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Who's on your Mt. Rushmore of the greatest Reds position players?

Pick the four best Reds position players.

  • Johnny Bench

    Votes: 47 97.9%

  • Dave Concepcion

    Votes: 3 6.3%

  • George Foster

    Votes: 2 4.2%

  • Barry Larkin

    Votes: 30 62.5%

  • Joe Morgan

    Votes: 41 85.4%

  • Tony Perez

    Votes: 4 8.3%

  • Frank Robinson

    Votes: 16 33.3%

  • Pete Rose

    Votes: 38 79.2%

  • Joey Votto

    Votes: 5 10.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Total voters
    48
J_Dee

J_Dee

Junior
Mar 21, 2008
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To me, this one's a lot less subjective than most of our other lists. Four guys are clear-cut above the rest:

Johnny Bench

17 seasons (spent his entire career with Cincy); 2,158 games; 75.1 WAR
Leads team in HR (389) and RBI (1376).
Made some innovative changes to his position.
1968 NL Rookie of the Year
14 x All-Star
10 x Gold Glove
2 x NL MVP
2 x World Series Champion
1 x World Series MVP

Pete Rose

19 seasons; 2,722 games; WAR 78.1
Leads team in WAR, games played, runs (1,741), and hits (3,358).
Also leads in at bats, plate appearances, extra base hits, total bases, doubles, total times on base, total runs created, outs, and times caught stealing.
1968 NL Rookie of the Year
Team Captain, 1970-1978
1 x Roberto Clemente Award
13 x All-Star
2 x Gold Glove
2 x NL MVP
2 x World Series Champion
1 x World Series MVP

Joe Morgan

8 seasons; 1,154 games; 57.9 WAR
Leads team in on-base percentage (.415).
8 x All-Star
5 x Gold Glove
2 x NL MVP
2 x World Series Champion

Barry Larkin

19 seasons (spent his entire career with Cincy); 2,180 games; 70.5 WAR
Team Captain, 1997-2004
1 x Roberto Clemente Award
12 x All-Star
3 x Gold Glove
1 x NL MVP
1 x World Series Champion

Concepcion gets an honorable mention as Cincy's best defensive player ever. And Bid McPhee too, as the greatest Reds player of the Dead Ball era.
 
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berniecarbo said:
A Cards fan here. He's not a top 5 or 6 Red, but I recall a guy they called The Big Klu who was pretty good for 5 or 6 years.

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Saw him drill a liner into Crosley's RF Moon Deck against the Dodgers. That be the 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers. Of course the for sh!t Reds still lost 10-2. He had a good run but nearly so much as Perez.
 
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Bench/Morgan/Robinson are easy. Pitchers feared them coming to the plate. But Rose was a butcher in the field with no arm. His position was the batter's box. Wasn't really feared since his power was mediocre. His O numbers are inflated because P's pitched to him vs. pitching around him with all the stars that were behind him. Good grief - Griffey Sr, Morgan, Foster, Perez, Bench. Of those, who you going to try most to get out? The one in front of them.

Like Larkin a lot.
 
vhcat70 said:
Bench/Morgan/Robinson are easy. Pitchers feared them coming to the plate. But Rose was a butcher in the field with no arm. His position was the batter's box. Wasn't really feared since his power was mediocre. His O numbers are inflated because P's pitched to him vs. pitching around him with all the stars that were behind him. Good grief - Griffey Sr, Morgan, Foster, Perez, Bench. Of those, who you going to try most to get out? The one in front of them.

Like Larkin a lot.
Click to expand...
I may be misremembering (thank you, Roger Clemens), but didn't Rose win a couple of GGs while playing left field? He definitely didn't have a big arm but so what? Was a solid, not spectacular, 2nd and 3rd baseman. The guy had 200+ hits and 100+ runs every year for, like, forever seemingly. While not a HR hitter, he does have the 2nd most doubles all-time. Are Babe Ruth's accomplishments diminished because Gehrig hit behind him and he, presumably, saw better pitches because of that? The Big Red Machine had great hitters throughout the lineup (didn't Geronimo hit .300 one year while batting 8th?). Did Perez benefit from Bench hitting behind (and vice versa)? Did Morgan benefit from Perez and Bench hitting behind him? Of course.

I'm OK with leaving Rose out (although I disagree). There are other worthy candidates, for sure. I just don't buy the reasons you stated for leaving him out.
 
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berniecarbo said:
Again a Cards fan, but didn't Sparky say of Perez something like if you play long enough, the big dog Is going to bite?
Click to expand...
Yes he did. Perez is one of the more underrated players of his generation. Yes, he was surrounded by superstars and had a ton of RBI opportunities, but there were countless times when one of those other superstars brought the base runners home. Also, Perez’s streak of a dozen years driving in 90+ runs, started in 1967, several years before the Big Red Machine was completely put together.
 
Cesar Geronimo was the best Center Fielder in my lifetime (memory mid-1950's).
Arm and Speed.
Got a tremendous jump.
 
Three stone cold locks in Bench/Morgan/Larkin.

After that you’ve got a compiler/cheater in Rose, an underrated Votto, and Robinson to choose from. It’s a tough call.
 
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Blue63Madison said:
If this was only about defense, Eric Davis easily tops Cesar at CF.
Click to expand...
No argument here. Two of my favorites, too.
Geronimo won 4 gold gloves...
Davis won 3.

Eric the Red's injuries certainly affected his career.
Geronimo could not hit, which shortened his career.

With the Bengals in the Playoffs, I am reminded of the self imposed torture of being a life long Die Hard fan of Cincinnati Bengals/Reds.
 
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Blue63Madison said:
I’m a Reds diehard since birth (63). Can we all agree the greatest two Reds ever are, Bench and Morgan?
Click to expand...
Make it top 3 and add Pete.

Yep...he's an SOB, but he's also the guy of those 3 that I would draft first. I named my son after him (before his public fall).
 
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JumperJack said:
I picked Robinson over Rose because we’re picking the best. Rose was probably not the best at anything,
Click to expand...
I love this discussion. And I think I understand what you are saying. Pete had Limited power...

But 4,256 hits at least say "best contact hitter" ever

Corroborating Stat:
15,890 Plate appearances
1,193 Strikeouts
 
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vhcat70 said:
Bench/Morgan/Robinson are easy. Pitchers feared them coming to the plate. But Rose was a butcher in the field with no arm. His position was the batter's box. Wasn't really feared since his power was mediocre. His O numbers are inflated because P's pitched to him vs. pitching around him with all the stars that were behind him. Good grief - Griffey Sr, Morgan, Foster, Perez, Bench. Of those, who you going to try most to get out? The one in front of them.

Like Larkin a lot.
Click to expand...

Woah fella...Rose had 213 errors in 3528 games. He played all positions but SS/C.

Whether he had a weak arm, no clue but statistically he was less than 10 errors a season.

He also had 2 GG. He was no "butcher" in the field.
 
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