Synopses & Reviews
The Big Red Machine dominated major league baseball in the 1970s, but the Cincinnati franchise began its climb to that pinnacle in 1961, when an unlikely collection of cast-offs and wannabes stunned the baseball world by winning the National League pennant. Led by revered manager Fred Hutchinson, the team featured rising stars like Frank Robinson, Jim Oand#8217;Toole, and Vada Pinson, fading stars like Gus Bell and Wally Post, and a few castoffs who suddenly came into their own, like Gene Freese and 20-game-winner Joey Jay.
In time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their pennant-winning season, the amazing story of the and#147;Ragamuffin Redsand#8221; is told from start to finish in Before the Machine. Written by long-time Reds Report editor Mark J. Schmetzer and featuring dozens of photos by award-winning photographer Jerry Klumpe of the Cincinnati Post and Times Star, this book surely will be a winner with every fan in Reds country and coincides with an anniversary exhibit at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.
Through interviews and research, Before the Machine captures the excitement of a pennant race for a team that had suffered losing seasons in 14 of the past 16 years. Schmetzer also beautifully evokes the time and placeand#151;a muggy Midwestern summer during which, as the new song of the season boasts, and#147;the whole townand#8217;s batty for that team in Cincinnati.and#8221; Led by regional talk-show star Ruth Lyons (the Midwestand#8217;s and#147;Oprahand#8221;) fans rallied around the Reds as never before.
The year didnand#8217;t begin well for the team. Budding superstar Frank Robinson was arrested right before spring training for carrying a concealed weapon, and long-time owner Powel Crosley Jr., died suddenly just days before the start of the season. Few expertsand#151;or fansand#151;gave the Reds much of a chance at first place anyway. With powerhouse teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Milwaukee, the National League pennant was unlikely to fly over Cincinnatiand#8217;s Crosley Field.
But manager Hutchinson somehow galvanized his motley crew and led them to victory after victory. Joey Jay, who had languished with the Braves, mowed down hitters while his rotation mates Oand#8217;Toole and knuckleballer Bob Purkey did the same. The team also featured a dynamic duo in the bullpen in Bill Henry and Jim Brosnan, whose book about the season, Pennant Race, became a national bestseller the following year. As the rest of the league kept waiting for the Reds to fade, Hutchand#8217;s boys kept winningand#151;and finally grabbed the pennant.
Though they couldnand#8217;t continue their magic in the World Series against the Yankees, the previously moribund Reds franchise did continue to their success throughout the decade, winning 98 games in 1962 and falling just short of another pennant in 1964. They established a recipe for success that would lead, a few years later, to the emergence of the Big Red Machine.
Synopsis
The Year was 1961. The franchise had struggled since World War II, and long-time team owner Powel Crosley died just days before the season began. New general manager Bill DeWitt had made a few trades but the new players didn't offer much hope. Everything expected another dismal year.
Then, somehow, all of the pieces fell together in one remarkable season that kicked off a return to winning baseball in Cincinnati--a trend that lasted through the century. With young starting pitchers like Jim O'Toole and Joey Jay, a first-rate bullpen, a tough manager, and a lineup of sluggers led by Frank Robinson, the Reds defied the odds and experts to win the league championship.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of this stunning season, author Mark J. Schmetzer has written the definitive book on the 1961 Reds. Interviewing a number of the players, as well as the sports writers who covered them, Schmetzer provides a fascinating account of this unlikely group of misfits who won the pennant. With Dozens of photos by revered photographer Jack Klumpe and a foreword by Reds historian Greg Rhodes, Before the Machine gives fans a dramatic look at the first steps of a franchise destined to dominate the league in years to come.
Synopsis
Before the Machine gives fans a dramatic look at the first steps of a franchise destined to dominate the league in years to come.