Cincinnati Reds legend Joe Morgan passes away at 77 years old

Major League Baseball’s immortals keep falling, as Cincinnati Reds legendary second baseman Joe Morgan has passed away at 77 years old.

The baseball gods appear to have an important series coming up. Over the past two months, five Hall of Fame players have passed on, the game’s immortals suddenly becoming mortal before our eyes. In these cases, our youth has been stolen away as well.

On Monday, it was announced that another one of baseball’s immortals has been taken from us. Cincinnati Reds legendary second baseman Joe Morgan passed away at 77 years old.

Morgan spent 19 years in the majors, spending his first nine years with the Astros before his trade to the Reds. After eight years in Cincinnati, he returned to Houston for another year before closing out his career with stops in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Oakland.

Despite standing at just 5’7″ tall and weighing 160 pounds, Morgan was a giant on the field. He produced a career .271/.392/.427 batting line, hitting 449 doubles, 268 homers, and stealing 689 bases. Morgan was a ten time All Star, won the NL MVP award twice, and took home five Gold Glove awards.

His MVP seasons were some of the most impressive in a 70 year span. Between 1975 and 1976, Morgan produced a .324/.456/.541 batting line with 44 homers and stole 127 bases. Those two years were the only times between 1915 and 1984 that a player produced a .300/.400/.500 batting line with 60 steals each year.

Morgan’s presence also kickstarted the Big Red Machine. The Reds had a solid team in place, but were missing something. Morgan, who was acquired as part of an eight player blockbuster, instantly became the catalyst that they needed. The Reds went to the postseason five times in his eight years in Cincinnati, winning two World Series.

Following his playing career, Morgan remained in the baseball world. He had paired with Jon Miller as part of the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast on ESPN, a part of the booth from 1990 through 2010. After his time as a broadcaster, Morgan was the Vice Chairman of the MLB Hall of Fame, and a part of the Reds front office, serving as a special advisor to CEO Bob Castellini and the baseball ops staff.

Cincinnati Reds legend Joe Morgan has passed away at 77 years old. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family at this time.