Reminiscing about the last Reds team to advance in the playoffs
Part 1 of a loving tribute to the 1995 Cincinnati Reds
If you know anything about me, you know that I play golf and guitar equally poorly, though somehow, my golf game sounds worse in real time. I don’t even know what that means. Sorry, I’m going to start over. Yikes. Why are you even subscribed to this nonsense?
Anyway…If you know anything about me, you know that I’m a gooey, Field-of-Dreams-type baseball fan. I’m romantic about this sport. One example: this summer, I waxed poetic about how much fun it was to watch the garbage 2022 Reds play in the cornfield. Another symptom of this affliction is that I love nothing more than reminiscing about the enjoyable times* in my life as a baseball fan.
*Sure, only Reds fans of a certain vintage will remember enjoyable times. If you’re a kid, you’re just going to have to trust me on this one. It’s a fun distraction.
As I’ve already mentioned, the 1995 Cincinnati Reds remain my favorite team of all time. That team had it all: three holdovers from the Wire to Wire champs, a one-hit wonder who nearly won a Cy Young Award, a power-hitting duo that ran roughshod over the National League, and a franchise legend at the peak of his powers. I still haven’t recovered from the abrupt ending to that wild ride of a season.
Let’s go down the rabbit hole, shall we?
I teased the abrupt ending to the ‘95 season, but it was nothing compared to the cataclysm that stopped the 1994 Reds in their tracks. On August 12, 1994, the players went on strike after negotiations with the owners went nowhere. A month later, MLB owners voted to cancel the rest of the season, including the post-season.* That meant that the Reds finished with a 66-48 record and a half-game lead in the NL Central division. An excellent chance for a second World Series championship in five years went down the drain.
*An interesting footnote: the vote to cancel the season was 26-2; Reds owner Marge Schott was one of the two “no” votes.
Despite the work stoppage, general manager Jim Bowden set about acquiring a few players who filled key roles for the 1995 club. Catcher Benito Santiago (.285/.351/.485, 11 home runs, 44 RBI in 1995), pitcher Mike Jackson (6-1, 2.39 ERA in 40 appearances), outfielder Eric Anthony (.269/.327/.425, 5 homers in 150 plate appearances), and pitcher Xavier Hernandez (7-2, 4.60, 59 appearances) were signed to free agent contracts. Future Hall of Famer Jack Morris also signed with the Reds, at age 40. He did not make the roster and subsequently retired.*
*Worth noting: later in the season, the Reds signed another celebrated but aging pitcher, former Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola. Viola pitched in three games in August and September, giving up 11 runs in 14 1/3 innings before the Reds pulled the plug.
Bowden also dealt OF/1B Tim Costo, who had failed to distinguish himself in 134 at-bats over the previous two seasons, to Cleveland in exchange for a utility infielder, Mark Lewis. Costo would never play in the big leagues again; Lewis would go on to have the best season of his career and launch himself into Reds history with a memorable post-season homer.
Whether any of those players would actually wear a Reds jersey was unclear at the time. In mid-January, the owners voted to use replacement players if the strike threatened the 1995 season. Among the replacement players signed by the Reds was 48-year-old Pedro Borbón, who last pitched in the big leagues in 1980. Yes, that spring was complete and utter chaos.
Thankfully, the strike ended on April 2 and a 144-game schedule was announced. The season would start, albeit late. Most of the replacement players were released, though some were sent to the minors. One of those caused some drama in the Reds clubhouse a couple of months later.
Opening Day was on April 26, with the Redlegs hosting the Cubs. More than 51,000 tickets were sold — because, you know, it’s Opening Day in Cincinnati! — but only 36,000 actually showed up to Riverfront Stadium. It’s hard to overstate the anger and resentment from fans that boiled over when the 1994 World Series was canceled. This was just something that couldn’t happen in baseball! Until it did. And fans were upset. Until some players started using steroids in a few years and hit a lot of home runs. Then everything was great again! But I digress…
The Reds lost that opener, 7-1. Shortstop Barry Larkin hit a homer, but starter Jose Rijo gave up four runs in the sixth to break the game open. And then things got worse: the Reds lost their next five before finally winning one, but then proceeded to drop two more. After nine games, Cincinnati was 1-8 and already five games out of first place.
On May 6, the Reds found themselves down 11-4 to the Mets in the eighth inning, and it looked like Cincinnati was on their way to a ninth loss in ten games. But things were about to turn around in a big way.
Bret Boone singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Larkin followed with a walk and left fielder Ron Gant smashed a home run to left field to narrow the deficit to three runs. Later in the inning, Lewis picked up an RBI on a line drive double to right, Thomas Howard singled to center to bring in another run, then Lewis scored on a Lenny Harris sac fly. The Reds had scored six runs, and the deficit was just one run.
It was appropriate that Gant had the key hit; he would ultimately become one of the keys to Cincinnati’s charge to a division championship. Gant had been a standout slugger for the early-90s Braves teams that went from worst to first. Before the 1994 season, he signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with Atlanta, one of the richest contracts in baseball at that time. Shortly thereafter, however, Gant broke his leg in a serious dirt bike accident. The Braves voided his contract and released him.
The Reds, sensing an opportunity to get a good player at a discounted price, signed the 29-year-old Gant to a two-year deal. The first year of the deal (1994) would pay him the major league minimum ($109,000) until he was returned to the active roster, and $10,000 per day thereafter for the rest of the season. For 1995, Gant was due to receive a $500,000 base salary for next season that would jump to $3.5 million if he had fully recovered from the broken leg.
As it turned out, he didn’t play at all in 1994 but by Opening Day of 1995, he had certainly fully recovered. He would end up hitting .276/.386/.554 with 29 homers and 88 RBI. He also represented the Reds in the All-Star Game, his second (and last) career selection to the NL team. Alas, this was his only season with the Reds. He would leave as a free agent and, though he played parts of eight seasons with six different teams, he never again performed quite as well as he did in that magical season of 1995.
Back to the game against the Mets. After a 1-2-3 ninth from reliever Xavier Hernandez, Larkin led off the bottom half with a single, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored when Hal Morris looped a ball into left field. Jerome Walton*, a former Cubs Rookie of the Year, who was trying to get his career back on track, stepped to the plate and promptly hit a walkoff homer. Reds win, 13-11.
*Walton arrived for the fun just in time. He entered the game in an eighth-inning double-switch, went 2-2, scored two of the comeback runs, and hit the walkoff homer. He ended up being a key contributor off the bench for the Reds, hitting .290/.368/.525 with eight homers in 102 games.
The fire was lit. The Reds won their next five games — the last of which saw Gant beat his old Atlanta teammates with an extra-inning home run — and 19 of their next 22. They finished May on a nine-game winning streak* and found themselves tied with Chicago for first place.
*More extra-inning heroics from Gant provided the first of those wins. Two days after driving in five runs, including a walkoff single to defeat the Astros, Gant hit a walkoff homer in the tenth inning to finish a 3-2 victory.
…And that’s where we’ll stop, for now. Next week, we’ll discuss the stretch drive, playoff highs and playoff lows, and how this team should be remembered in Cincinnati Reds history.
Click here for the second half of this loving tribute to the 1995 Reds.
What I’m reading
Over at Red Reporter, Wick Terrell says everything there is to say about Cincinnati Reds legend Kyle Farmer.
On the heels of a historic playoff win for FC Cincinnati, Pat Brennan breaks down the most important goal in team history. “Removing Brenner from the match in particular raised eyebrows, but FC Cincinnati's dream season was nearing a sad ending − a first-round loss in a noon playoff game that kicked off the MLS postseason. The club's first-ever playoff run could end before MLS fans on the west coast woke up.”
Jay Morrison asks ($): How will a reeling Bengals run defense handle the top-ranked Falcons? “Reader and Wilson weren’t in that huddle, and they won’t be there Sunday when one of the league’s top rushing attacks comes to Paycor Stadium looking to exploit the injuries and deficiencies that have plagued the Cincinnati defense the last few weeks.”
On the Bearcats beat, Justin Williams explores some Cincinnati football truths and myths ($). “After the week off and with a tough two-game road trip to SMU and UCF up next, let’s take stock of how the Bearcats have done thus far with a midseason edition of truths and myths.”
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