Reds At 10,000 Wins And Counting

In case anybody noticed a week or so ago, the Cincinnati Reds logged the 10,000th win in franchise history. Not this season, or else they wouldn’t be worried about getting a wild-card playoff spot. That’s the 10,000th win since the National League revved up in 1876.

That’s a long time ago. When the 1876 season began General George Armstrong Custer was still alive. Word reached the East on July 4 that he and members of his Seventh Calvary had been massacred in Montana. The Reds were probably playing a holiday double-header. It was, after all, the Centennial birthday party of the nation. I’m guessing that President U.S. Grant was not on hand to throw out the first pitch.

Leaving aside the current Reds’ team’s desire to add about 80 more victories to the total this summer, 10,000 of anything is a pretty big number, unless that’s how much money you have and you are buying a house. Then they laugh at you.

There are 30 Major League teams and the Reds winning their 10,000th put them into a little club with the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York/San Francisco Giants, and the Chicago Cubs. I remember a big hullabaloo a few years back when the Philadelphia Phillies became the first team to reach 10,000 losses. The Reds’ milestone doesn’t rank up there with winning a World Series or having one of your players win 300 games from the mound or hit 600 homers from the batter’s box, but given the choice it is better to be a member of this club than the big losers’ club.

Over all of those years the Reds have had much to smile about. I am going to forego listing 10,000 such things, but there are many that make Cincinnati Reds fans feel good all over and really only need a name or an event as code words to bring out that grin. Probably THE No. 1 thing in Reds’ history that can be summed up in just a few words and provoke the grandest reaction is: “Big Red Machine.”

A lot is wrapped around that phrase. Pete Rose and all of his hits (his 4,256 of those could account for almost half of the 10,o00 feel-good things). Tony Perez and all of his RBIs. Johnny Bench and all of the guys he threw out trying to steal second base. Joe Morgan. Sparky Anderson. Beating the Red Sox in the 1975 World Series. Beating the Yankees in the 1976 World Series. Winning the 1990, 1940 and 1919 World Series. Winning the 1961 pennant.

Crosley Field, Riverfront Stadium, the Great American Ballpark.

Ernie Lombardi, Joe Nuxhall, Jim O’Toole, Bob Purkey, Joey Jay, Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Ted Kluszewski, Johnny VanderMeer, two Ken Griffeys, Davey Concepcion, Dummy Hoy, Wally Post, Fred Hutchinson, Eric Davis, Tom Browning, Rob Dibble, Barry Larkin.

1869. The year when it all began. Harry Wright put together the first professional baseball team, then called the Cincinnati Red Stockings, and his brother George was the star shortstop. It was a very good year.

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