1975 Cincinnati Reds season

1975 Cincinnati Reds
1975 World Series Champions 1975 National League Champions 1975 NL West Champions
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1890)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Riverfront Stadium (since 1970)
Cincinnati (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s)	Louis Nippert
General manager(s)	Bob Howsam
Manager(s)	Sparky Anderson
Local television	WLWT (Ken Coleman, Woody Woodward)
Local radio	WLW (Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
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The 1975 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. It consisted of the Reds winning the National League West with a record of 108-54, 20 games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds went on to win the National League Championship Series by defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in three straight games, and the World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium. It was the first World Series championship for Cincinnati since 1940.

Offseason

• October 25, 1974: Andy Kosco was released by the Reds.^[1]
• October 25, 1974: Phil Gagliano was released by the Reds.^[2]
• January 2, 1975: Joe Henderson was purchased by the Reds from the Chicago White Sox.^[3]

Regular season

The 1975 Reds clinched a playoff appearance on September 7, the earliest clinch date of any MLB team in a 162-game season.^[4]

Joe Morgan was the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1975.

Season standings

NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cincinnati Reds	108	54	0.667	—	64–17	44–37
Los Angeles Dodgers	88	74	0.543	20	49–32	39–42
San Francisco Giants	80	81	0.497	27½	46–35	34–46
San Diego Padres	71	91	0.438	37	38–43	33–48
Atlanta Braves	67	94	0.416	40½	37–43	30–51
Houston Astros	64	97	0.398	43½	37–44	27–53

Record vs. opponents

1975 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7	3–15	12–6	8–10	8–4	4–8	5–7	4–8	7–11	8–9	3–9
Chicago	7–5	—	1–11	7–5	5–7	9–9	7–11	12–6	6–12	5–7	5–7	11–7
Cincinnati	15–3	11–1	—	13–5	8–10	8–4	8–4	7–5	6–6	11–7	13–5	8–4
Houston	6–12	5–7	5–13	—	6–12	8–4	4–8	6–6	6–5	9–9	5–13	4–8–1
Los Angeles	10–8	7–5	10–8	12–6	—	5–7	6–6	7–5	5–7	11–7	10–8	5–7
Montreal	4–8	9–9	4–8	4–8	7–5	—	10–8	7–11	7–11	7–5	5–7	11–7
New York	8–4	11–7	4–8	8–4	6–6	8–10	—	7–11	5–13	8–4	8–4	9–9
Philadelphia	7-5	6–12	5–7	6–6	5–7	11–7	11–7	—	11–7	7–5	7–5	10–8
Pittsburgh	8–4	12–6	6–6	5–6	7–5	11–7	13–5	7–11	—	8–4	5–7	10–8
San Diego	11–7	7–5	7–11	9–9	7–11	5–7	4–8	5–7	4–8	—	8–10	4–8
San Francisco	9–8	7–5	5–13	13–5	8–10	7–5	4–8	5–7	7–5	10–8	—	5–7
St. Louis	9–3	7–11	4–8	8–4–1	7–5	7–11	9–9	8–10	8–10	8–4	7–5	—

Notable transactions

• April 8, 1975: Roger Freed was purchased from the Reds by the Sultanes de Monterrey.^[5]
• May 6, 1975: Doug Corbett was signed as a free agent by the Reds.^[6]

Roster

1975 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers 43 Jack Billingham 34 Pedro Borbón 36 Clay Carroll 51 Tom Carroll 44 Pat Darcy 49 Rawly Eastwick 35 Don Gullett 21 Tom Hall 31 Clay Kirby 37 Will McEnaney 38 Gary Nolan 32 Fred Norman		Catchers  5 Johnny Bench  9 Bill Plummer 55 Don Werner Infielders 12 Darrel Chaney 13 Dave Concepción 17 Terry Crowley 22 Dan Driessen 23 Doug Flynn  8 Joe Morgan 24 Tony Pérez 14 Pete Rose 16 John Vukovich		Outfielders 33 Ed Armbrister 15 George Foster 20 César Gerónimo 30 Ken Griffey 26 Merv Rettenmund		Manager 10 Sparky Anderson Coaches  2 Alex Grammas 18 Ted Kluszewski  3 George Scherger  4 Larry Shepard

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Bench, JohnnyJohnny Bench	142	530	150	.283	28	110
1B	Pérez, TonyTony Pérez	137	511	144	.282	20	109
2B	Morgan, JoeJoe Morgan	146	498	163	.327	17	94
3B	Rose, PetePete Rose	162	662	210	.317	7	74
SS	Concepción, DaveDave Concepción	140	507	139	.274	5	49
LF	Foster, GeorgeGeorge Foster	134	463	139	.300	23	78
CF	Gerónimo, CésarCésar Gerónimo	148	501	129	.257	6	53
RF	Griffey, KenKen Griffey	132	463	141	.305	4	46

^[7]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Driessen, DanDan Driessen	88	210	59	.281	7	38
Rettenmund, MervMerv Rettenmund	93	188	45	.239	2	19
Chaney, DarrelDarrel Chaney	71	160	35	.219	2	26
Plummer, BillBill Plummer	65	159	29	.182	1	19
Flynn, DougDoug Flynn	89	127	34	.268	1	20
Crowley, TerryTerry Crowley	66	71	19	.268	1	11
Armbrister, EdEd Armbrister	59	65	12	.185	0	2
Vukovich, JohnJohn Vukovich	31	38	8	.211	0	2
Werner, DonDon Werner	7	8	1	.125	0	0

^[7]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Nolan, GaryGary Nolan	32	210.2	15	9	3.16	74
Billingham, JackJack Billingham	33	208	15	10	4.11	79
Norman, FredFred Norman	34	188	12	4	3.73	119
Gullett, DonDon Gullett	22	159.2	15	4	2.42	98
Darcy, PatPat Darcy	27	130.2	11	5	3.58	46
Kirby, ClayClay Kirby	26	110.2	10	6	4.72	48

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Carroll, TomTom Carroll	12	47	4	1	4.98	14

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	S	ERA	SO
McEnaney, WillWill McEnaney	70	5	2	15	2.47	48
Borbón, PedroPedro Borbón	67	9	5	5	2.95	29
Eastwick, RawlyRawly Eastwick	58	5	3	22	2.60	61
Carroll, ClayClay Carroll	56	7	5	7	2.62	44
Hall, TomTom Hall	2	0	0	0	0.00	3

Postseason

National League Championship Series

Game One

October 4, Riverfront Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	8	0
Cincinnati	0	1	3	0	4	0	0	0	X	8	11	0
W: Don Gullett (1-0)  L: Jerry Reuss (0-1)
HRs: CIN – Don Gullett (1)

Game Two

October 5, Riverfront Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
Cincinnati	2	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	X	6	12	1
W: Fred Norman (1-0)  L: Jim Rooker (0-1)  SV: Rawly Eastwick (1)
HRs: CIN – Tony Pérez (1)

Game Three

October 7, Three Rivers Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Cincinnati	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	5	6	0
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	3	7	2
W: Rawly Eastwick (1-0)  L: Ramón Hernández (0-1)  SV: Pedro Borbón (1)
HRs: CIN – Dave Concepción (1), Pete Rose (1); PIT – Al Oliver (1)

World Series

NL Cincinnati Reds (4) vs. AL Boston Red Sox (3)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance	Time of Game
1	Reds – 0, Red Sox – 6	Sat. Oct 11 (D)	Fenway Park	35,205	2:27
2	Reds – 3, Red Sox – 2	Sun. Oct 12 (D)	Fenway Park	35,205	2:38
3	Red Sox – 5, Reds – 6 (10 inns)	Tue. Oct 14 (N)	Riverfront Stadium	55,392	3:03
4	Red Sox – 5, Reds – 4	Wed. Oct 15 (N)	Riverfront Stadium	55,667	2:52
5	Red Sox – 2, Reds – 6	Thu. Oct 16 (N)	Riverfront Stadium	56,393	2:23
6	Reds – 6, Red Sox – 7 (12 inns)	Tue. Oct 21 (N)	Fenway Park	35,205	4:01
7	Reds – 4, Red Sox – 3	Wed. Oct 22 (N)	Fenway Park	35,205	2:52

Awards and honors

• Sparky Anderson, Associated Press NL Manager of the Year
• Johnny Bench, Lou Gehrig Award
• Gary Nolan, Hutch Award^[8]
• Pete Rose, World Series Most Valuable Player
• Joe Morgan, NL MVP

All-Stars

All-Star Game

• Johnny Bench, catcher, starter
• Dave Concepción, shortstop, starter
• Joe Morgan, second baseman, starter
• Pete Rose, right fielder, starter
• Tony Pérez, reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Indianapolis Indians	American Association	Vern Rapp
AA	Trois-Rivières Aigles	Eastern League	Jim Snyder and Ron Plaza
A	Tampa Tarpons	Florida State League	Russ Nixon
A-Short Season	Eugene Emeralds	Northwest League	Greg Riddoch
Rookie	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League	Jim Hoff

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Eugene^[9]

Notes

1. Andy Kosco at Baseball Reference
2. Phil Gagliano at Baseball Reference
3. Joe Henderson at Baseball Reference
4. Earliest division-clinching dates in a 162-game season
5. Roger Freed at Baseball Reference
6. Doug Corbett at Baseball Reference
7. 1975 Cincinnati Reds Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com
8. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_hut.shtml
9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 1975 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference