March 25, 2025 • 14 mins
Grant Freking co-wrorte The Big Red Machine’s Last Hurrah, and it's a must-read if you're a Reds fan.
From the author...
“The Big Red Machine’s Last Hurrah” tells the real story of the infamous strike-interrupted 1981 MLB “split season” concocted by MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn that resulted in the Reds being excluded from the postseason despite possessing the best record in baseball – but then what should have happened!
Grant joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
From the author...
“The Big Red Machine’s Last Hurrah” tells the real story of the infamous strike-interrupted 1981 MLB “split season” concocted by MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn that resulted in the Reds being excluded from the postseason despite possessing the best record in baseball – but then what should have happened!
Grant joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right, what's up, good afternoon, I'm o Inger. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for joining us today.
We've got folks, we got to get to on hold
here in just a second, go here Sean Miller and
his statements at Texas about Xavier coming up in just
about thirty minutes. Opening day is two days away. First
(00:24):
pitch is going to be thrown in just about forty
eight hours. Reds and Giants, don't forget. We are broadcasting
on Thursday from Smoke Justice in Covington from noon to three.
Tony Pike, Austin and myself, we hope to see you there.
I love baseball books, and if you're a Reds fan,
you don't have to look very far to find some
(00:44):
really good books about the Reds, some going back many many, many, many,
many many years, some going back maybe not so many years.
This one piqued my interest. It is written by Randy
and Grant Freaking. It's called The Big Red Machines Last Hurrah,
and it's it's a fictional story based on something factual,
(01:05):
and the factual something is the nineteen eighty one Red season,
which chances are you know they had the best record
in baseball. They played a ninety nine win clip that year,
but because of the mid season baseball strike, they didn't
get a chance to play in the postseason. And it's
one of the great travesties in all of baseball. It's
(01:25):
one of the great travesties, I think, in all of sports.
Randy and Grant took that story, took what happened in
nineteen eighty one, and created a factual base story of
the nineteen eighty one Red season and what would have
been What many would argue what not only what could
have been, but what would have happened had they been
(01:48):
able to finish out the season and play in the
postseason as the team with the best record in baseball
that year. So I read this. I went to Arizona
just about a month ago and read it mostly on
the way there, finished it up on the way back.
It is a great read. It's called The Big Red Machines.
Last Hurrah. Grant freaking is with us here in studio.
(02:08):
It is despite the fact that I was unable to
find a drink of water for you. It's good to
have you.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Well. Thanks Mo.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We get as you said forty eight hours until Opening
Day starts another season of probable pain ahead of us.
So let's I figured, let's go back forty years or
so look at some more pain for Reds fans in
nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's one of even if you take away the strike
and what happened, it's one of the most interesting Red
seasons of all time because, and I think maybe younger
fans are more casual fans wouldn't realize there are lots
of holdovers from the mid seventies.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Johnny Bench was on that team.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Ken Griffy's on that team, George Foster's on that team,
David Concepcion's on that team.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
So you have, like most a lot of those guys,
right yep.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And then you have some dudes.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
That became household names kind of as fans like myself became,
you know, fans of the team. Ron Oasters on that team, right,
Mario Soto's on that team, And it's this interesting lend
and a team that won sixty six and forty two,
which if you extrapolate that over a full season, that's
ninety nine wins.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
This team was awesome.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, they were a darn good team. As you mentioned,
four remaining members of the Big Red Machine hanging on.
At this point, you mentioned rod Oster Dave Collins is
on this team. Rat Night future Reds manager Tom Steven
Mario so had are a really good one two punch
top this rotation bullpen solid. I think the Reds, the
current Reds, are probably killed. I had the bullpen back
in the nineteen eighty one season, but I was not aware.
(03:30):
I was born in nineteen eighty eight. I was not
aware of the plight of the nineteen eighty one Reds
until my uncle and co author Randy Freaking called me
up in the early days of COVID and explained to
me his next book idea, and also explained to me
just how screwed over the red the nineteen eighty one
Reds were by this cock and Miami split season scheme
dreamed up by former MLB commissioner Buy Koon.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I could be awfully critical of baseball commissioners. Many of
us were with Bud Selig, many of many of us
have been with Rob Manfred.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I'm not sure. Look.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Ud Seelig oversaw the cancelation of the ninety four World Series,
tried to contract the Minnesota Twins oversaw the departure of
baseball from Montreal. Rob Manford has done a lot of
things that I spent a lot of time making fun of,
neither guilty of what Buoye Coon forced upon us with
the owner's approval after.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
The strike in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's unbelievable, and fortunately for the sake of my book,
my uncle Randy actually did something about it in nineteen
eighty one, and him two of his law school buddies
from Ohio State Law School.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Actually did sue Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
That actually did happen in real life, and that forms
the basis of the fictional part of the book. Now,
that lawsuit was quickly withdrawn because they were encouraged by
the law professors at Ohio States and some other their
future employers and some other high ranking folks to withdraw
that lawsuit. But I think the Scars have never left
that form my uncle.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
No, I don't think they've left for fans of that era.
And what's always been interesting to me is the Cardinals
were similarly screwed. Right they had the best record in
the National League East, but they won the World Series
the next year and went on to become one of
the defining teams of the nineteen eighties, went back to
the World Series in eighty five, went back to the
World Series in nineteen eighty seven. The Reds nine nineteen
eighty two lost one hundred games. So it wasn't the
(05:12):
last hurrah for the Cardinals. It was kind of a
jumping off point. Not so much here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, the Reds were far from the only victims in
this tragedy of the nineteen eighty one season. The cumulative
standings are just a mess if you look at them.
The Reds played one hundred and eight games, the Dodgers
played one hundred and ten. Remind you the Dodgers got
into the postseason that year. Yeah, ended series, right. The
Cardinals played one hundred and three games, Cubs played one
hundred and six. Were all over the place because now
(05:37):
there were rainnouts, of force impacted and so it was
just chaotic. But the season was so great up until
the stop it, which was the real shame of it.
You had Pete Rose chasing Stan Muzil the nl hits record.
He tied the mark against Nolan Ryan the day before
I believe the strike happened. Yeah, Fernandomania. You have Steve
Carlton becoming the first left handed to which three thousand strikeouts.
(05:58):
He had such a great season that was interrupted by
this insanity.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, you know, in ninety four we had a strike
and it took years for people to come back, right,
it took years. The Reds made the playoffs in ninety
five and they didn't sell out their two National League
Championship Series games. What was We'll talk about the on
field impact, but was there a residual sort of impact
being felt by the Reds at the gate and in
(06:24):
terms of public interest because of the strike or did
things just fall apart because the team got dismantled.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I think more of the ladder.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
The Reds actually struggled a little bit of tendance wise,
and they had a series where they could have actually
taken a hold of first place near right end of
the eighty one season. They didn't get it done, and
they were at home and the stands weren't completely full. No,
I don't offend, don't remember what time those games were
at it we were talking about businessman special type games whatever.
But I think it's more of the ladder, and I
think the Reds moved on pretty quickly in the fact
(06:55):
based world here where Dick Wagner, then the Reds general manager,
was certainly upset, but I think moved past it and
didn't show the outrage. Maybe some wanted to see from him.
I think they thought they would certainly be quite a
bit better in nineteen eighty two than they ended up being.
And then it just went rolling downhill until the team
started rebound a little bit in the mid eighties and
became string of second place finishes, and then we know
(07:17):
what happened in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, we know what happened as the latter part of
the eighties unfolded. I don't think there are fans who
understand the graveyard that Cincinnati became post nineteen eighty one
for a while.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Right, Yeah, And it's a shame because it was a
slow dismantling, right and you had this That's what makes
the nineteen eighty one so promise on fulfilled feeling like
you had. You know Johnny Bench, who actually, oddly enough
informed the Reds before the nineteen one seasons he didn't
want to play catcher anymore.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
And guess what happened. We started playing in April.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
He was playing catcher, but then Dan Dreesen got hurt
and he played first base all throughout May. Then he
got hurt and he came back and played catcher, and
you still see had Dan Dreesen hero of the Big
Red Machine from the mid seven It's just a whole
munch of guys who I think get a lot of
good vibes to fans during the nineteen eighty once even
just even despite despite the strike, and it all was
(08:11):
for not infortionally.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And a manager who history is often not that kind to,
in John McNamara. They go to the playoffs in seventy nine,
which is the first year after they obviously remove Sparky
Anderson from his job. Pete Rose goes to Philadelphia. They
get swept by the Pirates. And I think in part
because he never got a chance to manage a winning
Red's postseason game, deprived of the opportunity in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
He's a footnote.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
He's a footnote in Red's history, And you wonder, and
that's what I was thinking about as I'd read sort
of the fictional part of your book, was how does
history treat this man who went on to have success,
He managed the Red Sox in the World Series. But
how is he treated? How do we look at him
if he gets an opportunity to manage again in the
postseason with a team in eighty one that was on
paper better than the one in seventy nine.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, he probably isn't ranking at the tipy top of
us with Sparky Anderson or doesn't have this sort of
a cerbic charm of a loop Panella. But he's certainly
third or fourth on that list, right, he at least
gets to the World Series, maybe wins it with this team.
You know, there were some other really good teams in
nineteen eighty one. Certainly no got teams that were really
like a cut above, I would say, And so the
(09:17):
Reds certainly had every opportunity to make it to the
nineteen eighty one World Series in reality and win the
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, it's funny because if you look at this franchise's
history and I remember, I remember the ninety four strike, right,
there was a similar vibe. You know, the ninety four
they're a game up in the National League Central, had
just beating the Houston Astros, and then the postseason gets
wiped away, and so one of the bigger what ifs
is what if the ninety four Reds get a chance
to play in the postseason and obviously they went back
(09:45):
the next year. It is interesting the two major workstoppages
in baseball history have been unkind to this city.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
We'll look for the sequel in a couple maybe ten
years on the ninety four work stops. But yeah, I
mean it's it would have been thrilling to see the
Reds go up and face you know, perhaps you know
Pedro Martinez and the Montreal Expos and the Dome and everything,
and a number of other great teams and great players.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, at least at least with.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
With the ninety fourteen we had ninety five after that,
right nineteen eighty one, we had one.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Hundred houses, Yeah, one hundred losses, the big Red Machines.
Last Hurrah, Randy and Grant freaking Grant with us here
in studio. Where can folks get this?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So? You can find this on Amazon Corporate overloads at Amazon,
but you can also find it at freaking out about
dot com. That's freaking with an a not like my
last name. It's freaking out about dot com is another
place you can find it all right.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I sent out a link on my Twitter as well,
at Moegger, we're two days away from opening day.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Do you have a vibe, do you have a field?
Do you have are you overly optimistic? Are you more measured?
Where are you with the the twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Version of the Reds Well, I'm certainly ready to be
heard again, just like I am every every March.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I think I'm as an age, I get more cautiously
optimistic and less blindly optimistic with the team. I think
the bullpen worries me. I think it's thin. I think
the rotation could be strong. I think the position player
court relies on a lot of upside. I do believe
they'll have better managing, the better base, running better vibes.
I think a little bit. I think they're in the
(11:19):
wild card hunt. I certainly hope that we are. You know,
maybe I come back on in August and talk about
those ninety four book plans, and maybe we're also talking
about a pendant race in Hunter Green's case for the
NLSI Young and La de la Cruz's case to be
nationally MVP, perhaps competing with Sho Heeo Tani. But they'll
(11:40):
be better I think it's hard to have worse injury luck,
especially the beginning of the season, which it's so difficult
to recover from an injury like a player like Matt
McClain and just be shot in the foot and so
many other random injuries. But I think they'll be solidly
five hundred, and when you're solidly five hundred and MLB,
it's just a matter of percentages and injury luck to
kind of push you into the midly eighty Rangers.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, and got to be better in one run games.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Got to be better in the margins where you're not
having dudes getting picked off like last year. And got
to be better defensively. And that's obviously stuff you can
quantify statistically, but it's oftentimes stuff that the box score
doesn't tell you about. Right. It's with your eyes chucking
the ball to the right base balls that you get
to that you know, you know might not get an
error if you don't get to it, but if you
do get to it, you're recording out. A lot of
(12:25):
that stuff has to be better this year, and that's
where I suspect they will see some improvement. And if
I could add to that, the really good starting pitching
which we expect, and hopefully a better offense than I expect.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Then you know, maybe they could exceed my expectation.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah, I am.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I'm certainly very curious about Tito's effect on such a
young team who kind of was forced to grow up,
and this with David Bell him being a first time management. Yeah,
a lot of first time major leaguers. Tito's the exact
opposite of that. He's been everywhere, done at all, won everything.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I'm wondering about his effect.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
You know, managers can only have so much effect in
the actual win column, but I'm interested to just see
how that plays out for sure.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yeah, no doubt about that. By the ways, FC Cincinnati
going to figure things out.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Cautiously optimistic.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Again, I hate to make excuses for them, but it's
a third straight very chaotic.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Preseason for them.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
This one perhaps took the cake with Lucco right winding out,
trying to bring in a vander Matt Miaska's continued absence,
chipping out center backs to make the money work, to
make all this other stuff work.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And then a thousand games in the first three weeks
of the season.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Right, So you not exactly like the great greatest ramp
up condition. That's what always cracks me with the MLS schedule.
We make make such a big deal about these guys
getting in the great shape, and then they make them
play eight games and twenty five days to start the season.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And it doesn't make any sense. I cannot tell you
how much I enjoyed this. It's a neat story. If
you're a longtime Reds fan and you remember nineteen eighty one,
it's gonna bring back bad memories and some fine ones.
And if you want a good understanding of a seminal
moment in this franchise is history, both because of what
happened in nineteen eighty one, but then what would happen
(14:02):
subsequent to nineteen eighty one. I think you're really going
to enjoy this. The big Red Machines last, Hurrah, Randy
and Grant freaking again. Give me the website.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
It's freaking out about dot Com. Freaking with an A.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
All right, freaking out about dot Com. Awesome man, good
to have you. I appreciate we do it again. When
you write that ninety four book, I'll be here. That's
like my that's in my wheelhouse now. Ninety four ninety
five A ninety five team is still my second all
time faper.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Well, perhaps Rady and I can negotiate room for another
co author.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Perhaps, Yeah, yeah, that's what you want, is me?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
All right?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Thank you so much, sir. Eighteen after four o'clock. All right,
we are going to talk to other people you next five, one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty plus Sean Miller talks about departing Xavier in
fifteen minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station
ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right, what's up, good afternoon, I'm o Inger. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for joining us today.
We've got folks, we got to get to on hold
here in just a second, go here Sean Miller and
his statements at Texas about Xavier coming up in just
about thirty minutes. Opening day is two days away. First
(00:24):
pitch is going to be thrown in just about forty
eight hours. Reds and Giants, don't forget. We are broadcasting
on Thursday from Smoke Justice in Covington from noon to three.
Tony Pike, Austin and myself, we hope to see you there.
I love baseball books, and if you're a Reds fan,
you don't have to look very far to find some
(00:44):
really good books about the Reds, some going back many many, many, many,
many many years, some going back maybe not so many years.
This one piqued my interest. It is written by Randy
and Grant Freaking. It's called The Big Red Machines Last Hurrah,
and it's it's a fictional story based on something factual,
(01:05):
and the factual something is the nineteen eighty one Red season,
which chances are you know they had the best record
in baseball. They played a ninety nine win clip that year,
but because of the mid season baseball strike, they didn't
get a chance to play in the postseason. And it's
one of the great travesties in all of baseball. It's
(01:25):
one of the great travesties, I think, in all of sports.
Randy and Grant took that story, took what happened in
nineteen eighty one, and created a factual base story of
the nineteen eighty one Red season and what would have
been What many would argue what not only what could
have been, but what would have happened had they been
(01:48):
able to finish out the season and play in the
postseason as the team with the best record in baseball
that year. So I read this. I went to Arizona
just about a month ago and read it mostly on
the way there, finished it up on the way back.
It is a great read. It's called The Big Red Machines.
Last Hurrah. Grant freaking is with us here in studio.
(02:08):
It is despite the fact that I was unable to
find a drink of water for you. It's good to
have you.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Well. Thanks Mo.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We get as you said forty eight hours until Opening
Day starts another season of probable pain ahead of us.
So let's I figured, let's go back forty years or
so look at some more pain for Reds fans in
nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's one of even if you take away the strike
and what happened, it's one of the most interesting Red
seasons of all time because, and I think maybe younger
fans are more casual fans wouldn't realize there are lots
of holdovers from the mid seventies.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Johnny Bench was on that team.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Ken Griffy's on that team, George Foster's on that team,
David Concepcion's on that team.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
So you have, like most a lot of those guys,
right yep.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And then you have some dudes.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
That became household names kind of as fans like myself became,
you know, fans of the team. Ron Oasters on that team, right,
Mario Soto's on that team, And it's this interesting lend
and a team that won sixty six and forty two,
which if you extrapolate that over a full season, that's
ninety nine wins.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
This team was awesome.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, they were a darn good team. As you mentioned,
four remaining members of the Big Red Machine hanging on.
At this point, you mentioned rod Oster Dave Collins is
on this team. Rat Night future Reds manager Tom Steven
Mario so had are a really good one two punch
top this rotation bullpen solid. I think the Reds, the
current Reds, are probably killed. I had the bullpen back
in the nineteen eighty one season, but I was not aware.
(03:30):
I was born in nineteen eighty eight. I was not
aware of the plight of the nineteen eighty one Reds
until my uncle and co author Randy Freaking called me
up in the early days of COVID and explained to
me his next book idea, and also explained to me
just how screwed over the red the nineteen eighty one
Reds were by this cock and Miami split season scheme
dreamed up by former MLB commissioner Buy Koon.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I could be awfully critical of baseball commissioners. Many of
us were with Bud Selig, many of many of us
have been with Rob Manfred.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I'm not sure. Look.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Ud Seelig oversaw the cancelation of the ninety four World Series,
tried to contract the Minnesota Twins oversaw the departure of
baseball from Montreal. Rob Manford has done a lot of
things that I spent a lot of time making fun of,
neither guilty of what Buoye Coon forced upon us with
the owner's approval after.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
The strike in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's unbelievable, and fortunately for the sake of my book,
my uncle Randy actually did something about it in nineteen
eighty one, and him two of his law school buddies
from Ohio State Law School.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Actually did sue Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
That actually did happen in real life, and that forms
the basis of the fictional part of the book. Now,
that lawsuit was quickly withdrawn because they were encouraged by
the law professors at Ohio States and some other their
future employers and some other high ranking folks to withdraw
that lawsuit. But I think the Scars have never left
that form my uncle.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
No, I don't think they've left for fans of that era.
And what's always been interesting to me is the Cardinals
were similarly screwed. Right they had the best record in
the National League East, but they won the World Series
the next year and went on to become one of
the defining teams of the nineteen eighties, went back to
the World Series in eighty five, went back to the
World Series in nineteen eighty seven. The Reds nine nineteen
eighty two lost one hundred games. So it wasn't the
(05:12):
last hurrah for the Cardinals. It was kind of a
jumping off point. Not so much here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, the Reds were far from the only victims in
this tragedy of the nineteen eighty one season. The cumulative
standings are just a mess if you look at them.
The Reds played one hundred and eight games, the Dodgers
played one hundred and ten. Remind you the Dodgers got
into the postseason that year. Yeah, ended series, right. The
Cardinals played one hundred and three games, Cubs played one
hundred and six. Were all over the place because now
(05:37):
there were rainnouts, of force impacted and so it was
just chaotic. But the season was so great up until
the stop it, which was the real shame of it.
You had Pete Rose chasing Stan Muzil the nl hits record.
He tied the mark against Nolan Ryan the day before
I believe the strike happened. Yeah, Fernandomania. You have Steve
Carlton becoming the first left handed to which three thousand strikeouts.
(05:58):
He had such a great season that was interrupted by
this insanity.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, you know, in ninety four we had a strike
and it took years for people to come back, right,
it took years. The Reds made the playoffs in ninety
five and they didn't sell out their two National League
Championship Series games. What was We'll talk about the on
field impact, but was there a residual sort of impact
being felt by the Reds at the gate and in
(06:24):
terms of public interest because of the strike or did
things just fall apart because the team got dismantled.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I think more of the ladder.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
The Reds actually struggled a little bit of tendance wise,
and they had a series where they could have actually
taken a hold of first place near right end of
the eighty one season. They didn't get it done, and
they were at home and the stands weren't completely full. No,
I don't offend, don't remember what time those games were
at it we were talking about businessman special type games whatever.
But I think it's more of the ladder, and I
think the Reds moved on pretty quickly in the fact
(06:55):
based world here where Dick Wagner, then the Reds general manager,
was certainly upset, but I think moved past it and
didn't show the outrage. Maybe some wanted to see from him.
I think they thought they would certainly be quite a
bit better in nineteen eighty two than they ended up being.
And then it just went rolling downhill until the team
started rebound a little bit in the mid eighties and
became string of second place finishes, and then we know
(07:17):
what happened in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, we know what happened as the latter part of
the eighties unfolded. I don't think there are fans who
understand the graveyard that Cincinnati became post nineteen eighty one
for a while.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Right, Yeah, And it's a shame because it was a
slow dismantling, right and you had this That's what makes
the nineteen eighty one so promise on fulfilled feeling like
you had. You know Johnny Bench, who actually, oddly enough
informed the Reds before the nineteen one seasons he didn't
want to play catcher anymore.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
And guess what happened. We started playing in April.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
He was playing catcher, but then Dan Dreesen got hurt
and he played first base all throughout May. Then he
got hurt and he came back and played catcher, and
you still see had Dan Dreesen hero of the Big
Red Machine from the mid seven It's just a whole
munch of guys who I think get a lot of
good vibes to fans during the nineteen eighty once even
just even despite despite the strike, and it all was
(08:11):
for not infortionally.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And a manager who history is often not that kind to,
in John McNamara. They go to the playoffs in seventy nine,
which is the first year after they obviously remove Sparky
Anderson from his job. Pete Rose goes to Philadelphia. They
get swept by the Pirates. And I think in part
because he never got a chance to manage a winning
Red's postseason game, deprived of the opportunity in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
He's a footnote.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
He's a footnote in Red's history, And you wonder, and
that's what I was thinking about as I'd read sort
of the fictional part of your book, was how does
history treat this man who went on to have success,
He managed the Red Sox in the World Series. But
how is he treated? How do we look at him
if he gets an opportunity to manage again in the
postseason with a team in eighty one that was on
paper better than the one in seventy nine.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, he probably isn't ranking at the tipy top of
us with Sparky Anderson or doesn't have this sort of
a cerbic charm of a loop Panella. But he's certainly
third or fourth on that list, right, he at least
gets to the World Series, maybe wins it with this team.
You know, there were some other really good teams in
nineteen eighty one. Certainly no got teams that were really
like a cut above, I would say, And so the
(09:17):
Reds certainly had every opportunity to make it to the
nineteen eighty one World Series in reality and win the
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, it's funny because if you look at this franchise's
history and I remember, I remember the ninety four strike, right,
there was a similar vibe. You know, the ninety four
they're a game up in the National League Central, had
just beating the Houston Astros, and then the postseason gets
wiped away, and so one of the bigger what ifs
is what if the ninety four Reds get a chance
to play in the postseason and obviously they went back
(09:45):
the next year. It is interesting the two major workstoppages
in baseball history have been unkind to this city.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
We'll look for the sequel in a couple maybe ten
years on the ninety four work stops. But yeah, I
mean it's it would have been thrilling to see the
Reds go up and face you know, perhaps you know
Pedro Martinez and the Montreal Expos and the Dome and everything,
and a number of other great teams and great players.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, at least at least with.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
With the ninety fourteen we had ninety five after that,
right nineteen eighty one, we had one.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Hundred houses, Yeah, one hundred losses, the big Red Machines.
Last Hurrah, Randy and Grant freaking Grant with us here
in studio. Where can folks get this?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So? You can find this on Amazon Corporate overloads at Amazon,
but you can also find it at freaking out about
dot com. That's freaking with an a not like my
last name. It's freaking out about dot com is another
place you can find it all right.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I sent out a link on my Twitter as well,
at Moegger, we're two days away from opening day.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Do you have a vibe, do you have a field?
Do you have are you overly optimistic? Are you more measured?
Where are you with the the twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Version of the Reds Well, I'm certainly ready to be
heard again, just like I am every every March.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I think I'm as an age, I get more cautiously
optimistic and less blindly optimistic with the team. I think
the bullpen worries me. I think it's thin. I think
the rotation could be strong. I think the position player
court relies on a lot of upside. I do believe
they'll have better managing, the better base, running better vibes.
I think a little bit. I think they're in the
(11:19):
wild card hunt. I certainly hope that we are. You know,
maybe I come back on in August and talk about
those ninety four book plans, and maybe we're also talking
about a pendant race in Hunter Green's case for the
NLSI Young and La de la Cruz's case to be
nationally MVP, perhaps competing with Sho Heeo Tani. But they'll
(11:40):
be better I think it's hard to have worse injury luck,
especially the beginning of the season, which it's so difficult
to recover from an injury like a player like Matt
McClain and just be shot in the foot and so
many other random injuries. But I think they'll be solidly
five hundred, and when you're solidly five hundred and MLB,
it's just a matter of percentages and injury luck to
kind of push you into the midly eighty Rangers.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, and got to be better in one run games.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Got to be better in the margins where you're not
having dudes getting picked off like last year. And got
to be better defensively. And that's obviously stuff you can
quantify statistically, but it's oftentimes stuff that the box score
doesn't tell you about. Right. It's with your eyes chucking
the ball to the right base balls that you get
to that you know, you know might not get an
error if you don't get to it, but if you
do get to it, you're recording out. A lot of
(12:25):
that stuff has to be better this year, and that's
where I suspect they will see some improvement. And if
I could add to that, the really good starting pitching
which we expect, and hopefully a better offense than I expect.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Then you know, maybe they could exceed my expectation.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah, I am.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I'm certainly very curious about Tito's effect on such a
young team who kind of was forced to grow up,
and this with David Bell him being a first time management. Yeah,
a lot of first time major leaguers. Tito's the exact
opposite of that. He's been everywhere, done at all, won everything.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I'm wondering about his effect.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
You know, managers can only have so much effect in
the actual win column, but I'm interested to just see
how that plays out for sure.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yeah, no doubt about that. By the ways, FC Cincinnati
going to figure things out.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Cautiously optimistic.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Again, I hate to make excuses for them, but it's
a third straight very chaotic.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Preseason for them.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
This one perhaps took the cake with Lucco right winding out,
trying to bring in a vander Matt Miaska's continued absence,
chipping out center backs to make the money work, to
make all this other stuff work.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And then a thousand games in the first three weeks
of the season.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Right, So you not exactly like the great greatest ramp
up condition. That's what always cracks me with the MLS schedule.
We make make such a big deal about these guys
getting in the great shape, and then they make them
play eight games and twenty five days to start the season.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And it doesn't make any sense. I cannot tell you
how much I enjoyed this. It's a neat story. If
you're a longtime Reds fan and you remember nineteen eighty one,
it's gonna bring back bad memories and some fine ones.
And if you want a good understanding of a seminal
moment in this franchise is history, both because of what
happened in nineteen eighty one, but then what would happen
(14:02):
subsequent to nineteen eighty one. I think you're really going
to enjoy this. The big Red Machines last, Hurrah, Randy
and Grant freaking again. Give me the website.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
It's freaking out about dot Com. Freaking with an A.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
All right, freaking out about dot Com. Awesome man, good
to have you. I appreciate we do it again. When
you write that ninety four book, I'll be here. That's
like my that's in my wheelhouse now. Ninety four ninety
five A ninety five team is still my second all
time faper.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Well, perhaps Rady and I can negotiate room for another
co author.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Perhaps, Yeah, yeah, that's what you want, is me?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
All right?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Thank you so much, sir. Eighteen after four o'clock. All right,
we are going to talk to other people you next five, one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty plus Sean Miller talks about departing Xavier in
fifteen minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station
Mo Egger News
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