- Thread starter
- #21
JohnU
Aristocratic Hoosier
Purkey was 23-5 in 1962 and would have won the Cy Young in most other years.
Knuckleballer.
I recall the 1962 spring training season and during a game, Gene Freese broke his ankle. The Sports Illustrated prominent headline was: THE REDS IS DEAD.
Later that year, the team still in contention in the first 162-game NL season, my stepdad took us to Crosley for a twinighter against the Cardinals -- huge crowd -- and Freese came off the DL that day. Coincidence mostly had us there that same day. The ovation for him was deafening when he came up to pinch hit. It simply shows how beloved that '61 team had been. Freese took a 4-pitch walk, which I suspect was a cookie that the Cardinal pitcher gave him.
In those days the players were much more accessible outside the city and fans from the Tri-State were quite fond of their favorites. I mentioned Ruth Lyons, who everyone knew, and she always had a Reds player on her show -- her fave was Ed Bailey, who got traded to SF for Don Blasingame at mid season in 61 ... and Ruth and her gang were NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT.
Of course 1962 was the famous Giants-Dodgers pennant playoff series.
The Reds had some truly great talent -- and may have misguidedly (partially) led the the front office to think they could win without Frank Robinson -- who was dealt to Baltimore in winter of 65. Other factors in the Robby deal are less pleasant. But by then, Rose, Perez, Lee May, Bench ... a few other really great hitters, were coming up. Pitching was in short supply. Getting Pappas made sense in the Robby trade, though in retrospect, it was an awful deal.
One guy they traded that everybody loved was Vada Pinson. I never understood some of those trades since it was long before the big contracts. Curt Flood, btw, was once a Redleg.
As for Ted Williams, the odds of seeing him get a big hit were pretty good on any day of the week.
Knuckleballer.
I recall the 1962 spring training season and during a game, Gene Freese broke his ankle. The Sports Illustrated prominent headline was: THE REDS IS DEAD.
Later that year, the team still in contention in the first 162-game NL season, my stepdad took us to Crosley for a twinighter against the Cardinals -- huge crowd -- and Freese came off the DL that day. Coincidence mostly had us there that same day. The ovation for him was deafening when he came up to pinch hit. It simply shows how beloved that '61 team had been. Freese took a 4-pitch walk, which I suspect was a cookie that the Cardinal pitcher gave him.
In those days the players were much more accessible outside the city and fans from the Tri-State were quite fond of their favorites. I mentioned Ruth Lyons, who everyone knew, and she always had a Reds player on her show -- her fave was Ed Bailey, who got traded to SF for Don Blasingame at mid season in 61 ... and Ruth and her gang were NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT.
Of course 1962 was the famous Giants-Dodgers pennant playoff series.
The Reds had some truly great talent -- and may have misguidedly (partially) led the the front office to think they could win without Frank Robinson -- who was dealt to Baltimore in winter of 65. Other factors in the Robby deal are less pleasant. But by then, Rose, Perez, Lee May, Bench ... a few other really great hitters, were coming up. Pitching was in short supply. Getting Pappas made sense in the Robby trade, though in retrospect, it was an awful deal.
One guy they traded that everybody loved was Vada Pinson. I never understood some of those trades since it was long before the big contracts. Curt Flood, btw, was once a Redleg.
As for Ted Williams, the odds of seeing him get a big hit were pretty good on any day of the week.