# 1991 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1991 Cincinnati Reds season was the 122nd season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 22nd and 21st full season at Riverfront Stadium. The Reds attempted to defend their World Series championship from 1990, but the team would finish with a losing mark, regressing 17 games from the season before. Their winning percentage (.457) set a new record for worst among defending World Series champions, besting the previous mark set by the Chicago White Sox in 1918. This would be a record for seven years.

## Offseason

* January 29, 1990: Skeeter Barnes was signed as a free agent by the Reds.
* December 5, 1990: Bill Doran was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.

## Regular season

* April 28, 1991: Against the Cubs, relief pitcher Rob Dibble nearly blew a save, allowing two runs on five hits. Clinging to a 4–3 lead in the ninth with the tying run on first, Dibble struck out Ryne Sandberg to finish the game. Despite the win, in frustration he then flung a baseball 400 feet into the center-field seats, inadvertently striking a woman.
* June 28, 1991: Barry Larkin had six RBIs in a game against the Houston Astros.
* Barry Larkin had a 19-game hitting streak.
* At the beginning of July, the Reds peaked at ten games above .500 (44–34). They were in second place in the NL West, only four games behind the Dodgers, and 3.5 games ahead of third place Atlanta.
* On July 6, the Reds spiraled after a 3-0 loss to the Astros. They would lose ten games in a row from that day to July 19 that dropped them to .500 (44-44). They won the next day and ended July at .500 (49-49)
* August saw the Reds essentially drop from contention. They would teeter around .500 before dropping down below the mark for good on August 31.
* July 23, 1991: In the bottom of the eight inning of a 8–5 loss at the Cubs, Rob Dibble (fresh off a three-game suspension) was ejected for throwing the ball into the back of the leg of baserunner Doug Dascenzo.

### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Atlanta Braves | 94 | 68 | .580 | — | 48‍–‍33 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 93 | 69 | .574 | 1 | 54‍–‍27 | 39‍–‍42 |
| San Diego Padres | 84 | 78 | .519 | 10 | 42‍–‍39 | 42‍–‍39 |
| San Francisco Giants | 75 | 87 | .463 | 19 | 43‍–‍38 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 74 | 88 | .457 | 20 | 39‍–‍42 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Houston Astros | 65 | 97 | .401 | 29 | 37‍–‍44 | 28‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1991 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 6–6 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 9–3 |
| Chicago | 6–6 | — | 4–8 | 9–3 | 2–10 | 10–7 | 11–6 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 10–8 |
| Cincinnati | 7–11 | 8–4 | — | 9–9 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 2–10 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 4–8 |
| Houston | 5–13 | 3–9 | 9–9 | — | 8–10 | 2–10 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 5–7 |
| Los Angeles | 11–7 | 10–2 | 12–6 | 10–8 | — | 5–7 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 6–6 |
| Montreal | 7–5 | 7–10 | 6–6 | 10–2 | 7–5 | — | 4–14 | 4–14 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–11 |
| New York | 3–9 | 6–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 14–4 | — | 11–7 | 6–12 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 7–11 |
| Philadelphia | 7-5 | 10–8 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 14–4 | 7–11 | — | 6–12 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 6–12 |
| Pittsburgh | 3–9 | 11–7 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 12–6 | 12–6 | — | 7–5 | 7–5 | 11–7 |
| San Diego | 7–11 | 8–4 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 5–7 | — | 11–7 | 9–3 |
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | — | 4–8 |
| St. Louis | 3–9 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 11–7 | 12–6 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 8–4 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 14, 1991: Reggie Jefferson was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Cleveland Indians for Tim Costo.
* July 18, 1991: Stan Jefferson was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.

### Roster
## 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 | Jeff Reed | 91 | 270 | 72 | .267 | 3 | 31 |
| 1B | Hal Morris | 136 | 478 | 152 | .318 | 14 | 59 |
| 2B | Bill Doran | 111 | 361 | 101 | .280 | 6 | 35 |
| 3B | Chris Sabo | 153 | 582 | 175 | .301 | 26 | 88 |
| SS | Barry Larkin | 123 | 464 | 140 | .302 | 20 | 69 |
| LF | Billy Hatcher | 138 | 442 | 116 | .262 | 4 | 41 |
| CF | Eric Davis | 89 | 285 | 67 | .235 | 11 | 33 |
| RF | Paul O'Neill | 153 | 532 | 136 | .256 | 28 | 91 |

#### 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 |
| Mariano Duncan | 100 | 333 | 86 | .258 | 12 | 40 |
| Joe Oliver | 94 | 269 | 58 | .216 | 11 | 41 |
| Glenn Braggs | 85 | 250 | 65 | .260 | 11 | 39 |
| Luis Quiñones | 97 | 212 | 47 | .222 | 4 | 20 |
| Herm Winningham | 98 | 169 | 38 | .225 | 1 | 4 |
| Carmelo Martínez | 53 | 138 | 32 | .232 | 6 | 19 |
| Todd Benzinger | 51 | 123 | 23 | .187 | 1 | 11 |
| Chris Jones | 52 | 89 | 26 | .292 | 2 | 6 |
| Freddie Benavides | 24 | 63 | 18 | .286 | 0 | 3 |
| Reggie Sanders | 9 | 40 | 8 | .200 | 1 | 3 |
| Stan Jefferson | 13 | 19 | 1 | .053 | 0 | 0 |
| Donnie Scott | 10 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 0 | 0 |
| Glenn Sutko | 10 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 1 |
| Reggie Jefferson | 5 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 1 | 1 |
| Terry Lee | 3 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting 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 |
| Tom Browning | 36 | 230.1 | 14 | 14 | 4.18 | 115 |
| José Rijo | 30 | 204.1 | 15 | 6 | 2.51 | 172 |
| Jack Armstrong | 27 | 139.2 | 7 | 13 | 5.48 | 93 |
| Chris Hammond | 20 | 99.2 | 7 | 7 | 4.06 | 50 |
| Mo Sanford | 5 | 28.0 | 1 | 2 | 3.86 | 31 |

#### 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 |
| Randy Myers | 58 | 132.0 | 6 | 13 | 3.55 | 108 |
| Norm Charlton | 39 | 108.1 | 3 | 5 | 2.91 | 77 |
| Scott Scudder | 27 | 101.1 | 6 | 9 | 4.35 | 51 |
| Kip Gross | 29 | 85.2 | 6 | 4 | 3.47 | 40 |
| Gino Minutelli | 16 | 25.1 | 0 | 2 | 6.04 | 21 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Rob Dibble | 67 | 3 | 5 | 31 | 3.17 | 124 |
| Ted Power | 68 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3.62 | 51 |
| Don Carman | 28 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.25 | 15 |
| Milt Hill | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.78 | 20 |
| Tim Layana | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6.97 | 14 |
| Steve Foster | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.93 | 11 |
| Keith Brown | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 4 |

## Awards and honors

All-Star Game
* Tom Browning, pitcher
* Rob Dibble, relief pitcher
* Barry Larkin, shortstop
* Lou Piniella, manager

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Nashville Sounds | American Association | Pete Mackanin |
| AA | Chattanooga Lookouts | Southern League | Jim Tracy |
| A | Cedar Rapids Reds | Midwest League | Frank Funk |
| A | Charleston Wheelers | South Atlantic League | P. J. Carey and Dave Miley |
| Rookie | Princeton Reds | Appalachian League | Sam Mejías |
| Rookie | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | P. J. Carey |