1974 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1974 Cincinnati Reds season saw the Reds finishing in second place in the National League West with a record of 98–64, four games behind the NL West and pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.

1974 Cincinnati Reds
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record98–64 (.605)
Divisional place2nd
Other information
Owner(s)Louis Nippert
General manager(s)Bob Howsam
Manager(s)Sparky Anderson
Local televisionWLWT
(Charlie Jones, Woody Woodward)
Local radioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
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The Reds' second-place finish was really more about the Los Angeles Dodgers improvements more than any perceived failures by Cincinnati. The Reds' 98 victories were second-best in all of Major League baseball to the Dodgers' 102 victories. The Dodgers had finished in second place from 1970–73, three of those years the Reds won the NL West, (except for 1971, which the San Francisco Giants won that year). In the offseason, the Dodgers added center fielder Jimmy Wynn in a trade from Houston and acquired future Cy Young Award winning reliever Mike Marshall from Montreal. The Reds added a solid starter in 12-game winner Clay Kirby in the offseason. With All-Star shortstop Dave Concepcion fully recovered from a broken ankle he suffered at mid-season in '73, and All-Star catcher Johnny Bench having big season, the Reds were not going to relinquish their divisional crown easily.

Just as they had done the previous season, the Dodgers started hot and gained a large lead on the Reds in the National League West Division, due largely to their success against the Reds heads-up. The Dodgers won nine of their first 10 games against the Reds. After losing 6–3 to the Dodgers on August 5, the Reds trailed the Dodgers by 7½ games despite a solid 66–45 record. By Aug. 15, the Reds had cut the lead to 1½ games after winning the first two of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium marking 9 losses in 11 games for Los Angeles. In the third game, Wynn hit a seventh-inning grand-slam to break open a tight game as the Dodgers rallied to a 7–1 victory, which helped keep the Dodgers ahead in the NL West. The Reds would get no closer than two games the rest of the season.

Johnny Bench put up one of his best seasons (career-highs in 108 runs scored and 160 games played, 33 home runs, 129 RBI and 315 total bases) to finish fourth in the NL MVP voting to winner Steve Garvey, runnerup Lou Brock, and Marshall. Wynn was fifth.

The 1974 season also marked the first with future Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman. Brennaman replaced another nationally known broadcaster, Al Michaels, who moved to San Francisco to take the same position with the Giants.

Offseason
The Reds play at Riverfront Stadium, 1974

Regular season

Season standings
NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 10260 0.630 — 52–29 50–31
Cincinnati Reds 9864 0.605 4 50–31 48–33
Atlanta Braves 8874 0.543 14 46–35 42–39
Houston Astros 8181 0.500 21 46–35 35–46
San Francisco Giants 7290 0.444 30 37–44 35–46
San Diego Padres 60102 0.370 42 36–45 24–57

Record vs. opponents
1974 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta—4–87–11–16–128–109–38–48–44–817–18–109–3
Chicago8–4—5–74–82–105–138–108–109–96–66–65–13
Cincinnati11–7–17–5—14–46–126–69–38–48–412–611–76–6
Houston12–68–44–14—5–136–66–66–65–77–1110–88–4
Los Angeles 10–810–212–613–5—8–45–76–64–816–212–66–6
Montreal3–913–56–66–64–8—9–911–79–96–64–88–9
New York4–810–83–96–67–59–9—7–117–116–66–66–12
Philadelphia4-810–84–86–66–67–1111–7—10–85–78–49–9
Pittsburgh8–49–94–87–58–49–911–78–10—9–38–47–11
San Diego1–176–66–127–112–166–66–67–53–9—11–75–7
San Francisco10–86–67–118–106–128–46–64–84–87–11—6–6
St. Louis3–913–56–64–86–69–812–69–911–77–56–6—

Roster
1974 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders
  • 30 Ken Griffey
 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CJohnny Bench160621174.28033129
1BTony Pérez158596158.26528101
2BJoe Morgan149512150.2932267
SSDave Concepción160594167.2811482
3BDan Driessen150470132.281756
LFPete Rose163652185.284351
CFCésar Gerónimo150474133.281754
RFKen Griffey8822757.251219

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
George Foster10627673.264741
Merv Rettenmund8020845.216628
Darrel Chaney11713527.200216
Terry Crowley8412530.240120
Bill Plummer5012027.225210
Phil Gagliano46312.06500
Andy Kosco33377.18905
Junior Kennedy22193.15800
Hal King20173.17603
Ray Knight14112.18202
Ed Armbrister972.28600
Roger Freed662.33313

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Don Gullett3624317113.04183
Clay Kirby36230.21293.28160
Jack Billingham36212.119113.94103
Fred Norman35186.113123.14141
Roger Nelson1485.1443.3842
Tom Carroll1678.1433.6837

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Pat Darcy617103.7114

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Pedro Borbón73107143.2453
Clay Carroll5712562.1546
Tom Hall403114.0848
Dick Baney221015.4912
Will McEnaney242124.3312
Rawly Eastwick80022.0414
Mike McQueen100005.405
Pat Osburn60008.004

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Vern Rapp
AA Trois-Rivières Aigles Eastern League Jim Snyder
A Tampa Tarpons Florida State League Russ Nixon
A-Short Season Seattle Rainiers Northwest League Greg Riddoch
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Jim Hoff

[5]

Notes
  1. Mario Soto page at Baseball Reference
  2. Merv Rettenmund page at Baseball Reference
  3. Roger Freed page at Baseball Reference
  4. Dan Dumoulin page at Baseball Reference
  5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References
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