By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave and it’s only two days until Happy New Year. Yep, the new year doesn’t start on January 1, it starts on Opening Day.
—NO RESPECT: Rodney Dangerfield does not play for the Cincinnati Reds, but it looks as if he should. No respect.
MLB’s web-site listed its Top Ten batting orders for the 2026 season. No Reds. It even listed a couple of honorable mentions. No Reds.
Their Top Ten batting orders: Dodgers, Yankees, Mariners, Blue Jays, A’s (???), Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks. No Reds.
Honorable mention — Braves, Astros. No Reds.
OK, how about their Top Ten pitching staffs? Still no Reds. Honorable mention? No Reds.
But wait? The cruelest cut came from MLB columnist Will Leitch when he predicted the outcome of all the the divisions.
For the National League Central his in-order predicted finish: Cubs, Pirates (wild card), Brewers, Cardinals, Reds. Yep. The Reds for last place.
Leitch put heavy emphasis on the loss of pitcher Hunter Greene. He didn’t mention Andrew Abbott’s spring struggles. Nor did be mention that Nick Lodolo left Sunday’s start with a blister on his left index finger.
That’s nothing new. Lodolo has had prior issues with blisters on the finger. And Brady Singer had the same issue earlier this spring. Sounds as if the staff needs to drown their digits in pickle juice.
Suddenly, the Reds starting rotation is close to being in shambles and shambles can mean destruction of positive vibes.
—HINDS-SIGHT: Outfielder Rece Hinds was lava-hot during spring training, a slash line of .410/.465/.949 with five homers, four doubles and a triple in 39 at bats.
And what did it get him? A Louisville Bats Triple-A uniform. Yes, he was sent back, proving once again that big spring training stats will get you a Starbucks latte, if you have $6.50 on you.
Said manager Tito Francona about the spot on his Reds roster, “It’s a bench role. We talked to (Nate) Lowe about the role. I told Hinds, ‘You couldn’t have done more. But the role is a bench spot and we want you to play.’”
Lowe’s slash line was .289/.386/.637 with four homers, three doubles and eight RBI in 38 at bats.
—STAND SMALL OR TALL: In media guides and biographies, athletes like to stretch the truth, stretch their height to make them seem (or feel) taller.
Mostly they do it for basketball players, but apparently baseball players do it, too
With the ABS (Automated Balls-Strikes) system being implemented this season, MLB is doing its own measurements of players. That’s so ABS can be adjusted according to height.
Former Reds player Gavin Lux, listed at 6-foot-2, lost three inches and is actually 5-foot-11. Some even gained height. Alex Bregman went from 5-foot-10 to 5-foot-11.
And Shohei Ohtani went from 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-4, as if he needs an extra inch on that body.
—FOR PETE’S SAKE: Eric ‘The Red’ Davis, my all-time favorite Cincinnati Reds position player, credits a manager for saving his career.
That manager? Pete Rose.
“Pete Rose allowed me to become me,” said Davis. “Everybody else was trying to mold me into Rickey Henderson. There was only one Rickey Handerson.
“I could hit the ball out of the ball park, so I wasn’t Rickey. I could steal bases, but I wasn’t Rickey,” he added. “They said, ‘You gotta hit the ball on the turf and use your speed.’ That wasn’t me.
“So I was trying to do that stuff and that’s why the first two years of my big league caeer (1984-85) I was struggling because they wanted me to do something in the majors that I didn’t do in the minor leagues,” he added.
Then on August 14, 1986 owner Marge Schott hired Pete Rose to manage the Reds and Davis’ career took off like Santa Claus’ sleigh. And it was like Christmas to Davis.
“He came, let me be me, and. . .”
Well, Pete left Davis alone, let him do his thing, and his career exploded.
And he gives Dave Parker credit, too.
“He was my second dad,” he said “My first spring training in ’84 I’m trying to figure out how to introduce myself to him,” said Davis. “He came into the clubhouse and I went up to him and he said, ‘I know who you are kid and I’ll talk to you in a little while.’
“And I was like, ‘Damn.’ Five or 10 minutes later he said, ‘Come on over here,’ and we stareted talking,” Davis continued. “He said he had been watching me and knew what I could do. And he said, ‘If I ever hear of you doing some of the things I did I’m gonna whipe your ass.’”
Parker was talking about the drug culture and drug trials he was caught up in while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Davis said, “For him to see that much in me, to make those comments to me. . .”
—CRADLE ROBBERS: MLB teams are now robbing the cradle. Well, more appropriatrely, stuffing the cradle with cold, hard cash. That’s at least one team.
There is a kid from Venezuela who could play in the Little League World Series with $1.8 million in his pocket.
His name is David Basabe and he is 11-years-old and in the sixth grade and the Philadelphia Phillies signed him to a $1.8 million bonus.
How can the Phillies, or any team, determine that an 11-year-old kid who hasn’t reached puberty will develop into an MLB player?
He won’t be eligible to play professionally until 2031 when he is 16. How in the name of Bill Veeck, who once signed a little person (3-foot, 7-inch Eddie Gaedel) can a team in good sense do such a thing.
Where is former commissioner Bowie Kuhn to stop such nonsense.
—ONE FOR HIS POCKET: Chandler Simpson is one of Tampa Bay’s top prospects, a speed demon who stole 44 bases as a rookie last season.
Home runs? What’s that? In college at Georgia Tech he hit one home run and it was inside the park. In four minor league seasons he hit one, a grand slam for Class AA Montgomery that ricocheted off the outfielder’s glove and over the wall.
So it was headline news last week when he hit a wall-scraping home run in a Grapefruit League game against Minnesota in Port Charlotte, Fla.
When he reached the dugout his teammates were happy and shocked, “And so was I.”
Asked if he might display more power, he said as he tucked the home run ball into his back pocket, “Nah, nah, nah, nah. I was just trying to hit that one to the shortstop and beat it out.”
—MICHAELS AT THE MIKE: Broadcaster Al Michaels is remembered for his iconic call when the U.S. Olympic hockey team, all amateurs at the time, beat the USSR and he blurted, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
There were a couple of hilarious things he said as the San Franisco Giants broadcaster after he left Cincinnati.
Working in the extremely high Candelstick Park press box, he said, “We’re so high the Goodyear blimp flew under us.”
The miserable weather conditions at Candlestick kept attendance low, especially when the team was bad.
“Attendance was so bad that one night they handed me a slip of paper with the night’s attendance,” he said. “I said, ‘You know what? Why don’t I just tell ‘em who’s here tonight.’”
—THE BIGGEST OF BIG: When it comes to college basketball, all one hears is SEC and ACC, ACC and SEC.
So explain this one. The Big Ten is sending six teams to the NCAA tournament’s Sweet Sixteen — Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue and Iowa.
That’s 37.5% of the remaining field and I know my calculations are correct because Nadine was a math teacher and she graded my paper.
—SHOE REPORT: What’s with college basketball players wearing a different color and style sneaker on each foot? And why are they called sneakers? Nobody can sneak around on a basketball court. They squeak too much.
My favorite shoes are the pink high-tops worn by the University of Dayton’s Jordan Derkack. Who wears high-tops these days? Derkack does.
Nike Jordan Brand shoes are the most popular with college players, followed by Adidas and Under Armour. But due to NIL deals, New Balance and Puma are gaining ground.
Whatever happened to the Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars I wore at Akron East High School. We Orientals (Yes, that was our nickname, since changed to Dragons) were the first in the city to wear white Converse All-Stars instead of the traditional black.
—QUOTE MACHINE: Baseball people say the darndest things:
—FROM former manager Tony LaRussa when he first began managing: “The toughest thing for me as a young manager is that a lot of my players saw me play and know how bad I was.”
—FROM former Reds broadcaster Waite Hoyt, a teammate with Babe Ruth: “Every big leaguer should teach their children to pray: ‘God bless mommy, God bless daddy and God bless Babe Ruth.’”
—FROM former umpire Al Forman: “I occasionally get birthday cards from fans with often the same message, they hope it’s my last.”
—TRIVIA TIME: Stuff the means nothing to anybody but baseball nuts:
—Stan Musial owns the most consecutive seasons hitting .300 starting with his rookie year at 17 years in a row.
—Cleveland’s Bob Feller is the only pitcher to twice lead the league in wins with a losing team, 25-13 in 1941 and 26-15 in 1946.
—When the 1990 Cincinnati Reds went wire-to-wire and won the World Series, they became only the 11th team in MLB history to win the World Series after a losing season. They were 75-87 in 1989, fifth place in the six-team National League West.
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 161: As Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle put it, “Music is well said to be the speech of angels.”
—Just To Be With You (Passions), Hey Good Lookin’ (Hank Williams), Because The Night (Patti Smith Group), Darlin’ (Frankie Miller), I Only Wanna Be With You (Bay City Rollers), I’ll Have To Say I’ll Love You In A Song (Jim Croce), Longfellow Serenade (Neil Diamond), Love You Inside Out (BeeGees).
—S.O.S. (Abba), When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman (Dr. Hook), You Make Love Fun (Fleetwood Mac), And I Love Her (Beatles), At Last (Etta James), Cupid (Sam Cooke), Do You Love Me (Contours), Two Faces Have I (Lou Christie), End Of The Road (Boyz II Men), Memphis (Lonnie Mack).