George “Sparky” Anderson is gone and he will be missed, after leading “The Big Red Machine” in Cincinnati and what about those teams with:
Pete Rose
Johnny Bench
Tony Perez
Joe Morgan
Dave Concepcion(This Top Five is unreal.)
Bobby Tolan
Dan Driessen
Ken Griffey Sr.
Ceasar Geronimo
George Foster
Don Gullett
Bill Plummer
Ray Knight
Nick Esasky
Ron Oester
Dave Collins
And on and on and who are we leaving out here????? There has to be some more pitchers that we haven’t named….This is a piece of baseball and sports history, “The Big Red Machine”…….I did all of these guys from memory and there must be more names that we need to add…..
*****Hey, and I had to get Bobby Tolan in there, does anybody else out there at all, remember Bobby Tolan????? I hadn’t thought about that tall lanky outfielder in many years….*****
Jack Billingham was a pitcher I believe
I also saw the name Wayne Granger show up somewhere and did Tom Seaver work for Sparky? I remember when Tom Terrific was there, but was Sparky still there? He must have still been there for a while, cause didn’t Seaver show up like in ’78, but that might have been outside “The Big Red Machine” range……
Seaver was with the Reds in 1979. Sparky was one of the best. 3 World Championships, I think. Great great group of guys. My favorite squad.
3 World Championships, meaning 2 with Cincy and 1 with Detroit.
Wasn’t part of The Big Red Machine, but wasn’t Tommy Helms at 2nd base before Joe Morgan came in from the Houston Astros? Someone will know…
Yes Tommy Helms was with the Reds before Morgan
This was my team in the day and no Tom Seaver was never with the Reds. How about
Clay Carroll
Pedro Borbon
Fred Norman
Clay Kirby
Ed rmbrister
Rawly Eastwick
Pat Darcy
Will McEananey
Gary Noland
to name a few more
Armbrister that is
Oh and how about:
goofy ole Darrel Chaney
Merv Rettenmund
I stand corrected Seaver was briefly with the Reds.
Tom Seaver was with the Reds and guys like Clay Carroll, Pedro Borbon, Rawley Eastwick and Will McEananey, even Ed Armbruster, that’s a blast from the past….
Grew up watching these guys and Sparky was the man ! We all acted like we were Joe Morgan when we were batting (remember how he would pump that arm ?), and had to have a black bat like Foster and field like Davey Concepcion and slide head first like Pete ! Brought back some great memories of that time in Ohio. So sorry to see Sparky leave us. He was a great guy !
Sparky managed former Greensboro Hornet Dan Gakelar in Detroit
My cousin and I loved baseball and even made up an elaborate game using short bats and a practice golf ball. I was alway Cincy and he was the Mets. We had the entire lineup memmorized. That’s why this post is so meaningful to me. As “cincy” said I always did the chicken wing thing when Morgan was up.
Do you remember the Pete Rose Bud Harrelson fight when Rose went into second a little strong? I practice golf ball beaned Cousin Harrelson several at bats after that little incident.
Remember that incident with Harrelson like it was yesterday ! Great memories !I met Eddie Milner out on the grass at Riverfront on fan picture day. He stood right next to Ken Griffey and I thought I was going to pass out. That was a great day !