Once again Joe Nuxhall is back on the ballot.  Hopefully this is the year. The winner will be announced on December 9. I can't think of a better way to kick of RedsFest.

This is from Reds.Com:

CINCINNATI -- The late Joe Nuxhall's iconic personality with Reds fans continues to endure.

There was more evidence of that fact on Monday when Nuxhall was again listed among the National Baseball Hall of Fame's 10-person group of finalists for the annual Ford C. Frick Award by virtue of popular voting.

A record total of 145,138 votes were cast during September's balloting on baseballhall.org. Nuxhall led the way by receiving 19,547 votes and will be joined on the final ballot by Jacques Doucet, who broadcast Expos games in French for 34 years. Doucet finished with 10,282 votes. Blue Jays broadcasting great Tom Cheek was third with 8,992 votes.

Fans were permitted to cast votes for as many as three broadcasters once daily. During balloting, rallies were held to support Nuxhall's candidacy in his hometown of Fairfield, Ohio.

The other seven Frick finalists -- Billy Berroa, Ken Coleman, Dizzy Dean, Lanny Frattare, Tony Kubek, Graham McNamee and Dave Van Horne -- were named by a Hall of Fame research committee.

The winner of the 2009 Ford Frick Award will be announced on Dec. 9 during the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas. Voting will be performed by a 20-member electorate comprised of the 15 living Frick Award winners, including 2000 honoree and Nuxhall partner Marty Brennaman, and five historians or columnists.

 

Read more here

Joey Votto was named Rookie of the Month for September. The kid had an awesome final month to cap off a pretty solid rookie year. More about that one here

Also, The Reds changed their home address back in June and I didn't know that.

Great American Ball Park is still in the same spot, of course, but the Reds no longer do business at 100 Main Street.

The club and ballpark reside at 100 Joe Nuxhall Way. read the rest of that one here

 

 

 

First. the always competitive Red Reporter League

 

1. Menace to Propriety 102

2. Veteran Presence 91.5

3. The 4077th 90.5

4. The Beasley Machine 83.5

5. You down with OBP 81

6. adamrosales&theants 66

6. Cincinnati Bowties 66

8. Blue Steel 64

9. Kyle's Killers 63

10. HolyShitThisIsBad 62

11. shortstopv2 49.5

12. The Master Batters 45.5

12. Put Vada in The Hall 45.5

Second the more laid back, who really cares Beer League

 

1. Mike Lincoln's Logs 97 

2. Menace 2 Propriety 2 90.5

3. Vada's All Stars 79

4. Cinsations 76

5. Hardinsluggers 70.5

6. Beautiful Oblivion 63

7. Chandrathan 61.5

8. Blue Steel 60

9. Killer Tucans 55

10. Snohio Penquins 49

11. boobs 39.5

12. The Mighty Monks 39

 Congratulations to all who played, and especially Red Menace who almost pulled off the double pennant. I think Menace might be the only player to 'trophy' in the fantasy leagues every year in the history of Redreporter.

Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
Saturday September 27 9:16 AM ET

Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.

Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.

He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."

Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting."

Read more here

 

 

Fox Sports Ohio is showing the perfect game tonight. ANy one out there watching? So far Browning and Chris Welsh are talking about it with marty calling the game in the background. Pretty cool stuff. Plus it is old school Marty, before he lost it. I remember listening at work that night. It was raining in Cbus also so it was a slow night for us. Hopefully you guys get to catch some good Reds baseball. We certainly don't get enough of it anymore. Ahhh the good old days

From Reds.Com and Mark Sheldon:

CINCINNATI -- Reds fan passionate about the Ol' Lefthander, Joe Nuxhall, voted with their hearts repeatedly last year in an effort to get him into the broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

This year, the chance for fans to take another run in support of Nuxhall is coming a little earlier. Balloting for the 2009 Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence begins on Monday, Sept. 1, with the top three vote-getters by the fans automatically qualifying for the 10-member ballot that will be formulated by a 20-member committee and announced on Oct. 6.

The winner will be announced on Dec. 9 at the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas and will receive the award during the induction ceremony on July 26, 2009, at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.

 

Read the rest of the article here

 

 10:00 PM LIve Draft follow it here

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I got curious about the Reds dumping big time home run hitters. This is what I found.

In 1957 the Reds traded their all time leading home run hitter, Ted Klusewski (251) for a player that would last one season and played 89 games with them.

In 1965, the Reds traded their all time leading home run hitter, Frank Robinson (324) for a pitcher that would go 30-31 over parts of 3 seasons.

In 1968, the Reds traded their third all time leading home run hitter, Vada Pinson (186) to the Cardinals for Bobby Tolan. As much as it pains me to say it was a good trade for us.

In 1976, the Reds traded their second all time leading home run hitter, Tony Perez (263) for a pitcher who would win 5 games in his only season with the Reds. This is the move that began the break up of the Big Red Machine.

In 1982, the Reds traded their 5th leading all time home run hitter, George Foster (244) to the Mets for 3 average players.

In 1991, the Reds traded their 6th leading all time home run hitter, Eric Davis (177) for Tim Belcher and a guy who would never suit up for the Reds.

In 2008, the Reds traded their 7th all time leading home run hitter, Ken Griffey Jr. (210) for a reliever and a minor leaguer.

in 2008, the Reds traded their 4th all time leading home run hitter, Adam Dunn (270) for a great big pile of we aren't sure.

 

It sure is frustrating sometimes to be a fan of this team.

 

 

 

Anyone have Bernie Mac?

from msbnc.com:

CHICAGO - Bernie Mac, the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor and comedian who worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago’s South Side, died Saturday at age 50.

“Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital,” his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.

She said no other details were available and asked that his family’s privacy be respected.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac’s brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama’s campaign.

I ran across this and thought others might enjoy.

May 22, 1967 Behind The Bold Red Uprising In Cincinnati

They were disheartened, confused, badly beaten last season. But with a new manager, some surprising new pitching stars and a "25-man team" attitude, the Reds are turning their speed and muscle into instant success

William Leggett

On Opening Day in Cincinnati this year schools and offices were closed as usual, and a long line formed early near the shoeshine stand inside the old ball park. Just about everyone from Piqua, Chillicothe , Lexington and Paducah seemed to be wearing an American Legion cap and marching across the outfield grass, and a group of fans, the Rosie Reds, presented a bouquet of flowers to the manager's wife. It was all fine and traditional, but when the crowd settled back in its seats it wanted something more. It wanted something that would help erase the memories of 1966, when the Reds, favored by many to win the pennant, finished a dismal seventh.

Seldom have the wishes of fans been fulfilled so quickly and emphatically. In the first inning Vada Pinson leaned on a fast ball and drove it into the right-field bleachers. One out later, Deron Johnson did the same thing, and the Reds were off and moving toward their best start in 55 seasons. As of last Sunday, they had won 21 games, more than any other ball club in the majors, and they were holding on to first place in the National League .

They did it with skill, with muscle and with luck. Good teams always seem to pick up extra victories in almost impossible ways, and so far this season the Reds are a perfect example. The two best outfielders on the team bump together under a routine fly, the ball drops and two runs score—but it makes no difference, because a Cincinnati pitcher who has not had a hit in 18 at bats lines a single to tie the game. A man carrying a batting average of .000 walks to the plate and triples home two runs. An 18-year-old boy suddenly becomes one of the better pitchers in the league. The conversion of a reserve outfielder to a pitcher works so well that people just look at him and say, "Wow!"

When this season began everyone agreed that the Reds lacked pitching. But suddenly the Cincinnati pitchers, who depend more on sheer strength than they do on finesse, began to look good. The Reds are, man for man, the biggest team in the league—even taking into consideration whippets like Tommy Harper , Leo Cardenas and Vada Pinson—and the pitchers are an important part of that bulk. When opposing hitters look out at Jim Maloney (6'2", 214 pounds), Milt Pappas (6'3", 210), Billy McCool (6'2", 208), Ted Abernathy (6'4", 210), Mel Queen (6'1", 197) or Gary Nolan (6'3", 190), they do not care for what they see, because big pitchers usually mean fast balls and fast balls mean strikeouts. Naturally, the Reds lead the league in strikeouts, even though Maloney , the ace of the staff, is, as usual, not as sharp now in the early spring as he will be later on. Abernathy and Queen have given the staff balance and have filled a desperate need by coming in from the bullpen time after time to nail down winning games.

Cincinnati 's hitters are just as intimidating as the pitchers. Harper and Pin-son and Cardenas sting the ball, but Deron Johnson , Lee May , Tony Perez , Don Pavletich and Johnny Edwards, who average 6'2" and 208, can crush it. Pete Rose does a little of both; he has the speed and hustle of the whippets and the strength and impact that the big men have. The awesome size and speed and rattling hitting power jolt and shake Cincinnati 's opponents into making mistakes.

There is another factor in the Reds' success, and perhaps it is the most important of all. Rose explains: "We're a 25-man team now. Look. Tonight Vada Pinson can't play because he pulled a muscle in his hip. Tommy Harper moves over to center field, and Floyd Robinson plays right. Keep your eye on Rob-by. He has worked like hell to get ready to help. On days off he'd go out to the ball park and work out and run to keep himself in shape, just so that when the time came and he was needed he wouldn't let anyone down." Robinson had not had a hit yet this season, but that night he broke open the game in the first inning with a triple, got another hit later, scored two runs and stole a base. "When we went to spring training last year," says Vada Pinson , "we didn't have Frank Robinson . He had meant so much to this team that nobody could begin to measure it." Robinson , of course, had been traded to the Baltimore Orioles in a deal that quickly became part of the game's folklore. Pinson says, "We began 1966 with a big question mark. Who was going to replace Frank? And then other question marks kept piling up on that one. We had a bad attitude the first half of the season, the worst I can remember, and this is my 10th year with the Reds. There was too much experimenting, too much fussing, too much dissension. Guys seemed to be playing for themselves instead of doing the little things that help win games."

At the All-Star break the Reds were in eighth place, and Manager Don Heffner, despite a two-year contract, was fired and replaced by Dave Bristol , a 33-year-old coach who had handled most of the Cincinnati players during a nine-year tour as a manager in the minor leagues. The Reds, who had played so poorly under Heffner, turned around under Bristol and won 31 of their next 49 games.

In his third game after taking over, Bristol made a managerial move that has vastly affected this year's quick start. Hopelessly beaten in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals , he walked down along the dugout in the eighth inning and told Mel Queen, a 24-year-old reserve outfielder, to go to the bullpen and warm up. Queen, who had a powerful throwing arm for an outfielder, thought the manager wanted him to serve as a bullpen catcher for another relief pitcher. "No," Bristol said. "You're going to pitch the ninth inning." Queen, who had thrown batting practice from time to time, was shocked, but when he came in to pitch he struck out two of the three men he faced and got the third one on a little ground ball. He made six more appearances during the season, and though some were bad, Bristol was convinced that Queen could be made into a major league pitcher. He was sent to the Florida Instructional League, where Pitching Coach Mel Harder went to work on him. When the Instructional League season was completed, Queen was sent to the Aragua club in the Venezuelan Winter League and was spectacular, winning seven games, losing only two and compiling an infinitesimal earned run average of 0.76.

During the fall Bristol also watched 18-year-old Gary Nolan , a $60,000 bonus boy, as he worked in Florida , and he began to wonder silently if Nolan could make it to the majors after only two months in the minors. In spring training Nolan pitched well in intrasquad games, and Bristol continued to dream. In exhibition games Nolan did even better, and the Reds decided to let him try to make the jump to the majors. He jumped. In his first 47 innings Nolan struck out 48 batters, won three games, failed to win another when he lost a shutout in the ninth inning and had an ERA of 2.11.

When writers asked Bristol this spring who would play first base for Cincinnati he answered, "The great Battle of South Florida continues between Tony Perez and Lee May . Equal! Both about equal! May is 6'3" and weighs 205, and when he played for me at San Diego he hit 34 homers and drove in 103 runs. Perez is 6'2" and 204, and when he played for me at San Diego he hit 34 homers and drove in 107. The great Battle of South Florida will continue. Whoever shows he is best will win the job." But when spring training ended, both May and Perez had been to bat an almost identical number of times and each had hit .333. So the battle goes on, and both play.

The biggest decision that Bristol had to make, of course, was moving Pete Rose to the outfield. Rose was the National League 's All-Star second baseman in 1965, and for two years running had collected more than 200 hits. But Bristol wanted Rose to move to the outfield so that he could bring Deron Johnson back in to the infield. Two seasons ago, as a third baseman, Johnson had led the major leagues in runs batted in, but when Heffner moved him to left field last year his hitting fell off terribly. "I didn't like left field," Johnson said. "It bothered me all around. You make a mistake in the outfield and you look awful. I'm more comfortable at third." When Bristol asked Rose if he would mind going to left, Pete said, "I'll give it a heck of a try." Now he is in love with the outfield. "I want to play out there the rest of my life," he said last week. "I want to make the All-Star team as an outfielder. Those other guys—Flood, Mays, Clemente, Aaron—they better stay on their toes. I'm more mature now. In two years my neck size went from 15 to 16�. I'm stronger. My homers have increased. I had a total of 10 my first two seasons. But then I got 11, and then 16 and—maybe it won't be this year—I'm hoping to be one of those players who can hit 25 a year."

Two weeks ago it seemed as though the Reds" quick start had come to an abrupt stop. After winning 10 of 12 games they went against the Cards in Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis , got four hits in two games and were shut out twice. The second shutout took only an hour and 40 minutes to play, and since the game had started at noon to encourage businessmen to come to the ball park the Cincinnati team had more than two hours to kill before their charter flight would carry them on to Atlanta . Instead of letting his players sit around, Bristol sent them back on the field for extra batting practice. "It was a lot better than hanging around the clubhouse," says Rose. "We hit and hit, and I said, 'I'd hate to be the Atlanta Braves .' " The Reds flew to Atlanta , smashed three home runs, four doubles and 11 other hits and smothered the Braves 14-7.

The next day, however, Cincinnati was stung by two injuries that only a 25-man club could overcome. Johnson , who was leading the league in homers at the time, tore a hamstring muscle when he put his foot into a hole left from a soccer game that had been played a few days earlier. He was forced to the bench, but Perez moved over from first to fill in at third, and played very well, too. Then Tommy Helms , last year's Rookie of the Year, got his spikes caught sliding back into second base and broke his big toe, but there was Chico Ruiz ready to fill in. Ruiz says, "I play many positions. So many positions that I sometimes cannot buy milk for my children because all the money goes for buying gloves."

There will be money for milk and gloves both if Chico and the rest of the Reds keep up their early pace. Their fast start is particularly encouraging because they have played a majority of their games on the road. As the Reds move into June, they will get a chance to use their strength at home in Crosley Field, and maybe then the 25-man team will finally and totally erase the bitter memories of a year ago.