By Hal McCoy
It will be a four-star event Saturday in Great American Ball Park when the Cincinnati Reds induct four men into the club’s Hall of Fame.
Emblematic red jackets will be placed around the shoulders of former manager Lou Piniella, second baseman Brandon Phillips, outfielder Reggie Sanders and pitcher Aaron Harang.
All four left fond remembrances during my years covering the team.
LOU PINIELLA: The feisty, sometimes belligerent baseball lifer was nicknamed Sweet Lou, even though umpires thought of him more as Sour Lou.
He led the Reds from 1990 through 1992 and guided the 1990 team to a World Series championship, grabbing first place on day one and going wire-to-wire. Then the team swept the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics in the World Series.
Piniella is the only manager ever to ask my advice on anything. The first week of spring training, he said to me, “Hal, you covered this team a long time. What does it need?”
I said, “It needs a leadoff hitter and Barry Larkin would be perfect.”
Piniella said nothing but installed Larkin as the leadoff hitter for most of the season. He said nothing all year, but after the World Series he said to me, “You were right, Hal. Thanks.”
Piniella’s 1992 team won 90 games and finished second. It was the last year of his contract, but owner Marge Schott wouldn’t talk to him about an extension.
It was late September and Piniella and I were at Del Mar race track on a Saturday afternoon before a game against the San Diego Padres. Lou was doing well with his wagers, but it kept getting closer and closer to batting practice time.
I asked if he had sent in a lineup and he said no. I had to practically drag him from the track and I was sped down Interstate-5 toward Jack Murphy Stadium, I said, “Lou, it is already batting practice time.”
He said, “Ah, hell, I’m not coming back next year anyway,” and I had an exclusive story.
Piniella owned a great sense of humor, too. When he thought umpire Dutch Rennert missed a call at first base, Piniella argued vociferously, then yanked first base from its moorings and heaved it into right field. Unhappy with his distance, he ran out to right field, picked up the base, and hurled deeper into the outfield.
A couple of months later, the bag-tossing incident came up and Piniella smiled and said, “After I did that, my wife wouldn’t speak to me for a week. If i had known that, I’da done it sooner.”
Then there was his clubhouse scuffle with pitcher Rob Dibble, a joust I unwittingly started.
Dibble didn’t pitch one night when it was the perfect spot for him. I asked Piniella why he didn’t use him and he said, “Dibble told me before the game he had a twinge in his elbow.”
So I asked Dibble what was wrong with his elbow, that his manager said he had a twinge in his elbow.
“Well, the manager is a liar,” said Dibble.
I returned to Piniella’s office and told him, “Dibble just called you a liar.” Piniella bolted from his office chair, nearly knocked me down as the ran to Dibble’s locker, jumped on him, and the fight was on. And I had another great story.
BRANDON PHILLIPS: Phillips was one of two great coups accomplished by former Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky toward the end of spring training in 2006.
On March 20, he traded outfielder Wily Mo Pena to the Red Sox for pitcher Bronson Arroyo, aleady in the Reds Hall of Fame. On April 7, just before Opening Day, he traded minor-league pitcher Jeff Stevens to the Indians for Phillips.
What a one-sided deal. Stevens never made it and Phillips became a star on offense and defense.
Defensively, he was as good as, if not better, than Joe Morgan. While Morgan did it routinely, Phillips did it with flash and flair, often making acrobatic plays.
At the plate, he usually hit between .280 and .300. His best year was 2011 when his slash line was .300/.357/.457 with 18 home runs, 82 RBI and 14 stolen bases.
Phillips and I had a great working relationship. When I interviewed him by myself, he gave fabulous quotes and insights.
He missed a few games in early August of 2010 with the St. Louis Cardinals coming to town. I asked him, “Are you going to play?”
He said, “Against the Cardinals. I wouldn’t miss playing against those whiny little bitches.”
I wrote it, the Cardinals read it, and when Phillips came to bat for the first time and tapped catcher Yadier Molina’s shin guards with his bat. Molino whipped off his mask, got into Phillips face and a dugout/bullpen-clearing brawl ensued.
I was in the clubhouse the next day when I saw Phillips approaching me and I thought, “Oh, oh, he is going to deny saying it or say he was misquoted.”
Instead he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Great story.”
But it didn’t last. The last year he was with the Reds, 2016, I wrote something about him he didn’t like and he told me, “Don’t ever come around me again.” If he was doing an interview with a bunch of writers and saw me nearby, he would clam up and point to me to move on. Then he would resume.
But I never lost respect for him or his fantastic and sometimes fabulous play on the field.
REGGIE SANDERS: Sanders was one of the most underrated Reds players of the 1990s, mostly because he was of the school to be seen and not heard.
As the Reds right fielder in the early 1990s he displayed power and speed and owned a strong arm from right field.
From 1991 through 1998 he hit 111 home runs and drove in 398. His best year with the Reds was 1995 when he hit 28 homers and drove in 99 with a slash line of .305/.397/.510 with 39 stolen bases.
He finished his career playing for the Padres, Diamondbacks (helping them to the 2001 World Series championship), Cardinals and Royals.
Sanders was known to the boys in the press box as Sir Reginald because of his easy-going demeanor and a perma-press smile.
He is the kind of guy who might run a yellow light then turn himself in and pay the fine.
Sanders was devout to teammate Barry Larkin and was often seen reclining on his side on the clubhouse floor in front of Larkins locker listening to the Hall of Famer’s sage words.
Larkin, though, thought Sanders was too mild-mannered in the batter’s box because pitchers knew if they pitched him inside, real inside, Sanders would do nothing but smile at them.
Larkin told Sanders he had to react, do something. So during a game in Montreal, noted head-hunter Pedro Martinez buzzed Sanders up-and-in.
Sanders dropped his bat and headed for the mound. One problem. Martinez was pitching a perfect game and was in no way throwing at Sanders.
Larkin shook his head, called Sanders aside and said, “OK, you did something. But wrong time, wrong place, wrong reason.”
AARON HARANG: The 6-foot-7 Harang was the Reds Opening Day pitcher five straight years from 2006 to 2010.
His best season was 2006 when he led the league with six complete games and led the league with 216 strikeouts while winning 16 games.
And he was short-changed. He received no votes for the Cy Young Award.
Harang was the tall (and big at 260 pounds) silent type and showed it after he signed one of Cincinnati’s first long-term contracts before the 2007 season, a four-year $36.5 million deal.
That July, he pitched all 10 innings of a game, throwing 121 pitches. But he received no decision because it took the Reds 12 innings to win the game.
Harang, though, was susceptible to the long ball and in 2008 he led the majors by giving up 19 home runs at home in Great American Small Park.
Harang said among his many memories of pitching for the storied franchise was his first complete game.
“It was a complete game shutout against the Cardinals and Chris Carpenter,” he said. “Sean Casey hit a home run to give up the lead. (Manager) Dave Miley came to the mound in the ninth inning and the fans were booing him.
“I had only given up a few hits and Larry Walker got a hit in the ninth and was on first base with two outs,” he added. “Danny Graves was warming up, but Miley looked at me and said, ‘What do you got?’”
Albert Pujols was the next batter and Harang told Miley, “I’m going to throw him a first-pitch slider and he is going to ground out and you can come out and shake my hand,” he told Miley.
Pujols swung at the first pitch, grounded out, game over and Miley shook his hand. So as it turned out, Harang is a soothsayer, a soothsayer who will soon wear a red jacket, something he said he never, ever, saw in his future.