Brennaman recalls 'unimaginable' 1990 Reds

CINCINNATI -- The Big Red Machine won back-to-back World Series in 1975 and ’76, giving a then young Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman two championship rings in his first three years on the job as the club’s play-by-play voice. Then came a long wait for the next one.

Therefore, it was sweeter for Brennaman to be part of the soundtrack of the 1990 Reds club that won the National League West wire-to-wire on its way to sweeping the World Series over the A’s in four games.

“There wasn’t a single soul among the so-called experts that picked them to win anything, much less a World Series,” Brennaman said.

That ’90 club -- which featured Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, Chris Sabo, Paul O'Neill, Jose Rijo, Tom Browning, Danny Jackson and “The Nasty Boys” trio of relievers -- was also Brennaman’s personal favorite.

“It was the team that had the greatest chemistry of any team I have been around,” Brennaman recalled on Tuesday. “Baseball is famous for cliques, understandable when you play 162 games. Guys with like interests will hang out. That team had no cliques. White guys, African-Americans, Hispanics -- all loved one another and all of them had everybody’s back. It was just an incredible team to be around. No jealousy, no nitpicking about anything.”

Beginning with Game 1 on Wednesday, FOX Sports Ohio will rebroadcast the televised version of the 1990 World Series over four nights -- each starting at 7 p.m. ET.

Brennaman -- who retired after the 2019 season -- recalled some of his memories from that classic season with MLB.com via Zoom.

April 9 -- Opening Day

For only the second time in modern franchise history, the Reds opened a season on the road -- because of a lockout that delayed the start of Spring Training until late March. Aided by Larkin’s bases-loaded triple, the Reds earned an 8-4 win in 11 innings at Houston. Cincinnati went on to begin the season with a 9-0 record on its way to 91 wins.

In the first half, the Reds were 50-29 but were 41-42 after the All-Star break.

“They got off to a sensational start. Even with that start, I don’t think anyone was thinking about postseason at that point,” Brennaman said. “Then as the season progressed, they did most of their damage in the first half of that season. After the All-Star break, they were essentially a .500 team, but they had done so much in the first half and built up such a lead.”

• Members of 1990 champion Reds reunite

May 25 -- Armstrong on his way to an All-Star Game

Little-known Jack Armstrong had a dominant first half for the Reds’ rotation. On May 25, he worked eight innings of three-hit ball with seven strikeouts during a 5-0 blanking of the Expos in Montreal. Later named starting pitcher for the NL in the All-Star Game, he was 11-3 with 2.28 ERA in 17 first-half starts.

During the second half, Armstrong was 1-6 with a 5.96 ERA.

“As good as he was in the first half, the wheels fell off in the second half for him,” Brennaman said. “When the postseason began, and certainly the World Series, he was pitching out of the bullpen by then. But nobody saw that [first half] coming. You have to give him as much credit as you would anybody else. Without his performance, they don’t play that well [in the first half]. He was absolutely dominant in every aspect of his game.”

June 16 -- Back-to-back-to-back homers

During a 6-2 win over the Astros, Sabo, Larkin and Davis hit consecutive home runs off lefty Jim Deshaies in the fifth inning. Also memorable was closer Rob Dibble pitching three scoreless innings with one hit for the save.

“By then, we pretty much had an idea that Barry Larkin had a hell of a shot of one day going into the Hall of Fame,” Brennaman said. “Davis could do everything. He could hit with incredible power. He could run. He could play a Gold Glove center field. He was a great teammate. But all of those guys were.”

Aug. 15 -- Winningham’s triple-happy game

Backup outfielder Herm Winningham hit three triples during a 3-1 win over the Cardinals and is the last Red to achieve the feat. One of Winningham’s triples drove in a run during the top of the 12th inning against reliever Tom Niedenfuer.

Winningham was one of several lesser-known players that emerged during the ’90 season. Cincinnati also counted on outfielder Glenn Braggs, the first-base platoon of Hal Morris and Todd Benzinger, the second-base platoon of Mariano Duncan and Ron Oester and backup infielders like Luis Quinones.

“Herm Winningham was outstanding all the way down to the final game of the World Series,” Brennaman said. “All those guys contributed in various levels of importance. At the end of the day -- both individually and collectively -- they were a very, very important and impactful part of that ballclub.”

Aug. 21 -- Piniella chucks first base, twice.

During an 8-1 Reds victory over the Cubs at Riverfront Stadium, Larkin was called out at first base by umpire Dutch Rennert. Manager Lou Piniella argued the call and was ejected. Feeling unsatisfied, he picked up first base and heaved it. Still not content, Piniella tried again and chucked the bag about 35 feet into right field.

But Piniella was more than a hot-headed skipper. He took over the club still reeling from the gambling scandal that got former manager Pete Rose banned from the game as the club finished the 1989 season with interim manager Tommy Helms. Rose had guided Cincinnati to four consecutive second-place finishes before it dropped to fifth in ’89.

Piniella, who previously played and managed for the Yankees, took over the Reds for 1990 and expected results.

“He managed to a large degree by intimidation,” Brennaman said. “I think the players were scared to death of Lou. I’ll never forget the first time he ever met them as a team. It was the first day of Spring Training in Plant City, Fla. He told that team in no uncertain terms that he thought it had the talent to go a long way and anything short of their best he would not tolerate. He said it in such a forceful manner that the message got through.”

Oct. 12 -- The Reds win the NL Pennant

Left-handed pitchers Jackson, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers combined for a one-hitter and a 2-1 victory over the Pirates in Game 6 to win the NL Championship Series, 4-2.

Led by Rijo, Jackson and Browning, the rotation had a 3.62 ERA in the regular season. But the bullpen was often lights out -- mainly because of Dibble, Charlton and Myers -- known as “The Nasty Boys.”

“Let’s face facts. As good as the [starters] were and as great as Rijo was as your rotation anchor, it was all about The Nasty Boys," Brennaman said. "Once the realization set in throughout the National League that these three guys were interchangeable parts, they were all half-nuts, they would all knock you down and if you needed to be thrown at ... they would do that too. If you wanted a piece of them, they would come halfway in, so you didn’t have to go all the way out there. Guys were afraid of them.”

Against Pittsburgh in Game 6, the Reds' lead was preserved in the top of the ninth inning when Braggs made a leaping catch at the right-field wall to rob Carmelo Martinez of a two-run home run. Along with Billy Bates (more on him later), Braggs was acquired from the Brewers on June 9 for reliever Ron Robinson.

“Braggs was an incredible addition to the club,” Brennaman said. “The catch he made against the Pirates in the postseason will always be remembered by Reds fans as a big, big play.”

Oct. 16 -- Davis delivers

Game 1 of the World Series was hosted by the Reds and it couldn’t have started better for Cincinnati. Davis became the 22nd player to homer in his first World Series at-bat when he hit a two-run shot to center field off Oakland ace Dave Stewart in the first inning.

Cincinnati went on to stun heavily favored Oakland, 7-0, in Game 1.

“No bigger home run, for me, has ever been hit in the history of this franchise than the one Davis hit off Dave Stewart,” Brennaman said. “It set the tone for the entire World Series. It sent a message to a very cocky Oakland ballclub.”

Oct. 17 -- Reds take a 2-0 World Series lead

In a tense Game 2 during the 10th inning against usually indomitable A’s closer Dennis Eckersley, Bates pinch-hit and reached on an infield single off the glove of third baseman Carney Lansford. A September callup listed at 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds, Bates went 0-for-5 in eight regular-season appearances and made the postseason roster because of an injury to veteran Billy Doran.

Sabo moved Bates to second base with a single to left field. Next was Joe Oliver, who pulled a ball by Lansford that touched the left-field line for a single. Bates was able to score easily for the 5-4 win -- moving the series lead to 2-0 before it headed to Oakland.

“When people talk about 1990, Billy Bates’ name will be indelibly imprinted on the minds of Reds fans. Here’s a guy who could do one thing better than anybody -- or as well -- and that was to run,” Brennaman said. “Joe Oliver’s hit was not hit hard off of Eckersley, but it was perfectly placed.”

Oct. 20 -- It’s a sweep

Scoring two runs in the top of the eighth inning, the Reds took a 2-1 victory over the A’s and completed the four-game sweep of the World Series. It ended when Benzinger caught the final out by Lansford in foul territory near first base.

Rijo went 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA in two starts to be the World Series MVP. The bullpen pitched 13 scoreless innings over the four games. Left fielder Billy Hatcher set a record by batting .750 overall in the Series and recorded seven consecutive hits to begin his Fall Classic.

The Reds were World Series champions. Brennaman enjoyed the ride as much as anybody.

“They did the almost unimaginable, but they did it with such relative ease that people were thinking, ‘How in the world could they have been the underdog?’ They not only beat them, they beat them four games in a row,” Brennaman said. “You can’t be any more dominant than that.”