The Wildest and Wackiest Off-Season in Reds History
You think this Reds off-season has been interesting? Let's go back to the 1800s for an even wilder ride.
After last year’s surprising and incredibly fun season, I think all of us were hoping for an equally entertaining off-season for the Reds. You know what I’m talking about: trades, signings, funny Joey Votto TikToks. But, no, we’re Cincinnati sports fans. We can’t have nice things. As we move into the second half of January, it appears that this winter is going to be a dud.
It was not always thus…
You’ve heard a lot about the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball’s first professional team. The more seasoned persons among you will know, however, that 1890 was actually the first season the Reds competed in the National League. They’ve been in the NL ever since, but during the winter after that 1890 season, a whirlwind of change saw the Reds in the hands of three different owners, with an equal number of league affiliations. Wild times, my friends.
Aaron Stern, an executive with the Cincinnati clothing firm of Stern, Lauer and Shohl, had been a stockholder with the Red Stockings as far back as 1882. He became the team’s principal owner in 1887,* and was the owner in 1890 when the Reds went 77-55-2, finishing in fourth place in their inaugural NL season. At the end of the season, however, Stern abruptly withdrew the club from the National League after just one year and sold the team to Al Johnson.
*Stern had actually been the Reds’ principal owner one time before, in 1884, before handing the reins over to George Herancourt.
Johnson was the son of a colonel in the Confederate Army. His father had made a fortune in the streetcar game, but baseball was Al’s passion. He was a key figure in the formation of the Players’ League, a short-lived competitor to the two major leagues (the NL and the American Association). As soon as the ink was dry on his purchase of the Reds, Johnson announced that Cincinnati would move to the Players’ League the following year.
By January 1891, that plan had completely unraveled as the Players’ League collapsed after just one season. Johnson quickly shifted course, moving the Reds back to the familiar terrain of the American Association, where the Reds had played before 1890. He secured a lease on League Park,* and began assembling the roster.
*League Park, at the intersection of Findlay and Western, was the precursor to the Palace of the Fans and Redland/Crosley Field, which stood at the same site.
Meanwhile, the National League made a strategic play to keep a presence in Cincinnati, awarding a franchise to John T. Brush. Brush had a history with the NL, owning the Indianapolis Hoosiers before they folded after the 1889 season. According to the indispensable Redleg Journal, Brush invested heavily in the NL’s New York Giants and kept the club afloat.
The National League owed Brush a debt of gratitude, and the Cincinnati franchise was given to him as a gift. But he was hardly in an enviable position. Johnson had taken all of the Reds top players and the ball park.
Brush considered moving the Reds to Indianapolis, but for motives that aren’t entirely clear, things took an unexpected turn in early March 1891 when Johnson gave up his plans and sold the Reds to Brush. Johnson surrendered his rights to League Park and the Reds players he held under contract. There were several law suits and counter suits among all of the parties involved, and the litigation wasn’t settled for many years.
Three owners, three leagues, and the Reds just ended up back where they started: in the National League. One of those owners, Al Johnson, had been in control of the club for a matter of mere months. Within four months of selling the Reds, Johnson would be found dead in his home in Brooklyn, victim of a heart attack.
Brush remained principal owner of the Reds until 1902 when he sold his interest in the club to August "Garry" Herrmann for $180,000. The native New Yorker returned home, purchasing the Giants and presiding over a tenure that saw four NL pennants and one world championship (1905). Herrman owned the Reds until 1927 and was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2008.
Every off-season since has been quiet in comparison. Although there’s still time for the Reds to be sold to another owner or two before spring training begins.
Building the Essential Cincinnati Reds Library: An Update
Thanks to all of you who commented and emailed me about last week’s newsletter about the Reds (and baseball) books you have to have in your personal library. I’ve updated that piece with your suggestions (see below), some of which I had considered for my original list but cut so that I could keep it to a tidy round number of 50 books.
Reds books
The Cincinnati Reds by Lee Allen.
Redleg Memories: The Reds of the Fifties and Sixties by Greg Rhodes.
Pete Rose: An American Dilemma by Kostya Kennedy.
Marge Schott Unleashed by Mike Bass.
The Pete Rose Story (1970) and Charlie Hustle (1974), “both ghosted by Bob Hertzel.”
Baseball books
The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski.
Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ‘76 by Dan Epstein.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler.
Veeck As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck by Bill Veeck and Ed Linn.
Books by Dave Parker, Lou Piniella, and Davey Johnson were also mentioned.
What’s Chad Watching?
Let me just say this, right from the beginning: The Beekeeper is everything I want in a movie. It’s WHY they make movies, just pure entertainment. I mean, I’ll watch any movie with The World’s Greatest Movie Star (tm), Jason Statham, but I will also concede that many of them are not great flicks. The Beekeeper is just fun. Highly recommended.
The other three are available now on streaming services: Saltburn is on Amazon Prime, while Maestro and May December are on Netflix. All are worth watching, but Saltburn is the best of the bunch, a crazy wild ride from beginning to end. Just pure insanity.
Maestro has the best performances of the three, with Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan elevating a so-so script. Cooper and Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan should both be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar later this month, in my opinion (though I doubt both will make the cut).
As a lifelong Cincinnatian who considers himself an avid Cincy sports useless knowledge keeper - this one was new to me! Appreciate it