In one bold stroke Monday, the Reds made peace with three generations of Reds fans . . . and three great players.
No. 8.
No. 20.
No. 18.
The Reds will retire those uniform numbers - worn, respectively, by Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson and Ted Kluszewski - in separate ceremonies this season at Cinergy Field.
''Don't get me wrong, this isn't bitterness,'' said Robinson, 62, a consultant to acting commissioner Bud Selig.
''I'm not trying to beat my own drum. But people from back there would always ask me why the Reds didn't (retire his number), and I have no idea. I still don't, but it's an honor to have it happen now.''
''I think it is long overdue,'' said Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall. ''It's something that should have been going on long before now."
''Big Klu'' starred here in the early 1950s, ''Robby'' in the late 1950s - early 1960s, and Morgan in the 1970s with the Big Red Machine.
After Fred Hutchinson died in the 1960s and his number was retired, the retiring of more Reds' numbers was talked about ''year after year, but no one seemed to do anything about it until (Reds managing executive) John Allen,'' Nuxhall said.
Cincinnati native Barry Larkin, the Reds All-Star shortstop who knew Kluszewski and has talked with Robinson and done TV work with Morgan, said he was delighted the trio is being recognized.
''I hate to talk about what hasn't happened in the past,'' said Larkin from his home in Orlando, Fla., ''but the fact is, it will happen and it's a good thing. They all deserve it.''
Morgan, who is a network baseball analyst for ESPN and NBC-TV, could not be reached for comment.
Kluszewski's widow, Eleanor, who lives in Landen, said she felt ''happy, elated, proud, grateful,'' when Allen broke the news to her. The fact her husband is still a fan favorite and people still recognize her name 10 years after his death, ''gives me a great morale boost.
''If Ted was here, he would have felt the same,'' she said. ''He was just as proud of being a hitting coach for the Machine as he was in his own playing days. He loved working with kids.''
Morgan the magnificent
In his book, Joe Morgan: A Life in Baseball, the first-ballot Hall of Famer said this:
''The only thing I'm disappointed in is that my number was never retired in Houston or Cincinnati. To have my number retired would have been the crowning glory of my Hall of Fame year. Now it would be meaningless, and I wouldn't attend the ceremony if either team did it.''
Morgan has been incensed by the actions and remarks of Reds President and Chief Executive Officer Marge Schott, who over the years has been suspended from baseball for her use of racial epithets, and once refused to allow former General Manager Bob Howsam onto the field during a ceremony honoring the Big Red Machine. Howsam engineered the trade that brought Morgan to the Reds from Houston in 1972.
Schott is under suspension as president and CEO for insensitive remarks. Allen has made it a major focus of his running of the club to highlight the Reds' storied history.
The source of Morgan's apparent change of heart about returning to Cincinnati for a ceremony isn't publicly known. But it likely has to do with Schott no longer being involved in the day-to-day operation of the club, and the approach Allen has brought in the hiring of minorities in the front office and his mindfulness of the glory days of the Reds' past.
Robinson stood tall
Robinson, who was baseball's first African-American manager and has stood front and center in lobbying baseball to continue the legacy of Jackie Robinson by opening baseball's front offices to people of color, has since made his personal peace with the Reds after being spurned by the organization in 1982 when he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Reds didn't even send him a note of congratulations, let alone show up for the ceremony in Cooperstown.
''Really, that's when it (the acrimony) all started,'' Robinson recalled in a visit to Cincinnati in December 1994, to promote the turning in of old eyeglasses for use by underprivileged persons. ''No telephone call, no telegram, nothing.It was as though I had never even played in Cincinnati. I was hurt and upset. I even (wrote the Reds a letter) asking them to remove my name from their record books.''
During that visit, Robinson said he would be ''thrilled'' to come back for a night in his honor or to have his number retired.
Robinson was traded to the Baltimore Orioles on Dec. 9, 1965. At the time, he was called ''an old 30'' by then Reds General Manager Bill DeWitt. In that last season in Cincinnati, Robinson smashed 33 home runs, 33 doubles, 113 RBI and scored 109 runs in 156 games. He promptly won the Triple Crown for Baltimore in 1966.
Geoff Hobson and Scott MacGregor contributed to this report.
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