1974 Cincinnati Reds season

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1974 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkRiverfront Stadium
CityCincinnati
Record98–64 (.605)
Divisional place2nd
OwnersLouis Nippert
General managersBob Howsam
ManagersSparky Anderson
TelevisionWLWT
(Charlie Jones, Woody Woodward)
RadioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
← 1973 Seasons 1975 →

The 1974 Cincinnati Reds season saw the Reds finishing in second place in the National League West with a record of 98–64, four games behind the NL West and pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.

The Reds' 98 victories were second-best in all of Major League baseball to the Dodgers' 102 victories. The Dodgers had finished in second place from 1970 to 1973, three of those years the Reds won the NL West, (except for 1971, when the San Francisco Giants won). In the offseason, the Dodgers added center fielder Jimmy Wynn in a trade from Houston and acquired future Cy Young Award winning reliever Mike Marshall from Montreal. The Reds added a solid starter in 12-game winner Clay Kirby in the offseason.

Just as they had done the previous season, the Dodgers started hot and built a large lead on the Reds in the division, due largely to their success against the Reds heads-up. The Dodgers won nine of their first ten games against the Reds. After losing 6–3 to the Dodgers on August 5, the Reds trailed the Dodgers by 7+12 games despite a solid 66–45 record. By August 15, the Reds had cut the lead to 1+12 games after winning the first two of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium marking 9 losses in 11 games for Los Angeles. In the third game, Wynn hit a seventh-inning grand slam to break open a tight game as the Dodgers rallied to a 7–1 victory, which helped keep the Dodgers ahead in the NL West. The Reds would get no closer than two games the rest of the season.

Johnny Bench put up one of his best seasons (career-highs in 108 runs scored and 160 games played, 33 home runs, 129 RBI and 315 total bases) to finish fourth in the NL MVP voting to winner Steve Garvey, runnerup Lou Brock, and Marshall. Wynn was fifth.

The 1974 season also marked the first with future Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman. Brennaman replaced another nationally known broadcaster, Al Michaels, who moved to San Francisco to take the same position with the Giants.

Offseason

The Reds play at Riverfront Stadium, 1974

Regular season

Season standings

NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 102 60 0.630 52–29 50–31
Cincinnati Reds 98 64 0.605 4 50–31 48–33
Atlanta Braves 88 74 0.543 14 46–35 42–39
Houston Astros 81 81 0.500 21 46–35 35–46
San Francisco Giants 72 90 0.444 30 37–44 35–46
San Diego Padres 60 102 0.370 42 36–45 24–57

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 4–8 7–11–1 6–12 8–10 9–3 8–4 8–4 4–8 17–1 8–10 9–3
Chicago 8–4 5–7 4–8 2–10 5–13 8–10 8–10 9–9 6–6 6–6 5–13
Cincinnati 11–7–1 7–5 14–4 6–12 6–6 9–3 8–4 8–4 12–6 11–7 6–6
Houston 12–6 8–4 4–14 5–13 6–6 6–6 6–6 5–7 7–11 10–8 8–4
Los Angeles 10–8 10–2 12–6 13–5 8–4 5–7 6–6 4–8 16–2 12–6 6–6
Montreal 3–9 13–5 6–6 6–6 4–8 9–9 11–7 9–9 6–6 4–8 8–9
New York 4–8 10–8 3–9 6–6 7–5 9–9 7–11 7–11 6–6 6–6 6–12
Philadelphia 4-8 10–8 4–8 6–6 6–6 7–11 11–7 10–8 5–7 8–4 9–9
Pittsburgh 8–4 9–9 4–8 7–5 8–4 9–9 11–7 8–10 9–3 8–4 7–11
San Diego 1–17 6–6 6–12 7–11 2–16 6–6 6–6 7–5 3–9 11–7 5–7
San Francisco 10–8 6–6 7–11 8–10 6–12 8–4 6–6 4–8 4–8 7–11 6–6
St. Louis 3–9 13–5 6–6 4–8 6–6 9–8 12–6 9–9 11–7 7–5 6–6


Roster

1974 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 160 621 174 .280 33 129
1B Tony Pérez 158 596 158 .265 28 101
2B Joe Morgan 149 512 150 .293 22 67
SS Dave Concepción 160 594 167 .281 14 82
3B Dan Driessen 150 470 132 .281 7 56
LF Pete Rose 163 652 185 .284 3 51
CF César Gerónimo 150 474 133 .281 7 54
RF Ken Griffey 88 227 57 .251 2 19

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
George Foster 106 276 73 .264 7 41
Merv Rettenmund 80 208 45 .216 6 28
Darrel Chaney 117 135 27 .200 2 16
Terry Crowley 84 125 30 .240 1 20
Bill Plummer 50 120 27 .225 2 10
Andy Kosco 33 37 7 .189 0 5
Phil Gagliano 46 31 2 .065 0 0
Junior Kennedy 22 19 3 .158 0 0
Hal King 20 17 3 .176 0 3
Ray Knight 14 11 2 .182 0 2
Ed Armbrister 9 7 2 .286 0 0
Roger Freed 6 6 2 .333 1 3

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
Don Gullett 36 243.0 17 11 3.04 183
Clay Kirby 36 230.2 12 9 3.28 160
Jack Billingham 36 212.1 19 11 3.94 103
Fred Norman 35 186.1 13 12 3.14 141
Roger Nelson 14 85.1 4 4 3.38 42
Tom Carroll 16 78.1 4 3 3.68 37

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
Pat Darcy 6 17.0 1 0 3.71 14

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
Pedro Borbón 73 10 7 14 3.24 53
Clay Carroll 57 12 5 6 2.15 46
Tom Hall 40 3 1 1 4.08 48
Dick Baney 22 1 0 1 5.49 12
Will McEnaney 24 2 1 2 4.33 12
Rawly Eastwick 8 0 0 2 2.04 14
Mike McQueen 10 0 0 0 5.40 5
Pat Osburn 6 0 0 0 8.00 4

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Vern Rapp
AA Trois-Rivières Aigles Eastern League Jim Snyder
A Tampa Tarpons Florida State League Russ Nixon
A-Short Season Seattle Rainiers Northwest League Greg Riddoch
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Jim Hoff

[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Mario Soto page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Merv Rettenmund page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Roger Freed page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Dan Dumoulin page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References