# 1974 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1974 Cincinnati Reds season was the 105th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 5th and 4th full season at Riverfront Stadium. The Reds finished in second place in the National League West with a record of 98–64, four games behind the NL West and pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.
The Reds' 98 victories were second-best in all of Major League baseball to the Dodgers' 102 victories. The Dodgers had finished in second place from 1970 to 1973: in three of those years the Reds won the NL West, (except for 1971, when the 1971 San Francisco Giants won). In the 1973-74 offseason, the Dodgers added center fielder Jimmy Wynn in a trade from Houston and acquired future Cy Young Award winning reliever Mike Marshall from Montreal. The Reds added a solid starter in 12-game winner Clay Kirby in the offseason.

## Pennant Race

Just as they had done the previous season, the Dodgers started hot and built a large lead on the Reds in the division, due largely to their head-to-head success against the Reds, winning nine of their first ten games against Cincinnati. After losing 6–3 to the Dodgers on August 5, the Reds trailed the Dodgers by 7+1⁄2 games despite a solid 66–45 record. By August 15, the Reds had cut the lead to 1+1⁄2 games after winning the first two of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium marking 9 losses in 11 games for Los Angeles. In the third game, Wynn hit a seventh-inning grand slam to break open a tight game as the Dodgers rallied to a 7–1 victory, which helped keep the Dodgers ahead in the NL West. The Reds would get no closer than two games the rest of the season.
Johnny Bench put up one of his best seasons (career-highs in 108 runs scored and 160 games played, 33 home runs, 129 RBI and 315 total bases) to finish fourth in the NL MVP voting to winner Steve Garvey, runner-up Lou Brock, and Marshall. Wynn was fifth.
The 1974 season also marked the first with future Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman. Brennaman replaced another nationally known broadcaster, Al Michaels, who moved to San Francisco to take the same position with the Giants.

## Offseason

* December 3, 1973: Mario Soto was signed as an amateur free agent by the Reds.
* December 4, 1973: Ross Grimsley and Wally Williams (minors) were traded by the Reds to the Baltimore Orioles for Merv Rettenmund, Junior Kennedy and Bill Wood (minors).
* December 12, 1973: Steve Blateric was traded by the Reds to the Cleveland Indians for Roger Freed.
* Prior to 1974 season: Dan Dumoulin was signed as an amateur free agent by the Reds.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 102 | 60 | .630 | — | 52‍–‍29 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 98 | 64 | .605 | 4 | 50‍–‍31 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Atlanta Braves | 88 | 74 | .543 | 14 | 46‍–‍35 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Houston Astros | 81 | 81 | .500 | 21 | 46‍–‍35 | 35‍–‍46 |
| San Francisco Giants | 72 | 90 | .444 | 30 | 37‍–‍44 | 35‍–‍46 |
| San Diego Padres | 60 | 102 | .370 | 42 | 36‍–‍45 | 24‍–‍57 |

### Record vs. opponents

1974 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 4–8 | 7–11–1 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 17–1 | 8–10 | 9–3 |
| Chicago | 8–4 | — | 5–7 | 4–8 | 2–10 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–13 |
| Cincinnati | 11–7–1 | 7–5 | — | 14–4 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 6–6 |
| Houston | 12–6 | 8–4 | 4–14 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–4 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 10–2 | 12–6 | 13–5 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 16–2 | 12–6 | 6–6 |
| Montreal | 3–9 | 13–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 8–9 |
| New York | 4–8 | 10–8 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 7–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–12 |
| Philadelphia | 4-8 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 11–7 | — | 10–8 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 9–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 8–4 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 8–10 | — | 9–3 | 8–4 | 7–11 |
| San Diego | 1–17 | 6–6 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 2–16 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 3–9 | — | 11–7 | 5–7 |
| San Francisco | 10–8 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 7–11 | — | 6–6 |
| St. Louis | 3–9 | 13–5 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 9–8 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — |

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Johnny Bench | 160 | 621 | 174 | .280 | 33 | 129 |
| 1B | Tony Pérez | 158 | 596 | 158 | .265 | 28 | 101 |
| 2B | Joe Morgan | 149 | 512 | 150 | .293 | 22 | 67 |
| SS | Dave Concepción | 160 | 594 | 167 | .281 | 14 | 82 |
| 3B | Dan Driessen | 150 | 470 | 132 | .281 | 7 | 56 |
| LF | Pete Rose | 163 | 652 | 185 | .284 | 3 | 51 |
| CF | César Gerónimo | 150 | 474 | 133 | .281 | 7 | 54 |
| RF | Ken Griffey | 88 | 227 | 57 | .251 | 2 | 19 |

#### 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 |
| George Foster | 106 | 276 | 73 | .264 | 7 | 41 |
| Merv Rettenmund | 80 | 208 | 45 | .216 | 6 | 28 |
| Darrel Chaney | 117 | 135 | 27 | .200 | 2 | 16 |
| Terry Crowley | 84 | 125 | 30 | .240 | 1 | 20 |
| Bill Plummer | 50 | 120 | 27 | .225 | 2 | 10 |
| Andy Kosco | 33 | 37 | 7 | .189 | 0 | 5 |
| Phil Gagliano | 46 | 31 | 2 | .065 | 0 | 0 |
| Junior Kennedy | 22 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 0 | 0 |
| Hal King | 20 | 17 | 3 | .176 | 0 | 3 |
| Ray Knight | 14 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 0 | 2 |
| Ed Armbrister | 9 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Roger Freed | 6 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 1 | 3 |

### 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 |
| Don Gullett | 36 | 243.0 | 17 | 11 | 3.04 | 183 |
| Clay Kirby | 36 | 230.2 | 12 | 9 | 3.28 | 160 |
| Jack Billingham | 36 | 212.1 | 19 | 11 | 3.94 | 103 |
| Fred Norman | 35 | 186.1 | 13 | 12 | 3.14 | 141 |
| Roger Nelson | 14 | 85.1 | 4 | 4 | 3.38 | 42 |
| Tom Carroll | 16 | 78.1 | 4 | 3 | 3.68 | 37 |

#### 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 |
| Pat Darcy | 6 | 17.0 | 1 | 0 | 3.71 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Pedro Borbón | 73 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 3.24 | 53 |
| Clay Carroll | 57 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 2.15 | 46 |
| Tom Hall | 40 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4.08 | 48 |
| Dick Baney | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.49 | 12 |
| Will McEnaney | 24 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4.33 | 12 |
| Rawly Eastwick | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.04 | 14 |
| Mike McQueen | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 5 |
| Pat Osburn | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.00 | 4 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Indianapolis Indians | American Association | Vern Rapp |
| AA | Trois-Rivières Aigles | Eastern League | Jim Snyder |
| A | Tampa Tarpons | Florida State League | Russ Nixon |
| A-Short Season | Seattle Rainiers | Northwest League | Greg Riddoch |
| Rookie | Billings Mustangs | Pioneer League | Jim Hoff |