Most Wins as a Red
Posted by Chris J. on March 17, 2008
Cincy's the game's most historic franchise, in the sense that they are home to the first openly pro squad. Funny thing - they don't have a reputation for great players. Before clicking, try to answer the following: 1) who are the 5 winningest pitchers in Reds history, 2) how many Reds pitchers have won 100 games for the club, and 3) who are the 5 winningest pitchers the squad actually developed?
If you're curious, with regard to the last question, it's #s 7, 9, 10, 11, & 12 who the Reds developed.
Kinda sad when Tom Browning is one of the 5 winnigest homegrown products of all-time, innit?
March 17th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Are there any good pitchers who the Reds developed but who spent their best years elsewhere (and wouldn't show up on this list)?
March 17th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Numbers 1, 5, and 10 - Eppa Rixey, Dolf Luque, and Pete Donohue - were teammates 1921 to 1929, and during those years won 406 games (155, 125, and 126, respectively) for the Reds. Some of those teams had terrific pitching, but cruddy hitting kept them from winning any pennants. Donohue won 126 games by age 28, and only 8 more in the remaining three years of his career.
Wasn't Mathewson a Red but traded to the Giants for a clapped-out Amos Rusie?
March 17th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Yes Gerry, good call. What a brilliant trade for the Giants. They got over 600 wins from Mathewson and Rusie, dominant pitchers over a 25 year stretch. The Reds got 1, the last win of Mathewson's career when he went back to them at the end of his career.
If B-R is to believed, the Reds took Mathewson in some prehistoric version of the Rule 5 draft and then traded him to New York. Even if that's not quite right, there weren't affiliated minor leagues at the time, so I don't think Cincy can get credit for "developing" Mathewson no matter how it played out.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I just read a book on Mathewson, so here's what happened: In mid-1900, the Giants bought Mathewson from a Norfolk Club for $1500. Mathewson didn't do well and the owner sent him back to Norfolk. Then the Giants owner (Andrew Freedman) instructed Cincinnati to bid $100 to draft him. Mathewson tried then to jump to the Philadelphia Athletics, but ended up not. Then Cincinnati traded him back to the Giants for Rusie. A few years later, the Cincinnati owner (John Brush) sold the Reds and bought the Giants. Also, while Brush was owner of the Reds, he owned stock in the Giants.
Aren't you glad that baseball is much more stable now?
March 18th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Why did the Giants want the Reds to bid for him? I don't understand what was going on there.
Bud Seligula would heartily approve of those ownership shenanigans.