Reds
Home
Click
on Logo

Yr

P

W

L

Yr

P

W

L

Yr

P

W

L

1950

6

66

87

1953

6

68

86

1957

4

80

74

1950

1951

6

66

86

1954

6

74

80

1958

4

76

78

Decade

1952

6

69

85

1955

5

75

79

1959

5

74

80

Click

1956

3

91

63

on Logo

Titles:

Top Reds Players of the Fifties

None

Pitchers:

Ballpark:

Joe Nuxhall (15) - 47

Crosley Field

Ken Raffensberger (15.79) - 40

Brooks Lawrence (8.42) - 32

Team Name:

Ewell Blackwell (10.4) - 25

Redlegs

Art Fowler (6.36) - 21

Bob Purkey (6.16) - 20

Owners:

Herm Wehmeier (0.43) - 18

Powel Crosley

Harry Perkowski (4.99) - 17

Hershell Freeman (5.93) - 15

General Managers:

Howie Fox (6.52) - 15

Warren Giles (1950)

Frank Smith (7.39) - 15

Gabe Paul (1951-1959)

Hal Jeffcoat (4.83) - 14

Johnny Klippstein (5.07) - 13

Managers:

Don Newcombe (7.1) - 11

Luke Sewell (1950-1952)

Willard Ramsdell (4.46) - 10

Earle Brucker (1952)

Rogers Hornsby (1952-1953)

Catchers:

Buster Mills (1953)

Ed Bailey (15) - 41

Birdie Tebbets (1954-1958)

Smoky Burgess (8.04) - 19

Jimmy Dykes (1958)

Andy Seminick (4.98) - 19

Mayo Smith (1959)

Fred Hutchinson (1959)

First Basemen:

Ted Kluszewski (28.71) - 61

Hall of Famers:

George Crowe (2.53) - 15

Frank Robinson

Second Basemen:

Rookie of the Year:

Johnny Temple (15.23) - 42

Frank Robinson (1956)

Connie Ryan (2.94) - 12

MVP

ShortStop:

None

Roy McMillan (16.78) - 57

No Hitters:

Third Base:

None

Bobby Adams (9.72) - 26

Don Hoak (4.6) - 14

Cy Young:

None

Outfield:

Frank Robinson (23.54) - 51

Notable Events:

Gus Bell (13.17) - 51

Wally Post (9.96) - 29

1950 - Cincinnati comes into the Fifties on a real low. Five consecutive losing

Joe Adcock (2.31) - 20

seasons where they won less than seventy in four of those years. Things

Jim Greengrass (4.8) - 15

don't improve much in the Fifties, which open up with four more sub seventy

Vada Pinson (6.77) - 14

win seasons. All in all, the Reds have only two over .500 seasons during the

John Wyrostek (4.2) - 13

Fifties. Most of the reason for the poor performance lays at the feet of owner

Jerry Lynch (1.66) - 12

Powel Crosley. Crosley had other interests and bigger fish to fry and pretty

Willard Marshall (2.88) - 12

much lost interest in fielding a winning baseball team. It wasn't front office

incompetence. In fact, just the opposite. Crosley's GM's since he bought the

Notable Events:

club thru the end of the Fifties were all top notch: Larry MacPhail,

Warren Giles and Gabe Paul who took over for Giles in 1951.

1956 - Frank Robinson is a rookie. He slams 38 homers and

wins Rookie of the Year

1950 - The Roster entering the decade contained the following top talent:

Ted Kluszewski, 25 ==> one of the top sluggers of the Fifties

1956 - The Reds tie the National League record with 221 homers and finish

Joe Adcock, 22 ==> blocked by Klu at 1B, bad trade to Braves in 1953

above .500 for the first time since 1944 - way above .500 at 91-53, good for

Ewell Blackwell, 23 ==> hurt his arm in 1952

third place. Frank Robinson is Cincinnati's first good black player.

Nothing else. Not much to build on

The lineup is filled with sluggers (home runs in parens): Wally Post (36);

Ted Kluszewski (35); Gus Bell (29); Ed Bailey (28); Ray Jablonski (15); and

1954 - The team changes its name from Reds to Redlegs so that

part timers Smoky Burgess (12); George Crowe (10) and Bob Thurman (8);

people won't think they're Commies

This is all in addition to Robinson's 38

1954 - Chuck Harmon is the team's first black player. Except for

1957 - Cincinnati fans stuff the ballot box, voting all eight Reds starters onto the

the Yankees, the racist organizations in the Fifties suffer, the

All-star team. Five end up starting, but NL President Warren Giles intervenes and

Redlegs being no exception. Harmon was a marginal player.

replaces George Crowe, Gus Bell and Wally Post with Stan Musial, Willie Mays,

Compare this to the successful National League teams of the

and Henry Aaron. Fans voting is killed for the next twelve years due to this

Fifties who embraced black players once the color line was

shenanigan. In defense of Reds fans, they actually had a pretty good team.

broken (they were all racist, obviously, prior to that): the Dodgers

They were unfortunate not to have pitching to match the great hitting they had.

(Robinson, Campanella, Newcombe, Gilliam, Neal, Amoros, Black);

catcher - Ed Bailey

the Giants (Mays, Irvin, Thompson); the Braves (Aaron, Bruton, Covington).

infield - Ted Kluszewski, Johnny Temple, Roy McMillan, Ray Jablonski / Don Hoak

outfield - Frank Robinson, Gus Bell, Wally Post