Classic seasons: the 1990 Reds

CINCINNATI – The 1990 World Series championship for the Reds was even sweeter and more satisfying because it was so unexpected. Quite frankly, no one saw it coming.

Cincinnati defied the odds to go “wire-to-wire” to win the National League West on its way to the franchise’s first world championship since the 1975-76 back-to-back titles by the Big Red Machine.

“There wasn’t a single soul among the so-called experts that picked them to win anything, much less a World Series,” iconic Reds radio broadcaster Marty Brennaman said in 2020.

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 a tight-knit group with tremendous chemistry on and off the field.

"We'd have 20 players go to dinner together," Nasty Boy reliever Rob Dibble remembered in 2015.

"We were a young team, a tight team," first baseman Hal Morris said. "We'd go out and there would be 15 of us."

These were some of the biggest moments from that memorable Reds 1990 season:

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.”

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.

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 Dibble pitching three scoreless innings with one hit for the save.

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 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.

“I want my players to know that getting thrown out doesn’t help themselves or the team,” Piniella was quoted in the book, Wire-to-Wire Reds by John Erardi and Joel Luckhaupt. “but if you ask me if I’d rather have players who automatically accept things or players who are aggressive, want to do well, have some fight in them, I’ll take the latter.

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 – who was acquired with Billy Bates from the Brewers for reliever Ron Robinson in a June 9 trade -- made a leaping catch at the right-field wall to rob Carmelo Martinez of a two-run home run.

"I had a pretty good idea the whole way I could get it," Braggs was quoted after the game by The Washington Post. "I never panicked. It turned out to be a tougher play than I thought."

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.

"I said, 'If he throws me a first pitch fastball, it's going to be 2-0," Davis said in 2015. "And that's what he did. He threw me a first-pitch fastball, and it was 2-0."

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

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.

The Reds were glad – and somewhat relieved -- to have finished off the A’s quickly. Injuries to Davis and Billy Hatcher left them shorthanded.

"We were concerned," said Morris, who had the sacrifice fly to right field that drove in the go-ahead run. "There was a lot of anxiety on the bench. We had to play the rest of the Series without our outfielders. I took a step out of the box and just said, 'Get the ball up in the air, this is it.' With our bullpen, we knew it was over. I gathered my thoughts, tried to calm down."

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. 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.

"I just remember the ticker tape parade," Charlton said in 2015. "The city of Cincinnati partied with us the way they did all season. We were in first place from the first day, all the way through. Glenn Braggs with that beautiful catch [in Game 6] that kept us from going to Game 7 with Pittsburgh. I think the biggest thing for me was coming home and seeing the excitement of the city and the parade. I'll never forget it."