Cincinnati Reds' great managers await their Hall of Fame fates
The Cincinnati Reds have a pair of former managers in Lou Piniella and Davey Johnson up for Hall of Fame consideration.
The Cincinnati Reds have had several elite managers stroll the dugouts of Riverfront Stadium and Great American Ballpark. Sparky Anderson led the Big Red Machine to two World Series. Since then, two managers have excelled beyond the rest as Reds’ managers. Those two managers will find out during the Winter Meetings if they are making the Hall of Fame in 2017.
Davey Johnson’s greatest claim to fame was leading the 1986 New York Mets to a World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox. Every team that he managed for multiple season made at least one playoff appearance. In addition to managing the Mets, he also managed the Reds, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Washington Nationals.
As the Reds’ manager, Johnson had the team in first place at the time of the 1994 players’ strike. He followed that up by leading the team to the first ever National League Central title the following year. In three seasons he led the team to first place twice, but is considered overrated by many
In 1996 Johnson returned to Baltimore, where he played, as their manager. The Orioles made the playoffs each of the first two years he was there. The Reds didn’t make the playoffs again until 2010 when Dusty Baker led them to another Central title.
The Cincinnati Reds’ fans loved Sweet Lou Piniella for getting the team back to the World Series and his epic on field explosions.
From a visual perspective there was little more entertaining than watching Lou Piniella erupt on the baseball diamond following a bad call by the umpire. He would toss bases, throw his hat and occasionally get face to face with umpires. The passion and the energy was appreciated in a team that loves winning.
And the winning made Piniella even more popular in Cincinnati. Piniella was only in Cincinnati for three seasons, winning the World Series in his first in 1990. Following the 1992 season Piniella left Cincinnati to manage the Seattle Mariners.
While in Seattle, Piniella set the Major League record with 116 regular-season wins. He also won the Manager of the Year Award in 1995, 2001, and 2008. The first two were with the Mariners, but the last was with the Tampa Bay Rays.
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Piniella returned to the Reds in 2016 as a special consultant to manager Bryan Price. His primary role was to help Price in spring training think more strategically about in game moves. The plan is to have him help again at spring training in 2017.
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