Jump to content

1970 Cincinnati Reds season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by GoodDay (talk | contribs) at 22:27, 9 January 2024. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

1970 Cincinnati Reds
National League Champions
National League West Champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkCrosley Field (since 1934)
Riverfront Stadium
CityCincinnati
OwnersFrancis Dale
General managersBob Howsam
ManagersSparky Anderson
TelevisionWLWT
(Ed Kennedy, Pee Wee Reese)
RadioWLW
(Jim McIntyre, Joe Nuxhall)
← 1969 Seasons 1971 →

The 1970 Cincinnati Reds season consisted of the Reds winning the National League West title with a record of 102 wins and 60 losses, 14½ games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in three straight games in the NLCS to win their first National League pennant since 1961. The team then lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series in five games.

The Reds were managed by first-year manager George "Sparky" Anderson and played their home games at Crosley Field during the first part of the year, before moving into the then-new Riverfront Stadium on June 30.

Offseason

Regular season

Buoyed by a lineup that included third baseman Tony Pérez, NL MVP catcher Johnny Bench, right fielder Pete Rose, center fielder Bobby Tolan and first baseman Lee May, the Reds got off to a 70–30 start. The Reds, who had been near the bottom of the NL in pitching in 1969, were aided by a young staff that included 18-game winner Gary Nolan (22), rookies Wayne Simpson (21) and Don Gullett (19), 20-game winner Jim Merritt (26) and record-setting reliever Wayne Granger, who appeared in a then-record 90 games in 1969.[8] Simpson, a hard-throwing former first-round draft pick, started the season 9–1 and earned an all-star berth. He was 14–3 before he suffered a season-ending arm injury with 30 games left.[citation needed]

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cincinnati Reds 102 60 .630 57‍–‍24 45‍–‍36
Los Angeles Dodgers 87 74 .540 14½ 39‍–‍42 48‍–‍32
San Francisco Giants 86 76 .531 16 48‍–‍33 38‍–‍43
Houston Astros 79 83 .488 23 44‍–‍37 35‍–‍46
Atlanta Braves 76 86 .469 26 42‍–‍39 34‍–‍47
San Diego Padres 63 99 .389 39 31‍–‍50 32‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 8–4 5–13 9–9 6–12 6–6 6–6 7–5 6–6 9–9 7–11 7–5
Chicago 4–8 7–5 7–5 6–6 13–5 7–11 9–9 8–10 9–3 7–5 7–11
Cincinnati 13–5 5–7 15–3 13–5 7–5 8–4 7–5 8–4 8–10 9–9 9–3
Houston 9–9 5–7 3–15 8–10 8–4 6–6 4–8 6–6 14–4 10–8 6–6
Los Angeles 12–6 6–6 5–13 10–8 8–4 7–5 6–5 6–6 11–7 9–9 7–5
Montreal 6–6 5–13 5–7 4–8 4–8 10–8 11–7 9–9 6–6 6–6 7–11
New York 6–6 11–7 4–8 6–6 5–7 8–10 13–5 6–12 6–6 6–6 12–6
Philadelphia 5-7 9–9 5–7 8–4 5–6 7–11 5–13 4–14 9–3 8–4 8–10
Pittsburgh 6–6 10–8 4–8 6–6 6–6 9–9 12–6 14–4 6–6 4–8 12–6
San Diego 9–9 3–9 10–8 4–14 7–11 6–6 6–6 3–9 6–6 5–13 4–8
San Francisco 11–7 5–7 9–9 8–10 9–9 6–6 6–6 4–8 8–4 13–5 7–5
St. Louis 5–7 11–7 3–9 6–6 5–7 11–7 6–12 10–8 6–12 8–4 5–7


Notable transactions

Riverfront Stadium

Riverfront Stadium was opened in 1970, and it was the home of the Cincinnati Reds National League baseball team and the Cincinnati Bengals National Football League team. Located on the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, the stadium was best known as the home of "The Big Red Machine", as the Reds were often called in the 1970s. Construction began on February 1, 1968, and was completed at a cost of less than $50 million. On June 30, 1970, the Reds hosted the Atlanta Braves in their grand opening, with Hank Aaron hitting the first ever home run at Riverfront. Two weeks later on July 14, Riverfront hosted the 1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. This game is most remembered for the often-replayed collision at home plate between the home-grown Pete Rose and catcher Ray Fosse of the Cleveland Indians.

Roster

1970 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Johnny Bench 158 605 177 .293 45 148
1B Lee May 153 605 153 .253 34 94
2B Tommy Helms 150 575 136 .237 1 45
3B Tony Pérez 158 587 186 .317 40 129
SS Dave Concepción 101 265 69 .260 1 19
LF Bernie Carbo 125 365 113 .310 21 63
CF Bobby Tolan 152 589 186 .316 16 80
RF Pete Rose 159 649 205 .316 15 52

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Woody Woodward 100 264 59 .223 1 14
Hal McRae 70 165 41 .248 8 23
Pat Corrales 43 106 25 .236 1 10
Jimmy Stewart 101 105 28 .267 1 8
Darrel Chaney 57 95 22 .232 1 4
Angel Bravo 65 65 18 .277 0 3
Ty Cline 48 63 17 .270 0 8
Frank Duffy 6 11 2 .182 0 0
Bill Plummer 4 8 1 .125 0 0
Jay Ward 6 3 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Gary Nolan 37 250.2 18 7 3.27 181
Jim Merritt 35 234.0 20 12 4.08 136
Jim McGlothlin 35 210.2 14 10 3.59 97
Wayne Simpson 26 176.0 14 3 3.02 119

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tony Cloninger 30 148.0 9 7 3.83 56
Milt Wilcox 5 22.1 3 1 2.42 13
Jim Maloney 7 16.2 0 1 11.34 7
Mel Behney 5 10.0 0 2 4.50 2

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Wayne Granger 67 6 5 35 2.66 38
Clay Carroll 65 9 4 16 2.59 63
Don Gullett 44 5 2 6 2.43 76
Ray Washburn 35 4 4 0 6.92 37
Pedro Borbón 12 0 2 0 6.75 6
John Noriega 8 0 0 0 8.00 6
Bo Belinsky 3 0 0 0 4.50 6

Postseason

1970 National League Championship Series

Game One

October 3, Three Rivers Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 9 0
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
W: Gary Nolan (1–0)  L: Dock Ellis (0–1)  SV: Clay Carroll (1)
HRs: None

Game Two

October 4, Three Rivers Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 8 1
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 2
W: Jim Merritt (1–0)  L: Luke Walker (0–1)  SV: Don Gullett (1)
HRs: CINBobby Tolan (1)

Game Three

October 5, Riverfront Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Pittsburgh 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 10 0
Cincinnati 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X 3 5 0
W: Milt Wilcox (1–0)  L: Bob Moose (0–1)  SV: Don Gullett (2)
HRs: CINTony Pérez (1), Johnny Bench (1)

1970 World Series

After their win in the NLCS, additional injuries to Merritt and Granger caught up to the Reds against the Orioles. In three of their losses, the Reds had leads of 3–0, 4–0 and 3–0. The Reds' only win came in Game 4 on a Lee May 3-run home run in the eighth inning.

1970 World Series (4–1): Baltimore Orioles (A.L.) over Cincinnati Reds (N.L.)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore Orioles 4 3 6 3 8 5 2 2 0 33 50 5
Cincinnati Reds 7 2 4 0 1 1 2 3 0 20 35 3
Total Attendance: 253,183   Average Attendance: 50,637
Winning Player's Share: – $18,216,   Losing Player's Share– $13,688 *Includes Playoffs and World Series

Awards and honors

  • Johnny Bench, National League MVP Award (He was the youngest National League player in the 20th century to win the MVP Award.)[14]

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Vern Rapp
AA Asheville Tourists Southern League Jim Snyder
A Tampa Tarpons Florida State League Dick Kennedy
A-Short Season Sioux Falls Packers Northern League Russ Nixon
Rookie GCL Reds Gulf Coast League Ron Plaza

[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Mel Queen at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Pedro Ramos at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Joaquín Andújar at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Pedro Borbón at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Jack Fisher at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Joel Youngblood at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Bo Belinsky at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Progressive Leaders & Records for Games Played
  9. ^ Al Jackson at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Arturo DeFreites at Baseball-Reference
  11. ^ Will McEnaney at Baseball-Reference
  12. ^ Ray Knight at Baseball-Reference
  13. ^ Clyde Mashore at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  15. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References