The Big 101
The 101 greatest players in Cincinnati Reds history
This is my running countdown of the Top 101 Cincinnati Reds players of all time, updated as I release the latest essay.
Who is the best baseball player of all-time? I love this question, and it’s one that has been debated in bleacher seats, bar rooms, and front porches for more than a century. Everyone has their own opinion, and any one of them could be right (especially mine) depending on how one looks at the question. It’s the age-old baseball dispute, and hardcore fans of America’s pastime love to argue about it.
This series emerged out of my curiosity to determine which player for my favorite team — that’s the Cincinnati Reds, in case you weren’t paying attention — has been the best. Who is the best player ever to wear a Redlegs uniform? Some people will swear that one of the Big Red Machine stars is the best Red who ever played. Some will tell you that Ted Kluszewski or Frank Robinson was the best player they ever saw. You may even find people who will argue for Edd Roush or Ernie Lombardi or Bid McPhee, although you may be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually watched them play.
I grew up with the Reds of the 80s and 90s. Players like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, and Dave Concepcion were finishing up sterling careers, while future stars like Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, and Jose Rijo were preparing to lead Cincinnati to yet another World Series championship.
Since my father and grandfather were both Reds fans, I grew up with an appreciation for the storied history of this wonderful franchise. In many ways, this is the series I have wanted to write my entire life. By researching and comparing players, I suppose that I wanted simply to answer the questions for myself: who really is the best player in Reds history, and why? Who else makes the list?
Listen, I’ve tried to look at these great players objectively, but this is an inherently subjective project. Spoiler alert: my personal favorite player of all-time did not reach the top spot on the list. I’ve tried to compare Reds, even across eras, using the statistical metrics available to us in the 21st century; I have also taken into account, to some extent, anecdotal evidence, including how these players were judged by their peers, and by the fans.
In some cases, I had to make judgment calls. One of those was how to look at career value versus a player’s peak value. I call this the “Pete Rose Problem.” (Well, it’s one of the Pete Rose Problems, anyway.) Some people had long, good careers, while others burned brighter, but for a much shorter period of time. Ultimately, I had to decide whether the career contributions of a player like Rose trumped the superiority of other players' shorter careers (and higher peaks).
For example, in 1994, Kevin Mitchell had one of the greatest seasons at the plate in Reds history, more productive than any one season in Pete Rose’s long career. No one in his or her right mind, however, would argue that Mitchell was a better Red than Rose. (I don’t think I’m going to argue that here, for the record.) I encountered that dilemma with several players, and I attempted to resolve it as best I could.
Many will disagree with my choices. You’ll probably think of players that I should have included on this list, and others that I’ve ranked too high or too low. That’s the beauty of a list like this, and what makes such an undertaking so much fun. Each ranking is a potential debate over whether that particular player should be ranked higher or lower. While I expect disagreement, however, I believe that my reasons for each of the choices are based in fact, and are defensible. In other words: don’t yell at me.
I don’t know how long this project will take, but it begins here. The top fifty will get full essays about their lives and careers. I’ll spend a little less time on the next 51, but they’re all good players who deserve to be remembered. We’ll begin with Number 101 on what I’m calling “The Big 101” (get it?). Let’s count ‘em down, shall we?
#101. Danny Graves
The only player in baseball history to have been born in Vietnam, Graves debuted with Cleveland as a 22-year-old in 1996. Midway through the following season, the young reliever was dealt to Cincinnati, along with immortals such as Jim Crowell, Damian Jackson and Scott Winchester, in exchange for Jeff Branson and John Smiley.
Over the course of nine seasons with the Redlegs, Graves racked up 182 saves, far and away the highest total in franchise history. He was a two-time All-Star, and was probably better than you remember. In Graves’ first five full seasons with the Reds, he was one of the best relievers in baseball, with a 3.23 ERA, 140 ERA+, and 129 saves in 337 appearances. Unfortunately, many Reds fans remember the 2003 season, when Cincinnati manager Bob Boone inexplicably moved Graves to the starting rotation and Graves finished 4-15 with a 5.33 ERA. The following season, a return to the bullpen saw Graves save a career-high 41 games with a second berth on the NL All-Star team.
Obviously, this spot on the list could have gone to a number of other names. In the end, I was compelled by this: Did you know that only four pitchers in Reds history have ever appeared in more games than Danny Graves? He’s not yet a Reds Hall of Famer, but he should be.
#100. Jesse Winker
Did you know that Jesse Winker ranks 13th in Reds history in adjusted OPS+ (among players with at least 1500 plate appearances)? Did you know Winker’s career 129 OPS+ with the Reds is better than Ted Kluszewski, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Ernie Lombardi, Pete Rose, and Junior Griffey?
Okay, I will accept the criticism that I’m picking and choosing a newfangled stat in order to make the case for a guy that I really liked. Maybe! But the fact is that Winker, an All-Star in 2021, was really good in Cincinnati. Sure, it was for a short time (“Pete Rose Problem” alert), but Winker’s OBP of .385 is among the top five in franchise history, post-1900. He’s even in the top ten for slugging percentage in Reds history! I think he deserves a spot on this list. Sorry, Austin Kearns.
#99. Hal Chase
Hal Chase was already 33 when he joined the Reds in 1916, jumping back to the National League from the Buffalo Blues of the upstart Federal League. In his first season with the club, Chase won the batting title, hitting .339 while also leading the league in hits (184) and OPS+ (155),* and finishing second in RBI (82) and slugging percentage (.459). That was a 4.2 WAR season, a single-season total topped by only ten Reds first basemen ever.
*Do you think the OPS+ standings were printed in the daily papers in 1916?
Chase made his name with the glove, however; it’s quite possible that he was the finest defensive first baseman of all-time. In his Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James said that no “player in baseball history was so richly praised for his defensive skill”:
No one ever saw him play without being left gasping for adjectives, and though his statistics may not explain why, he was routinely described as a great player. “His range was incredible,” says Fred Lieb. “No other first baseman played so far off the bag. As a man charging in on a bunt, he was fantastic. He was speed and grace personified.”
Unfortunately, he was also “the most notoriously corrupt player in baseball history,” according to some accounts. Whether it was fixing games by bribing teammates or dodgy on-field shenanigans, Chase was accused of a long string of questionable behavior. In 1918, Reds manager Christy Mathewson accused Chase of violating league Rule 40 — “Crookedness and Its Penalties” — by offering bribes to teammates and opponents alike. Shortly, however, Mathewson went off to serve in the Great War and Chase was controversially acquitted of the charges by league president John Heydler.
That was the end of Chase’s tenure in Cincinnati. He signed with the New York Giants for the following season but by September, Chase’s career was over. He had yet again been attempting to bribe his teammates to throw games.
But the story doesn’t end there! Even after leaving town, Chase wasn’t done with the Reds. He was later indicted for his role in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, which handed that World Series to Cincinnati. Even though the Reds would have won anyway, right?
#98. Todd Frazier
I wrote about Frazier’s magical moment last week. It’s a big reason why Frazier will be a Reds Hall of Famer. But it’s not the only reason. First of all, he made a couple of All-Star teams as a Red, and that’s generally enough to get you into the conversation on this list. And did you know that he posted the 7th highest WAR in Reds history among 3Bs post-1900? (I will conceded that, in some circles, that’s the very definition of “damning with faint praise.)
#97. Fred Norman
When Fred Norman was traded to the Reds from San Diego in the middle of June in 1973, no one paid much attention. Cincinnati gave up very little in return (Mike Johnson, Gene Locklear, and cash), and to that point in his career, the 30-year-old Norman had not made much of an impact on the big league scene, despite debuting at age 19. Before 1973, Norman had played for five different teams, mostly in relief, posting a 14-28 and a 4.04 ERA.
The 1973 season began even worse: at the time of the trade, Norman was 1-7 with a 4.26 ERA, and diminutive lefty’s career appeared to be on the rocks.
Welcome to Cincinnati! Norman joined Sparky Anderson’s rotation and immediately spun back-to-back complete-game shutouts in his first two outings. He almost pitched a third one in his next start, but surrendered a solo homer with two outs in the ninth inning before finishing out a 4-1 victory.
At the time of the trade, the Reds, fresh off an appearance in the 1972 World Series, were in fourth place in the NL West. They would, of course, go on to win the division, and Norman would settle in as a mainstay of the rotation throughout the Big Red Machine years.
Norman was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2018. Five years before, he appeared on back-to-back episodes of our podcast, where he did a deep dive into his Reds career with my friend Bill Lack. You can listen to those episodes here: part one and part two.
#96. Jim Brosnan
A Cincinnati kid, born in the Queen City in 1929, Brosnan had a terrific run with the Redlegs from 1959 to 1963. If you’re like me — an obsessive collector and reader of books about the Reds — you likely know Brosnan as the author of a couple of pretty great ones. In “The Long Season,” Brosnan chronicles the year he was traded from St. Louis to Cincinnati; it was a precursor to the “diary” style of sportswriting that would reach its pinnacle one decade later with the publication of Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four.”
Brosnan — by now known as “The Professor, a nickname purportedly hung on the pitcher by teammate — later wrote “Pennant Race,” about the magical 1961 season in which the Reds surprised everyone by winning the National League pennant. Both are worth reading if you are a Reds fan (and if you’re not, why are you here?).
That 1961 season (10-4, 3.04, 16 saves) was among Brosnan’s best, but he was effective throughout his five seasons in Cincinnati: 29-14, 190 games pitched, 43 saves, 3.04 ERA, 131 ERA+. Along with Danny Graves and Hal Chase, Brosnan is one of the eligible players on The Big 101 list who has not yet been inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame.
#95. Pedro Borbón
No pitcher in Reds history appeared in more games for the club than Pedro Borbón, who stepped onto the mound 531 times while wearing a Cincinnati uniform. (The next closest is the rubber-armed late-90s/early-00s reliever Scott Sullivan at 494.) But ask anyone who remembers Borbón what they remember most, and you’ll likely get some version of the beginning of his entry at the Reds Hall of Fame’s website:
He was a licensed barber who once claimed that his grandfather was still alive at age 136. He was well-schooled in the sport of cock fighting -- illegal in the United States, but a thriving industry in his native Dominican Republic. He once bit an opposing player in the heat of an on-field fight.
But Borbón was pretty effective, too! A key member of Sparky Anderson’s Big Red Machine bullpen, averaging nearly 70 appearances per season during his seven full seasons in Cincinnati from 1972 to 1978. My favorite Borbón story, of course, comes from Game 3 of the 1973 National League Championship series, when the famous Pete Rose/Bud Harrelson fight happened. During the fracas, Borbón battled with Mets pitcher Buzz Capra. After the fight ended, Borbón picked up a cap and placed it onto his head. He soon realized that he was wearing Capra’s Mets cap. So Borbón did what Borbón does: he ripped off the cap and took a bite of it.
#94. Ted Abernathy
Admit it, you’ve never heard of Ted Abernathy. As a North Carolina schoolboy, Abernathy tore muscles in his shoulder, forcing him to adopt a submarine-style pitching motion. It worked, and the Reds nearly signed him after high school, but he ultimately accepted an offer from the Washington Senators.
After eight up and down seasons for four clubs, the Reds selected Abernathy in the 1966 Rule 5 draft. At age 33, he immediately transformed into the best reliever in the league in 1967. Abernathy won the “Fireman of the Year” Award, going 6-3 with a 1.27 ERA (299 ERA+) with 28 saves in 70 games. According to Baseball-Reference, Abernathy posted 6.2 wins above replacement that season, an almost-incomprehensible total for a reliever.
In 2001, in his “New Historical Baseball Abstract,” Bill James declared Abernathy’s 1967 season one of the ten most valuable relief seasons ever (it was #8 on the list, for what that’s worth). It’s by far the best season for a reliever in Reds history, and for that, Abernathy deserves a spot on The Big 101.
#93. Scott Williamson
The most difficult decisions on The Big 101 will be around relief pitchers. Scott Williamson is the third of those we’ve already discussed and there will be a handful more to come. What’s the best way to rate relievers? Obviously, historically, relievers have been far less valuable than starters. (That very well may be changing in the modern era.) But how do we acknowledge the impact of the best relievers in Reds history? Once this project is completed, I expect that there will be a good argument that I’ve included too many relief pitchers. Feel free to disagree with my choices! I think I probably included too many…I just couldn’t figure out which ones I was comfortable removing from my final list.
The fact that Williamson made it onto this list surprised me more than any other selection. But if you look at career impact, Williamson compares favorably with the other relievers here. Williamson won the Rookie of the Year award and made the All-Star team in that memorable 1999 season, when he went 12-7 with a 2.41 ERA, 19 saves, and a 194 ERA+. He was only in Cincinnati for five seasons, but his production was far better than I remembered. Williamson’s ERA+ of 155 was better than John Franco, Raisel Iglesias, or any of the Nasty Boys. Among all pitchers in Reds history who spent their careers primarily as relievers, Williamson’s 8.1 WAR is firmly in the top ten. Williamson is not (yet) ha Reds Hall of Famerh, but he’s probably better than you remembered.
#92. Greg Vaughn
One of the all-time “Only played one year for the Reds” players. (Another entry on that list coming up next.) Acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Padres* prior to — again — the 1999 season, Vaughn was a three-time All-Star who was coming off perhaps his best season yet. In 1998, he hit .272/.363/.597 with 50 homers and 119 RBI, finishing in the top five of MVP voting.
*Cincinnati traded Reggie Sanders, Damian Jackson, and Josh Harris to San Diego in exchange for Vaughn and Mark Sweeney.
With the Reds, he immediately had a historic impact; less than two weeks after the trade, he forced Reds owner Marge Schott to end the team’s ban on facial hair. (The last Reds to wear facial hair were Jake Beckley and Tom Daly in 1903.) Vaughn’s glorious goatee was immediately installed into the cleanup spot and he led the Reds to a remarkable season in which they won 99 games and narrowly missed the playoffs., smashing 45 homers with 118 RBI.
Vaughn’s 3.8 WAR doesn’t necessarily stand out, but I’m bumping him onto this list because of “intangibles.” (Feel free to yell at me now. Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman once said that Greg Vaughn was the best leader he ever saw in his 46 years in Cincinnati. I agree.
#91: Ron Gant
Like Vaughn, one of the all-time “Only played one year for the Reds” players. As I wrote in my love letter to the 1995 Reds, 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. As it turned out, he didn’t play at all in 1994 but by Opening Day of 1995, he had 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.
#90: Eugenio Suarez
Is it possible that I’ve overrated Suarez because he’s just so likable? Good vibes only, right?
Well, he’s also one of the greatest third basemen in Reds history. Let’s start with the simple stuff. Only one Red ever has hit more homers in a season than Suarez’s 49 back in 2019; that’s George Foster, who hit 52 in 1977 (Ted Kluszewski also hit 49 homers, in the 1954 season). Among players who played at least 50% of their career games for the Reds at third base, Suarez’s 189 homers is atop the list, ranking far ahead of Todd Frazier (108) and Chris Sabo (104).
Using that same criteria, only six Reds 3Bs accumulated more WAR during their time with the Reds than Geno. It didn’t end particularly well, but Suarez, an All-Star in 2018, was a really good Red while he was here. One of the ninety best, in fact!
#89: Norm Charlton. I already wrote about him!
#88: Fred Toney. Got the win in the only double no-hitter in baseball history. Four good seasons for the Reds from 1915 to 1918, going 61-49 with a deadball-assisted 2.18 ERA.
#87: Jeff Brantley. Cowboy has turned into a pretty darn good radio broadcaster, and the kids today are liable to forget that he was a fine closer during his time, as well. Tied with Rob Dibble and Tom Hume for seventh on the Reds all-time saves list, Brantley had a 2.64 ERA over four seasons in Cincinnati, leading the NL with 44 saves in 1996.
#86: Leo Cárdenas. Four time All-Star and the Gold Glove winning shortstop in 1965, Cárdenas was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1981.
#85: Babe Herman. Floyd Caves Herman only played three seasons for the Reds (1932, 1935-36), but he was pretty great during those seasons: .315/.379/.510. His best years came with Brooklyn.
#84: Johnny Temple. Solid second baseman and leadoff hitter who made four All-Star teams for the Reds (though two of them came in 1959 during that weird span when they were playing two ASGs each summer). Formed a great double play combo with Roy McMillan.
#83: César Gerónimo. The least-heralded member of The Great Eight, Geronimo was a fine defensive center fielder who won four Gold Gloves in a row during the peak Big Red Machine seasons. Plus, when I was a kid, I thought his name was really cool.
#82: Raisel Iglesias. Sixth on the Reds all-time saves list, he was way better than you think he was. I’m still salty over the fact that the penny-pinching Reds essentially gave Iglesias away for free.
#81: Wally Post. Averaged 31 home runs and 98 runs batted per season over his first eight years with the Reds. That’s pretty good!
#80: Gus Bell. Arrived in Cincinnati in a trade with Pittsburgh before the 1953 season; the 24-year-old Bell proceeded to hit .300/.354/.525 with 30 homers and 105 RBI, making the first of his four All-Star teams. He’s a Reds Hall of Famer, but his legacy extended long after his career into the present day. His son is former Reds 3B Buddy Bell, and his grandson is the club’s current manager.
#79: Jeff Shaw. Remember when the 1998 Reds had the fourth-lowest payroll in baseball, traded their scheduled Opening Day starter (Dave Burba) just before the season began, and then traded their only All-Star, Jeff Shaw, just before the All-Star Game? Wild times.
#78: Clay Carroll. The Hawk. Eight solid seasons for the Reds through 1975, 71-43 with a 2.73 ERA, with two All-Star appearances. Led the NL with 37 saves in the World Series season of 1972.
#77: Billy Werber. The heart and soul of the champion 1939 and 1940 Reds. Someone needs to write the definitive history of those clubs. They were fascinating, and under-remembered among Reds fans.
#76: Pete Donohue. Really great talk show host in the 1980s who somehow also won 20 or more games three times for the Reds in the 1920s.
#75: Hal Morris. Remember the way Morris would shuffle his feet all around the batter’s box as he awaited a pitch? I still think that was pretty great.
#74: Aaron Harang. Literally one of the ten best Reds pitchers of the last 75 years. Had the misfortune to play on some pretty bad clubs, unfortunately.
#73: Dan Driessen. Had a fine Reds career, but he will never be forgiven by a certain segment of fans who were upset that he wasn’t Tony Perez.
#72: Roy McMillan. The first Red to be featured alone on a Sports Illustrated cover (September 9, 1957). Bet you didn’t know that!
#71: Curt Walker. I wrote about him last year when I talked players who had been snubbed by the Reds Hall of Fame. Barely remembered today, Walker was a star left-handed hitting outfielder in the mid- to late-1920s for the Reds. He was remarkably consistent over his seven years in Cincinnati, hitting .303/.378/.441; his 18.8 wins above replacement is the second-highest among hitters who haven’t yet been elected to the Reds HOF. Walker’s .378 on-base percentage is seventh-best in franchise history, and higher than Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, and both Griffeys.
#70: Kal Daniels. I still can’t believe Kalvoski didn’t turn into a star. I thought he was a sure thing.
#69: Tom Browning. TB. My man TB.
#68: Dave Parker. In the mid-eighties, I was absolutely certain that Dave Parker was the coolest dude ever to walk the planet. I still believe that’s true.
#67: Mike Mitchell. You’ve never heard of him but he had a good six-year run with the Reds from 1907 to 1912. Bill James claims Mitchell had the best outfield arm of his era. Once played for a minor league team named the Schenectady Electricians which is pretty great, to be honest.
#66: Joe Nuxhall. The ol’ lefthander. Not quite a top fifty player in Reds history, but still one of the all-timers thanks to his time in the booth. A pretty good pitcher, though!
#65: Bob Purkey. Inducted into the Reds HOF in 1974, Purkey was a five-time All-Star (though, again, four of those came in seasons where they had two ASGs and he made the roster each time). A member of the pennant-winning 1961 club, Purkey joined Jim O'Toole and Joey Jay to form Cincinnati’s “Big Three” in the rotation. His best season was 1962 when he went 23-5 with a 2.81 ERA.
#64: Don Gullett. How many pitchers looked like Hall of Famers early in their careers, only to break down from injury later? Asking for a friend (named Gary Nolan).
#63: Red Lucas. Nicknamed “The Nashville Narcissus.” That’s a no-doubt, inner-circle Hall of Fame moniker.
#62: Jake Beckley. His nickname was “Eagle Eye,” but I have some questions about that after looking at his photo. A baseball Hall of Famer from the turn of the century who was finally inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame a decade ago.
#61: Bob Ewing. He shot J.R.
#60: Sonny Gray. Probably had the most underrated Reds career of any pitcher in my lifetime: 3.49 ERA, 135 ERA+, 10.1 bWAR over three seasons in Cincinnati.
#59: John Reilly. “Long John” is not a particularly clever nickname. Played ten seasons for the Reds in the 1880s and 90s, in both the National League and the American Association. Led the league twice in homers (including a career-high 13 in 1888 to go along with 103 RBI) and triples once (26 in 1890).
#58: Ken Raffensberger. Lefty hurler who has a decent case for the Reds HOF, Raffensberger pitched eight seasons for the Reds in the 1940s and 50s. Posted 26 bWAR over that span.
#57: Sam Crawford. Called “Wahoo Sam” because he hailed from Wahoo, Nebraska, Crawford was the best interview from The Glory of Their Times (one of the best baseball books ever written; the audiobook version is gold, Jerry, gold). When author Lawrence Ritter asked him how he wanted to be remembered, Crawford said: “When I kick off they'll say, ‘Well, good old Sam, he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Everything considered, he was pretty fair and square. We'll miss him.’”
#56: Bubbles Hargrave. Why aren’t any players nicknamed “Bubbles” these days?
#55: Rob Dibble. I mention Chapman below, but Dibble was the first flame-throwing reliever who got crowds on their feet when he entered a game. The best of the Nasty Boys.
#54: Ed Bailey. Not this Ed Bailey.
#53: Billy Rhines. Highest-rated player on this list that you haven’t heard of? Perhaps!
#52: John Franco. Most baseball fans will remember him as a New York Metropolitan, but he was a great reliever during his six seasons in Cincinnati. Third all-time in club history in saves, behind only Danny Graves and Francisco Cordero. A three-time All-Star.
#51: Aroldis Chapman. Just two saves behind Franco on the franchise list, Chapman narrowly edges out his fellow lefty closer. Four All-Star selections in six seasons, and each of his appearances for the first couple of seasons were simply can’t miss. If you weren’t at GABP to see Chapman enter a close game in the ninth inning in his first season or two, you don’t know what you missed. It was electric.
#50. Sean Casey
#49. Will White
#48. Coming soon!