Pedro
Borbon
Pitcher
A
native of the Dominican Republic, Borbon was originally a member of the
Cardinals organization. He spent three years in their minor league system as a
reliever, accruing a 19-10 record with an ERA in the low-two’s. The Cards
failed to promote him, however, and the Angels picked him up in the ‘65 rule 5
draft. Borbon’s first major league season was rocky as he averaged more than 6
runs per nine innings. Traded to the Reds before the 1970 campaign, he continued to
struggle, spending a significant amount of time in the minors.
By ‘72, he had worked
out his problems, becoming one of Sparky Anderson’s favorite picks out of the
bullpen. From ‘72-‘77, the spirited right-hander appeared in no fewer than sixty-two
games. His ERA never exceeded 3.35 in that span. Sharing closing duties with
several other hurlers, he gathered 52 wins and 70 saves, placing among the top
five in games played every year.
Borbon was a swaggering
macho type—an enthusiast of the brutal “sport” of cockfighting. He reportedly
enjoyed showing off the power and accuracy of his arm by throwing to home plate
from the center field warning track. Borbon was involved in more than one ugly
brawl during his career. During the ‘73 NLCS, he threw a sucker punch at Mets’
hurler Buzz Capra. During a bench-clearing donnybrook against the Pirates in
July of ’74, he pinned pitcher Daryl Patterson to the ground, pulling a clump
of Patterson’s hair out and biting him. Patterson received a precautionary
tetanus shot after the melee. During a player strike in ‘95, the manly Borbon—forty-eight
years-old and overweight—offered his services to Reds manager Davey Johnson.
“I’m like a horse,” he boasted. “You have to shoot me.” Johnson allegedly
retorted: “We wouldn’t waste the bullets.”
Borbon met with mixed
success in the postseason. He was a stellar performer in the NLCS, posting an
economical 1.26 ERA in ten appearances. The World Series was not always an
ideal setting for him. In six outings against Oakland in ’72, he was credited
with 2 holds and a loss. The defeat was costly as it came in Game 7. In Game 6
of the ‘75 Fall Classic, he pitched 2 effective innings then ran into trouble
in the bottom of the eighth. Pulled from the game with nobody out and two
runners aboard, Rawly Eastwick did him no favors, giving up a game-tying
homer to Bernie Carbo. Borbon made one scoreless appearance versus the Yankees
in the ‘76 opener, finishing his career with a 3.86 World Series ERA.
Traded to the Giants in
June of 1980, Borbon became the subject of an urban legend. According to
popular myth, he was so angry about being let go, he placed a voodoo curse on
the Reds that remained until the last member of the front office left. Borbon retired with the Cardinals at age thirty-three
in 1980. He was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2010. He died of cancer
in 2012. He still holds the club record with 531 appearances.
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