1972 Cincinnati Reds season

1972 Cincinnati Reds
1972 National League Championship
1972 NL West Championship
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Cincinnati, Ohio (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s) Francis L. Dale
General manager(s) Bob Howsam
Manager(s) Sparky Anderson
Local television WLWT
(Tom Hedrick, Waite Hoyt)
Local radio WLW
(Al Michaels, Joe Nuxhall)
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The 1972 Cincinnati Reds season consisted of the Reds winning the National League West title with a record of 95-59, 10½ games over the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. They defeated the previous year's World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1972 National League Championship Series, but lost to the Oakland Athletics in seven games in the 1972 World Series. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson.

Offseason

Regular season

A retooled Reds' offense aided by newly acquired second baseman Joe Morgan and a healthy Bobby Tolan (who missed the entire 1971 season) joined league MVP Johnny Bench and first baseman Tony Pérez for the Big Red Machine. Gary Nolan (15-5, 1.99 ERA) and the NL's top closer Clay Carroll (37 saves) led a strong pitching staff.

Season standings

NL West W L GB Pct.
Cincinnati Reds 95 59 -- .617
Houston Astros 84 69 10.5 .549
Los Angeles Dodgers 85 70 10.5 .548
Atlanta Braves 70 84 25 .455
San Francisco Giants 69 86 26.5 .445
San Diego Padres 58 95 36.5 .379

Notable transactions

Roster

1972 Cincinnati Reds roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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 147 538 145 .270 40 125
1B Perez, TonyTony Perez 136 515 146 .283 21 90
2B Morgan, JoeJoe Morgan 149 552 161 .292 16 73
SS Concepción, DaveDave Concepción 119 378 79 .209 2 29
3B Menke, DenisDenis Menke 140 447 104 .233 9 50
LF Rose, PetePete Rose 154 645 198 .307 6 57
CF Tolan, BobbyBobby Tolan 149 604 171 .283 8 82
RF Gerónimo, CésarCésar Gerónimo 120 255 70 .275 4 29

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
Chaney, DarrelDarrel Chaney 83 196 48 .250 2 19
Hague, JoeJoe Hague 69 138 34 .246 4 20
Foster, GeorgeGeorge Foster 59 145 29 .200 2 12
Uhlaender, TedTed Uhlaender 73 113 18 .159 0 6
Plummer, BillBill Plummer 38 102 19 .186 2 9
McRae, HalHal McRae 61 97 27 .278 5 26
Javier, JuliánJulián Javier 44 91 19 .209 2 12
Carbo, BernieBernie Carbo 19 21 3 .143 0 0
Ruberto, SonnySonny Ruberto 2 3 0 .000 0 0
Corrales, PatPat Corrales 2 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player G GS IP W L ERA SO
Billingham, JackJack Billingham 36 31 217.2 12 12 3.18 137
Grimsley, RossRoss Grimsley 30 28 197.2 14 8 3.05 79
Nolan, GaryGary Nolan 25 25 176 15 5 1.99 90
McGlothlin, JimJim McGlothlin 31 21 145 9 8 3.91 69
Simpson, WayneWayne Simpson 24 22 130.1 8 5 4.14 70

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
Gullett, DonDon Gullett 31 134.2 9 10 3.94 96
Merritt, JimJim Merritt 4 8 1 0 4.50 4

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L ERA SO SV
Carroll, ClayClay Carroll 65 6 4 2.25 51 37
Borbón, PedroPedro Borbón 62 8 3 3.17 48 11
Hall, TomTom Hall 47 10 1 2.61 134 8
Sprague, EdEd Sprague 33 3 3 4.13 25 0
Tomlin, DaveDave Tomlin 3 0 0 0 9.00 2
Gibbon, JoeJoe Gibbon 2 0 0 0 54.00 1

Postseason

1972 National League Championship Series

The Reds rallied to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in five games to win the National League title. In Game 5, Johnny Bench's ninth-inning home run tied the game before George Foster scored the game-winner on a wild pitch.

Game 1

October 7: Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 100 000 000 180
Pittsburgh 300 020 00X 560
W: Steve Blass (1-0)   L: Don Gullett (0-1)   S: Ramón Hernández (1)
HR: CIN – Joe Morgan (1)  PIT – Al Oliver (1)
Pitchers: CIN – Gullett, Borbón (7)  PIT – Blass, Hernández (9)
Attendance: 50,476

Game 2

October 8: Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cincinnati 400 000 010 581
Pittsburgh 000 111 000 371
W: Tom Hall (1-0)   L: Bob Moose (0-1)   S: None
HR: CIN – Joe Morgan (2)  PIT – none
Pitchers: CIN – Billingham, Hall (5)  PIT – Moose, Johnson (1), Kison (6), Hernández (7), Giusti (9)
Attendance: 50,584

Game 3

October 9: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Pittsburgh 000 010 110 370
Cincinnati 002 000 000 281
W: Bruce Kison (1-0)   L: Clay Carroll (0-1)   S: Dave Giusti (1)
HR: PIT – Manny Sanguillén (1)  CIN – none
Pitchers: PIT – Briles, Kison (7), Giusti (8)  CIN – Nolan, Borbón (7), Carroll (7), McGlothlin (9)
Attendance: 52,420

Game 4

October 10: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Pittsburgh 000 000 100 123
Cincinnati 100 202 200 7111
W: Ross Grimsley (1-0)   L: Dock Ellis (0-1)   S: none
HR: PIT – Roberto Clemente (1)  CIN – none
Pitchers: PIT – Ellis, Johnson (6), Walker (7), Miller (8)  CIN – Grimsley
Attendance: 39,447

Game 5

October 11: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Pittsburgh 020 100 000 380
Cincinnati 001 010 002 471
W: Clay Carroll (1-1)   L: Dave Giusti (0-1)   S: none
HR: PIT – none  CIN – César Gerónimo (1), Johnny Bench (1)
Pitchers: PIT – Blass, Hernández (8), Giusti (9), Moose (9)  CIN – Gullett, Borbón (4), Hall (6), Carroll (9)
Attendance: 41,887

1972 World Series

Main article: 1972 World Series

The Reds were a prohibitive favorite to win the World Series over the Oakland Athletics, who lost top slugger Reggie Jackson to a hamstring injury in the playoffs. But Gene Tenace, who hit just five home runs in the regular season, crushed four against the Reds in a series that saw six of the seven games decided by one run. Oakland dealt the Reds three losses on their home AstroTurf of Riverfront Stadium. Tenace had two hits and two RBI in Game 7 as Oakland scored two in the sixth inning and held on for a 3-2 victory for the A's first World Series title since 1930.

AL Oakland Athletics (4) vs. NL Cincinnati Reds (3)

Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 A's – 3, Reds – 2 October 14Riverfront Stadium 52,918 2:18
2 A's – 2, Reds – 1 October 15Riverfront Stadium 53,224 2:26
3 Reds – 1, A's – 0 October 18Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 49,410 2:24
4 Reds – 2, A's – 3 October 19Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 49,410 2:06
5 Reds – 5, A's – 4 October 20Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 49,410 2:26
6 A's – 1, Reds – 8 October 21Riverfront Stadium 52,737 2:21
7 A's – 3, Reds – 2 October 22Riverfront Stadium 56,040 2:50

Awards and honors

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Vern Rapp
AA Trois-Rivières Aigles Eastern League Jim Snyder
A Tampa Tarpons Florida State League Russ Nixon
Rookie FECL Reds Florida East Coast League Dave Pavlesic
Rookie GCL Reds Gulf Coast League Ron Plaza

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: FECL Reds [5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Joe Morgan page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Jim Qualls page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Ron Hassey page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_hut.shtml
  5. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 2007

References