1989 Cincinnati Reds season

The Cincinnati Reds' 1989 season was one of the most turbulent in the team's history. The season was defined by allegations of gambling by Pete Rose. Before the end of the season, Rose was banned from baseball by commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

1989 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkRiverfront Stadium
CityCincinnati
Record75–87 (.463)
Divisional place5th
OwnersMarge Schott
General managersMurray Cook
ManagersPete Rose, Tommy Helms
TelevisionWLWT
(Jay Randolph, Johnny Bench, Thom Brennaman)
RadioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
← 1988 Seasons 1990 →

Offseason

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  • November 5, 1988: Skeeter Barnes was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.[1]
  • December 2, 1988: Rick Mahler signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.[2]
  • December 8, 1988: Rolando Roomes was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds for Lloyd McClendon.[3]
  • December 13, 1988: Nick Esasky and Rob Murphy are traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Boston Red Sox for Todd Benzinger, Jeff Sellers and a player to be named later.[4]
  • December 21, 1988: Manny Trillo signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.[5]
  • December 21, 1988: Joel Youngblood was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.[6]
  • December 21, 1988: Ken Griffey, Sr. was released by the Cincinnati Reds.[7]
  • January 12, 1989: The Cincinnati Reds acquire Luis Vasquez (minors) from the Boston Red Sox to complete the December 13, 1988 trade.[8]
  • March 28, 1989: Randy St. Claire was released by the Cincinnati Reds.[9]
  • March 30, 1989: Kent Tekulve signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.
  • March 30, 1989: Ken Griffey, Sr. signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.[7]

Ohio Cup

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The first Ohio Cup, which was an annual pre-season baseball game was played in 1989. The single-game cup was played at Cooper Stadium (then home of the AAA International League Columbus Clippers) in Columbus, Ohio, and was staged just days before the start of each new Major League Baseball season.

No. Year Winner Runner-up Score Venue Date Attendance
1 1989 Indians Reds 1-0 Cooper Stadium April 2 15,978

Regular season

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Season standings

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NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
San Francisco Giants 92 70 .568 53‍–‍28 39‍–‍42
San Diego Padres 89 73 .549 3 46‍–‍35 43‍–‍38
Houston Astros 86 76 .531 6 47‍–‍35 39‍–‍41
Los Angeles Dodgers 77 83 .481 14 44‍–‍37 33‍–‍46
Cincinnati Reds 75 87 .463 17 38‍–‍43 37‍–‍44
Atlanta Braves 63 97 .394 28 33‍–‍46 30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 5–7 8–10 8–10 6–10 6–6 2–10 8–4 4–8 7–11 6–12 3–9
Chicago 7–5 7–5 5–7 7–5 10–8 10–8 10–8 12–6 8–4 6–6 11–7
Cincinnati 10–8 5–7 8–10 8–10 4–8 4–8 4–8 7–5 9–9 8–10 8–4
Houston 10–8 7–5 10–8 10–8 4–8 6–6 9–3 7–5 8–10 8–10 7–5
Los Angeles 10–6 5–7 10–8 8–10 7–5 5–7 6–6 7–5 6–12 10–8 3–9
Montreal 6–6 8–10 8–4 8–4 5–7 9–9 9–9 11–7 5–7 7–5 5–13
New York 10–2 8–10 8–4 6–6 7–5 9–9 12–6 9–9 5–7 3–9 10–8
Philadelphia 4–8 8–10 8–4 3–9 6–6 9–9 6–12 10–8 2–10 4–8 7–11
Pittsburgh 8–4 6–12 5–7 5–7 5–7 7–11 9–9 8–10 3–9 5–7 13–5
San Diego 11–7 4–8 9–9 10–8 12–6 7–5 7–5 10–2 9–3 8–10 2–10
San Francisco 12–6 6–6 10–8 10–8 8–10 5–7 9–3 8–4 7–5 10–8 7–5
St. Louis 9–3 7–11 4–8 5–7 9–3 13–5 8–10 11–7 5–13 10–2 5–7


Notable transactions

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  • May 25, 1989: Manny Trillo was released by the Cincinnati Reds.[5]
  • July 18, 1989: Tim Leary was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Mariano Duncan to the Cincinnati Reds for Kal Daniels and Lenny Harris.[10]

Notable games

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  • On August 3, 1989, at Riverfront Stadium against the Houston Astros, the Reds set or tied several team, National League, and major league records by scoring 14 runs on 16 hits in the first inning.[11][12] The bottom of the first inning lasted 38 minutes, and the first eight consecutive batters reached base.[12] The Reds won the game 18-2.[11]

Pete Rose: Permanent Ineligibility

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Amid reports that he had bet on baseball, Rose was questioned in February 1989 by outgoing commissioner Peter Ueberroth and his replacement, Bart Giamatti. Rose denied the allegations and Ueberroth dropped the investigation. However, after Giamatti became Commissioner, three days later, lawyer John Dowd was retained to investigate these charges against Rose. A Sports Illustrated cover story published on March 21, 1989, gave the public their first detailed report of the allegations that Rose had placed bets on baseball games.

Dowd interviewed many of Rose's associates, including alleged bookies and bet runners. He delivered a summary of his findings to the Commissioner in May, a document which became known as the Dowd Report. In it, Dowd documented Rose's alleged gambling activities in 1985 and 1986 and compiled a day-by-day account of Rose's alleged betting on baseball games in 1987. The Dowd Report documented his alleged bets on 52 Reds games in 1987, where Rose wagered a minimum of $10,000 a day. Others involved in the allegations claim that number was actually $2,000 a day.

According to the Dowd Report itself, "no evidence was discovered that Rose bet against the Reds."[13] This is in contrast to the case of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and his teammates in the Black Sox Scandal, who were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series.

Rose continued to deny all of the accusations against him and refused to appear at a hearing with Giamatti on the matter. He filed a lawsuit alleging that the Commissioner had prejudged the case and could not provide a fair hearing. A Cincinnati judge issued a temporary restraining order to delay the hearing, but Giamatti fought to have the case moved to Federal Court. The Commissioner prevailed in that effort, after which he and Rose entered settlement negotiations.

On August 24, 1989, Rose voluntarily accepted a permanent place on baseball's ineligible list.[14] Rose accepted that there was a factual reason for the ban; in return, Major League Baseball agreed to make no formal finding with regard to the gambling allegations. According to baseball's rules, Rose could reapply for reinstatement. Rose, with a 412-373 record, was replaced as Reds manager by Tommy Helms. Rose began therapy with a psychiatrist for treatment of a gambling addiction.

Roster

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1989 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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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 Jeff Reed 102 287 64 .223 3 23
1B Todd Benzinger 161 628 154 .245 17 76
2B Ron Oester 109 305 75 .246 1 14
SS Barry Larkin 97 325 111 .342 4 36
3B Chris Sabo 82 304 79 .260 6 29
LF Ken Griffey 106 236 62 .263 8 30
CF Eric Davis 131 462 130 .281 34 101
RF Paul O'Neill 117 428 118 .276 15 74

Other batters

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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
Luis Quiñones 97 340 83 .244 12 34
Rolando Roomes 107 315 83 .263 7 34
Herm Winningham 115 251 63 .251 3 13
Lenny Harris 61 188 42 .223 2 11
Mariano Duncan 45 174 43 .247 3 13
Joe Oliver 49 151 41 .272 3 23
Kal Daniels 44 133 29 .218 2 9
Bo Díaz 43 132 27 .205 1 8
Jeff Richardson 53 125 21 .168 2 11
Joel Youngblood 76 118 25 .212 3 13
Dave Collins 78 106 25 .236 0 7
Scotti Madison 40 98 17 .173 1 7
Manny Trillo 17 39 8 .205 0 0
Marty Brown 16 30 5 .167 0 4
Terry McGriff 6 11 3 .273 0 2
Van Snider 8 7 1 .143 0 0
Skeeter Barnes 5 3 0 .000 0 0

Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tom Browning 37 249.2 15 12 3.39 118
Rick Mahler 40 220.2 9 13 3.83 102
Danny Jackson 20 115.2 6 11 5.60 70
José Rijo 19 111.0 7 6 2.84 86
Tim Leary 14 89.2 2 7 3.71 64
Ron Robinson 15 83.1 5 3 3.35 36

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Scott Scudder 23 100.1 4 9 4.49 66
Jack Armstrong 9 42.2 2 3 4.64 23
Relief pitchers
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Note: G = Games Pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
John Franco 60 4 8 32 3.12 60
Rob Dibble 74 10 5 2 2.09 141
Norm Charlton 69 8 3 0 2.93 98
Tim Birtsas 42 2 2 1 3.75 57
Kent Tekulve 37 0 3 1 5.02 31
Mike Roesler 17 0 1 0 3.96 14
Bob Sebra 15 0 0 1 6.43 14
Rosario Rodríguez 7 1 1 0 4.15 0
Mike Griffin 3 0 0 0 12.46 1

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Nashville Sounds American Association Frank Lucchesi
AA Chattanooga Lookouts Southern League Jim Tracy
A Cedar Rapids Reds Midwest League Gary Denbo
A Greensboro Hornets South Atlantic League Dave Miley
Rookie GCL Reds Gulf Coast League Sam Mejías
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Dave Keller

[15]

References

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  1. ^ "Skeeter Barnes Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  2. ^ Rick Mahler Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  3. ^ "Rolando Roomes Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ a b Manny Trillo Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  6. ^ "Joel Youngblood Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Ken Griffey Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  8. ^ [2]
  9. ^ "Randy St. Claire Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  10. ^ Tim Leary Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  11. ^ a b "Thursday, August 3, 1989 12:35, Riverfront Stadium". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  12. ^ a b "The Big Inning Reds Get Record 16 Hits, Score 14 Runs in the First". Los Angeles Times. August 4, 1989. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  13. ^ DowdReport.com - John M. Dowd
  14. ^ "Archived copy". www.baseball1.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2006. Retrieved January 17, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007