The Great Eight: Johnny Bench
By Hal McCoy The small room in Yankee Stadium was overstuffed with baseball writers and sports columnists, the room hot and the air stagnant. The Big Red Machine has just totally embarrassed the Bronx Bombers with a complete and emphatic four-game sweep of the 1976 World Series. Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench was the MVP […]
Elly Upstages ‘The Judge’
By Hal McCoy For those who walked into Great American Ball Park Monday night to pay witness to Aaron Judge and the mighty New York Yankees, well, Elly De La Cruz said, “Hey, what about me?” Judge did what his fans wanted him to do, a first-inning home run high into the left field stratosphere, […]
Andrew Abbott To The Rescue
By Hal McCoy When he pitches for the Cincinnati Reds, Andrew Abbott should wear a t-shirt that says ‘Stopper’ on the front. That is exactly what the professor of pitching does and what he did Sunday afternoon in the excruciating heat of the Busch Stadium III sweatbox. And he did it just when the Reds […]
Reds Make Monumental Mess
By Hal McCoy When a team is 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position, that team might expect to take a whipping by a large margin. The Cincinnati Reds were 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position Saturday afternoon in Busch Stadium III, so it was a miracle they took the St. Louis […]
Some weekend Observations…
By Hal McCoy UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, working on a piece about Johnny Bench for my ‘Great Eight’ series for the Dayton Daily News, trying to whittle it down because the greatest catcher ever to walk a ball field is worth more than a thousand words. —MAD MAN MADDUX: Nobody disputes that Sandy […]
A Messy Night For Reds
By Hal McCoy If MLB keeps a record for ugliest innings ever perpetrated by any team, the Cincinnati Reds presented them one on Friday that should make the Top Three on their list. The Reds trailed the St. Louis Cardinals by just one run, 1-0, when the bottom of the seventh commenced in Busch Stadium […]
Twins, Buxton Blast Reds…
By Hal McCoy Sometimes imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery. In Minnesota starter Chris Paddack’s previous start five days ago he brutalized for eight runs and 12 hits in four innings by the Houston Astros. Unfortunately for the Reds, Nick Martinez imitated Paddack Thursday afternoon in Great American Ball Park and it wasn’t […]
McCoy: Reds Keep Rolling In The Rain
By Hal McCoy Even Mother Nature is wearing a red Cincinnati Reds cap these days. With the Reds leading the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, in the bottom of the sixth Wednesday night, a downpour fell from the skies. After waiting the required 45 minutes, the umpires called the game and the Reds owned a rain-shortened victory. […]
Some Mid-Week Observations…
By Hal McCoy UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from Suite 217 in Akron’s Canal Park Stadium while watching in rain so hard somebody needs to take a message to Noah. —THE BIG RED PITCHERS: When the conversation turns to the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds, it is always about ‘The Great Eight,’ Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, […]