Mario Soto had a terrifying fastball that seemed to explode upward just as it approached the hitters. But it was his changeup that buckled their knees.

Mario Soto (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “I'd say at least 60 percent of my strikeouts came on changeups,” said Soto, who will be inducted today into the Reds Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony. He also will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

        And yes, it will be a changeup.

        “They're all changeups now,” said Soto, 44.

        He learned the changeup from Reds roving minor-league pitching instructor Scott Breeden in the mid-1970s, but it was 1979 in Triple A (38 strikeouts in 25 innings) before he got a good grip on it and came to Cincinnati to stay.

        Twelve years — and 100 victories, 72 complete games (almost one every three starts), 1,449 strikeouts (including a franchise-record 274 in 1982) and three All-Star Games — later, one must say ...

THE SOTO FILE

• Career record: 100-92, 3,47 ERA   • All Star in 1982, 1983, 1984   • In 1982, established a Reds single-season record with 274 strikeouts   • Reds MVP in 1982 and 1983   • Second on the club's all-time list with 1,449 strikeouts   • Only Red to lead the club in strikeouts in six different seasons

        “The changeup served me well,” Soto said.

        He becomes the 57th player elected to the Reds Hall of Fame. Also being inducted, posthumously, is another pitching great, Long Bob Ewing, of the 1902-09 Reds.

        Soto, who still lives in the Dominican Republic, was — along with shortstop Davey Concepcion (Venezuela) — one of the plums of the Reds' Latin and South American scouting efforts in the 1960s and 1970s.

        “We didn't have gloves, spikes, nothing,” Soto said. “We played with bare hands and bare feet. To have come from that to making three All-Star teams is really something.”

        He knew all about the Big Red Machine and their Dominican center fielder, Cesar Geronimo. Dominican pitcher Santo Alcala was 11-4 for the 1976 World Series champion Reds.

        “My idol was Juan Marichal — he was everybody's idol,” Soto said. “I'd stay up late and listen to the Giants' late games on the radio. Now everybody's idol is Pedro (Martinez). They forgot about Juan.”

        Did they forget about Soto?

        “I'm the easy one to forget,” said Soto, laughing.

        Soto still watches a lot of baseball. He said he and his countrymen get four or five games each day on TV from the States. Baseball may be America's national pastime, but in the Dominican, it is the national religion.

        Soto understands his place and time within the context of the Reds' storied history. He says he is as proud of his Opening Day history, pitching five straight and winning four in a row (1983-86) after losing in 1982 (he later got a no-decision in 1988), when the Reds always seemed to be awarded the first pitch of the season.

        No other Red has won more than two in a row. In fact, no other Red has won more than three Reds openers, and only one did that (Cuban native Dolf Luque in 1919, 1921 and 1928).

        There was a time when Soto was the only good reason Reds fans had to come to the ballpark — unless they wanted to see some stars from the visiting team. The Reds of 1982 lost 101 games, and the next year's club (88 losses in '83 and 92 in '84) wasn't much better. But Soto kept blowing that explosive fastball and devastating change by the hitters.

        “When I was playing, I didn't think about us having bad teams,” Soto said. “Now I look back and I say, “Wow, we lost 101 games in 1982?” My attitude was to go out there, give 100 percent and keep the team in it.”

        He was only 29 years old when he had his last full season in 1985.

        If he could have stayed healthy that year and the following three, he might have put the Reds over the hump and avoided at least one of those four straight second-place finishes.

        “He was just the type of pitcher you wanted to head up your staff,” said Bob Howsam, who was Reds general manager when Soto was signed by scouting supervisor George Zuraw. “Mario was a complete pitcher. Great arm and a great head for pitching. Very classy fellow. Always wanted the ball - and never wanted to give it up.”

        Zuraw remembers Dominican scout Johnny Sierra, a former Reds minor-leaguer, inviting Soto (with about 30 others) to a Reds tryout camp in 1973 in San Cristobal, a 20-mile drive west of the capital city of Santo Domingo.

        “Mario was the only guy we signed out of that camp,” Zuraw said. “He was a converted catcher, had just turned to pitching. He had a good delivery and a pretty good curveball. He didn't throw terribly hard, 85 or 86. But he had what we call a quick arm out front. The kind of arm action you'd see today in a Pedro Martinez or a Mariano Rivera, but without the velocity (as gauged on a radar gun). Mario was projectable.”

        In his first pro spring camp in Tampa, Soto hurt his arm in extended spring training and didn't pitch that season in Eugene, Ore., as he'd been designated. Next spring camp, he hurt his arm again and made only five starts in Eugene. He was unimpressive, still throwing in the mid-80s.

        The following spring, Zuraw was passing through Tampa and ran into that club's general manager, Mike Moore. “Did you sign Soto?” Moore asked him.

        “Who?” Zuraw asked.

        “Soto!“ said Moore.

        “Yeah, I signed Soto,” said Zuraw, getting defensive. “So what?”

        “He's the best pitcher we've got here, one of the best I've seen in long time,” Moore said. “He's throwing 95 miles an hour.”

        “What?” said Zuraw.

        Something had clicked in Soto that offseason. The strength in his body caught up with the speed of his arm. That season with Tampa, he went 13-7 with a 1.87 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 197 innings (he led the league in the latter two categories). The next season, 1977, he was in the big leagues.

        But not to stay. He didn't stick and begin to dominate until 1980 (10-8, 3.08 ERA, 182 strikeouts in 190 innings) when he had fully mastered Breeden's “circle” change (thumb and index finger touching to form a circle on the left side of the ball). From 1982-84, he averaged 16 victories for a team that averaged 94 losses per season.

        “I remember one day a scout from another team said to me, "This is amazing — Soto doesn't have a breaking ball, does he?”” Zuraw said. “I wasn't going to let on. I said, "Yeah, he does, he's got a nice little curveball, he's just not getting it over today.”

        “What he had was this curveball he'd throw about a foot outside, just to show the hitter he had it. Mario had hurt his arm throwing curveballs, and he never forgot that. He didn't want to hurt it again. But what he did have was three changeups: one that would sink, one that went straight down and one that he'd cut. You'd be up there facing a 95 mile an hour fastball, and then he'd break your back with a changeup that moved. You ever hear of a guy today with three changeups?”

        Or a guy with 72 complete games? Yes, it was a different time, but he led the league in 1983 (18) and 1984 (13).

        “Russ Nixon (former Reds manager) took me out of a game we were winning 2-1 in the eighth inning, and the other team tied it up,” Soto said. “After the game, I went in to see him, and I said, "I'm not going to pitch eight innings and then have that happen. If we're winning, just leave me in.'

        “A couple of days later, he said, "As long as you're winning, I'm going to leave you in there.' And that's what he did.”

        Soto looks back and counts his blessings.

        “I didn't have the numbers to go to Cooperstown, but a few years ago I was inducted into the Dominican Hall of Fame,” Soto said. “Now, the Reds' Hall of Fame. It's very special. Two out of three isn't bad.”

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