Third baseman Chris Sabo and pitchers Pedro Borbon and the late Tony Mullane will be the next three players inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
Here's a quick synopsis of our new inductees and their time with the Reds.
1. Chris Sabo (3B): 1988-1993, 1996. BREF. BPROJ.
Stats w/ Reds: 3332 PA's, 0.270/0.328/0.447, +38 Offense, +8 Fielding, 14.5 WAR
Sabo won the fan vote this year. For a few years, Spuds was the embodyment of everything that Reds fans like in their baseball players: he was hard-nosed, was always dirty, and had a good balance of speed, power, and fielding skill. Sabo put up three really good seasons with the Reds: 1988 (Rookie of the Year), 1990 (WS), and 1991 (arguably his best year). Other years, he often battled injuries that stemmed, in part, from his all-out style of play. Nevertheless, you can make a legitimate argument that the 1990 Reds don't go wire-to-wire without him.
2. Pedro Borbon (RHP Reliever): 1970-1979. BREF. BPROJ.
Stats w/ Reds: 920 2/3 IP, 3.32 ERA, 3.5 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9, 5.5 WAR
A mainstay out of the bullpen for the Big Red Machine, Pedro was no fireballer. But he kept the ball in the park, and he didn't walk many batters, resulting in a lot of success near the end of the game. Bullpens weren't used then in the same way they are now, but Borbon saved 76 games during his time with the Reds, and was often among the better right-handed options for Sparky Anderson.
3. Tony Mullane (RHP (sort of) Starter): 1886-1893. BREF. BPROJ. Wikipedia.
Stats w/ Reds: 2599 IP, 3.15 ERA, 116 ERA+, 3.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9, 42.2 WAR
Like most of us, I don't know much about Mullane. But a glance at his numbers shows that he's one of the better pitchers in Reds history, anchoring the Reds rotation throughout his eight seasons with the Reds. Amazingly, though primarily a righty, he is also one of the few pitchers in professional baseball history to throw with both hands--the result of an injury early in his career. Once healed, he was known to use both hands in the same game.
Seems like a reasonably strong class to me. Discuss!