On this day in 1953, Billy Maharg died in Philadelphia at the age of 72. He was involved with the gamblers who helped to fix the 1919 World Series. Maharg appeared in only two games as a player, collecting one at-bat in the American League and one at-bat in the National League.
On this day in 1971, former Red Gabe White was born in Sebring, FL.
On this day in 1998, former Red and team manager Dick Sisler died in St. Louis at the age of 78. He appeared in a mere 11 games for the team as a player. Sisler posted a record of 121-94 while managing the Reds in the mid-1960s. His stint skippering the Reds was his only managerial job, which is a bit surprising given his good record with the club even if he didn't manage many games.
On this day in 2006, the Reds signed shortstop Alex Gonzalez. He is known as "Sea Bass" for whatever reason. Did anyone ever get the story on that one? Gonzalez played a season and a half for the Reds, hitting .248/.299/.403 for the team. He's a similar player to Zack Cozart in several ways. Neither one of them likes to walk. In fact they both strike out about four times for each time they walk. Both players have some pop by the standards of a shortstop. Gonzalez has a career isolated power figure of .150; Cozart has a mark of .141. Neither player has much speed. Cozart is probably a better defensive player, though I doubt there's a huge difference.
The team had quite the busy day on November 20, 2006. Cincinnati also signed left-handed reliever Mike Stanton and sold catcher Jason LaRue to the Royals.
On this day in 2010, the Reds signed right-hander Chad Reineke.
Quone earned two points yesterday while baltimorechop earned one. Joey Votto, Frank Robinson, and Charley Jones hold the top three spots in career OPS+ for the franchise (minimum 1500 PA). I've also decided to award a point each to Kevin Mitchell is Batman and the finest muffins, because they gave correct answers that did not meet the plate appearance minimum. However, I neglected to provide the minimum, so I feel it's only fair to give each of them one point.
In Dick Sisler's only full season (1965) as Cincinnati manager, the Reds had the league's best Pythagorean record. (That and a quarter would have gotten you a cup of coffee in 1965.) However, the Reds finished in fourth place, eight games behind Los Angeles, who would go on to win the World Series over the Twins. Who finished second and third? One point will be awarded for each team.