History/Hall of Fame
The Greatest Reds: #34 - #31
by riverfront76 on Nov 20, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
10 comments
34. Billy Rhines
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1890-92, 1895-97 | SP | 33 | 9 | 86 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1890 | 1890 |
| 0% | 0% | 100% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| N/A | ERA+ – 1890, 1896 ERA – 1890, 1986 WHIP – 1890, 1896 Hits Per Inning – 1896 |
-9th in career ERA+ |
||
Billy Rhines, a household name in all but the most rustic of homes, has the 9th best peak in Reds history, but just the 86th best prime score. How is this possible? In 1890, as a 21 year-old rookie playing in the inaugural NL season in Cincinnati put together a season which has not been topped since: Rhines had a 28-17 record with a 1.95 ERA (leading the league), which was good for a 184 ERA+ (also led the league) over 401.1 innings (6th best in the NL). He started 45 games, and finished them all. As great as that season was, it did not portend a great future: over the remainder of his career, most of which was with the Reds, he was strictly an average pitcher, with a .500 W-L record and a 105 ERA+. He did, however, manage a blast-from-the-past type season in 1896, recording a 2.45 ERA (188 ERA+), albeit in just 143 innings.
10 comments | 0 recs |
The Greatest Reds: #38 - #35
by riverfront76 on Nov 19, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
40 comments
38. Miller Huggins
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1904-1909 | 2B | 50 | 34 | 26 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1905 | Never |
| 75% | 25% | 0% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| Inducted to Hall of Fame – 1964 | Walks – 1905, 1907 Singles – 1906 |
-11th in career sacrifice hits |
||
Bill James once fashioned a way of calculating a player’s most similar players, statistically, and he posited that if a player’s most similar player had a relatively low similarity score, it was evidence of that player’s excellence. In Miller Huggins’s case, he shared a rather low score with his most similar player (Don Blasingame), but in his case, it was due to the unique nature of the 5’6" player’s game. Consider: over Huggins’s 13-year career, his on-base percentage was 68 points higher than his slugging percentage. He routinely topped 600 plate appearances in a season, but never even reached 20 doubles in any one year, despite his good speed (324 career steals). He scored nearly three times as many runs as he drove in. Roughly half of his playing career was with the Reds, accumulating a batting line of 260/362/310 (104 OPS+), before being traded to the Cardinals for a pair of players who never did much to help the good guys.
40 comments | 0 recs |
The Greatest Reds: #42 - #39
by riverfront76 on Nov 18, 2009 2:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
1 comment
42. Curt Walker
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1924-1930 | RF, LF | 42 | 50 | 44 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1926 | 1926 |
| 82% | 18% | 0% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| N/A | N/A |
-6th in career triples |
||
In Walker’s seven years as a Red, he was a consistent source of triples, hitting a total of 94, and at least ten each year. Five of those years, he finished in the NL top 10. Additionally, Walker was above average in terms of taking a walk, and his career hitting rates as a Red were 303/378/441 (113 OPS+). Ultimately, however, the Reds might have been better off keeping the player they traded for Walker (George Harper), who from 1924 through the end of his career in 1929 hit for an OPS+ of 127, albeit in about 1100 fewer plate appearances, plus being a better defender in right field.
1 comment | 0 recs |
The Greatest Reds: #46 - #43
by riverfront76 on Nov 17, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
21 comments
46. Joe Nuxhall
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1944, 1952-60, 1962-66 | SP, RP | 28 | 85 | 86 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1955 | Never |
| 2% | 0% | 98% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| All Star – 1955, 1956 | Shutouts – 1955 |
-3rd in career strikeouts |
||
You know about the MLB debut at 15 years of age, and you experienced the radio broadcasts, but often glossed over with Nuxhall is a long and effective career, fashioning a 130-109 record over 15 seasons as a Red. While rarely an ace (only topping 200 IP thrice), Nuxhall was flexible and consistent—he routinely split time between the bullpen and the rotation, and was generally producing numbers consistent with his career (as a Red) 104 ERA+. Additionally, his bat was potent (for a pitcher), hitting 15 career dingers. Also worth remembering with Nuxhall’s numbers is the context of the era: although he only struck out 5.3 batters per 9 innings, he finished five times in the NL K/9 top ten. In his best season, Nuxhall pitched 257 innings over 50 games (33 starts), with a 17-12 record and a 3.47 ERA (120 ERA+). Nuxhall spent 1961 with the KC Athletics, and part of 1962 with the Los Angeles Angels, before returning to the Reds for the remainder of his career.
21 comments | 0 recs |
The Greatest Reds: #50 - #47
by riverfront76 on Nov 16, 2009 2:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
12 comments
50. Ewell Blackwell
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1942, 1946-52 | SP, RP | 60 | 30 | 49 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1947 | 1947, 1950, 1951 |
| 2% | 0% | 98% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| All Star – 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 | Shutouts – 1946 Strikeout/Walk Ratio – 1946, 1947 Wins – 1947 Strikeouts – 1947 Strikeouts Per Inning – 1947, 1950 Complete Games – 1947 Hits Per Inning – 1950 |
-13th in career hits per inning |
||
Sometimes, the quantitative data doesn’t match up with the qualitative: Blackwell was named to the All-Star team six consecutive seasons with the Reds, and was once referred to by Ralph Kiner as the best RH pitcher who ever lived. However, during that six-year stretch were a couple of pretty bad years (1948-1949: combined 12-14, 4.43 ERA, 90 ERA+, split as a starter and reliever). His good years were spectacular: In 1947, The Whip went 22-8, with a 2.47 ERA (166 ERA+), and 193 K in 273 innings. 1950 was a runner-up not to be ashamed of: 17-15, 2.97 ERA (142 ERA+), and 188 K in 261 innings. In 1952, at age 29, Blackwell basically fell apart and was traded away, but only managed three additional victories before the end of his career.
12 comments | 0 recs |
The Greatest Reds: #55 - #51
by riverfront76 on Nov 13, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
8 comments
55. Reggie Sanders
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1991-1998 | RF, CF | 51 | 57 | 58 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1995 | Never |
| 83% | 17% | 0% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| All Star – 1995 | N/A |
-11th in career slugging percentage |
||
An unmistakable talent hindered by injuries, and one unfortunate month. Reggie Sanders was drafted by the Reds in 1987, made his debut in 1991, and put together a strong rookie season in 1992—finishing 4th in Rookie of the Year voting with a 128 OPS+ as a centerfielder. Sanders never really had a bad year with the Reds, but he also never played more than 138 games—and in both 1996 and 1997 he missed nearly half of each season. 1995 was Sanders’s career year: for the only time in his career Sanders finished in the top ten in runs (91, in a strike-shortened year), RBI (99), Home Runs (28), Doubles (36), Walks (69), and OPS+ (154). In the playoffs, however, he struck out an incredible 19 times in just seven games. Before the 1999 season, Sanders was traded for—in essence—Greg Vaughn, a much-lauded deal, despite Sanders’s seemingly better play that year.
8 comments | 0 recs |
The Greatest Reds: #60 - #56
by riverfront76 on Nov 12, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
4 comments
60. Bubbles Hargrave
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1921-1928 | C | 51 | 69 | 64 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1923 | Never |
| 73% | 27% | 0% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| N/A | Hit By Pitch – 1923 Batting Average – 1926 |
-4th in career batting average |
||
After several years split between major and minor league time as a very weak-hitting catcher, the light turned on as a 26-year-old playing for St. Paul of the American Association. Hargrave proved the worth of his bat there in two consecutive seasons and the Reds snapped him up, and continued his path towards becoming a great-hitting catcher, including two seasons just around a 150 OPS+. Over his eight seasons with the Reds, Hargrave averaged 96 games played, with a 122 OPS+.
4 comments | 0 recs |
The Greatest Reds: #65 - #61
by riverfront76 on Nov 11, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in History/Hall of Fame
10 comments
65. Chris Sabo
| Played as Red | Primary Position | Career Rank | Peak Rank | Prime Rank |
| 1988-93, 1996 | 3B | 63 | 50 | 65 |
| Percent Breakdown of Value | Best Season | Best player on Reds | ||
| Hit | Field | Pitch | 1990 | Never |
| 76% | 24% | 0% | ||
| Awards/Honors as a Red | Leading the League | On the Reds Leaderboard | ||
| Rookie of Year – 1988 All Star – 1988, 1990, 1991 |
N/A |
-22nd in career home runs |
||
Upon reaching the major leagues as a 26-year-old in 1988, the intense Sabo hacked and hustled his way into the hearts of the Cincinnati fans, combining 40 doubles with 46 steals en route to winning Rookie of the Year honors. While Sabo had some trouble staying healthy and on the field, he did put together pretty good seasons in 1990-91, including a 25-25 season in 1990 which he added to by destroying A’s pitching in the World Series (9 for 16, 2 HR, 5 RBI). The injury bug struck again in 1992, and Sabo’s career dwindled from that point forward.
10 comments | 0 recs |
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