All-Century Reds Team

Enquirer Reporter John Erardi consulted with baseball experts and Enquirer staff to select the Reds' All-Century team. When they were having a tough time between players, they went with the bigger bat. Here is how the team was picked:

PAUL DERRINGER PITCHER

JOHNNY BENCH CATCHER

TED KLUSZEWSKI FIRST BASE

JOE MORGAN SECOND BASE

BARRY LARKIN SHORTSTOP

PETE ROSE THIRD BASE

GEORGE FOSTER LEFT FIELD

EDD ROUSH CENTER FIELD

FRANK ROBINSON RIGHT FIELD Backup players C Ernie Lombardi INF Tony Perez INF Dave Concepcion OF Eric Davis OF Vada Pinson OF Gus Bell Other starters Eppa Rixey Bucky Walters Don Gullett Jim Maloney Relievers Jose Rijo Johnny Vander Meer Clay Carroll Pedro Borbon Rob Dibble John Franco Manager Sparky Anderson Coaches Bill McKechnie Frank McCormick Birdie Tebbetts Fred Hutchinson Heinie Groh Noodles Hahn Ken Griffey Sr. Radio announcers Marty Brennaman Joe Nuxhall Waite Hoyt

1) BEST ONE-TWO PUNCH IN REDS HISTORY

Paul Derringer and Bucky Walters deserve to have their uniform numbers (No. 30 & No. 31, respectively), retired by the Reds and hung side-by-side, with their jersey sleeves touching, on the outfield wall at Cinergy Field and the Reds new ballpark.

Such a display would symbolize their place in Reds history as the leaders of the franchise's first legitimate World Championship team in 1940.

The Reds had never had -- and perhaps never will again -- a tandem of starting pitchers like Derringer and Walters. Between them, they won 52 games in the pennant-winning season of 1939, and 42 games (and four more in the World Series) in the 1940 World Championship season.

''Oh how I hate to come to Cincinnati,'' a New York sportswriter said in 1939. ''One day you look at Walters. The next day it's Derringer. On the third day, you think you're going to win and (Reds hitters) Frank McCormick or Ival Goodman beats your brains out. Then, it's . . . Walters and Derringer again.''

Our answer, if we were asked who we would pick to start a must-win game, is the same answer the late Bill McKechnie gave when asked after Game 6 of the 1940 World Series who would pitch Game 7.

''Big Paul,'' McKechnie answered. ''It will be Big Paul today, tomorrow or any day the final game is played.''

On two days' rest, Derringer went 9 innings, shutting out the Tigers over the last six innings as the Reds rallied for two runs in the seventh inning to win, 2-1.

2) THE GREATEST CATCHER WHO EVER LIVED

Every end-of-the-century review of the all-time all-star teams has the same guy at catcher: Johnny Bench.

There is no argument he is the best-ever.

The only argument is who is second-best: Roy Campanella or Yogi Berra . . . or perhaps Josh Gibson, a Negro League slugger who never got to play in the major leagues.

Although Bench was a big bopper (45 HR and 148 RBI in 1970, and 40 HR and 125 RBI in 1972; these were his two Most Valuable Player seasons), it was his defense that set him apart.

Nobody who ever saw Bench play for any length of time will ever believe there was a better defensive catcher. He wielded the mitt like a shortstop's glove, short-hopping throws to the plate and making one-handed sweep tags. He caught pop-ups with the ease of somebody brushing crumbs off the supper table.

And until he had chest surgery for a benign tumor in his lungs after the 1972 season, nobody had a stronger throwing arm.

3) BIG KLU NARROWLY EDGES PEREZ

But for a bad back, Ted Kluszewski would be in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

For a four-year stretch from 1953 through 1956, Klu was a Hall of Famer, with 40, 49, 47 and 35 home runs, and drove in 108, 141, 113 and 102 runs, respectively.

Perez has Klu in longevity with seven 100-plus RBI seasons. Perez's 1,652 RBI rank 18th all-time, and he ultimately will be elected to the Hall of Fame via the writers or veterans committee.

Maybe it's the lyrical refrain in the Terry Cashman song Talkin' Baseball (''Big Klu, Big Klu, Big Klu'') or maybe it's the sleeves of his uniform he scissored off to make room for his bulging biceps.

There's just something about Kluszewski that we felt gave him the edge for the all-century team. In the early 1950s, in a league that included Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Stan Musial, Duke Snider and Eddie Mathews, Klu was as feared a slugger as there was in the game.

''We had those flannel uniforms, and every time I'd swing the bat, my arms would get hung up on the sleeves,'' Klu once explained. ''I complained about it, but they (the Reds front office) hemmed and hawed and finally I took a pair of scissors and cut them off. They got pretty upset, but it was either that or change my swing. And I wasn't going to change my swing.''

When Klu's back started giving him trouble in spring training before the 1956 season, it signaled the beginning of the end. He was only 32 years old, and should have had another four or five big seasons left.

4) BELONGS IN THE PANTHEON AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL

During his Hall of Fame speech in 1990, former Reds second baseman Joe Morgan said he would never feel at ease having his name mentioned in the same breath as ''Mays, Musial and Mantle.''

Well, he should.

Baseball chronicler Bill James wrote in the widely acclaimed The Historical Baseball Abstract that, at the top of his game (1972-77), Morgan was the best second baseman in history. In terms of ''career value,'' James rates Morgan as second only to Eddie Collins.

Two years ago, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voted Morgan as the second-greatest second baseman of all-time, behind only Rogers Hornsby.

For all the thunder generated by the Big Red Machine, it was Morgan's ''one-foot-on-the-carpet'' lead at first base that put the buzz in the ballpark. Running only when the team, not his personal stats, needed a steal, Morgan was successful on 87 percent of his stolen-base attempts in his two MVP seasons: he was 67-for-77 in 1975, and 60-of-69 in 1976.

''To be the Most Valuable Player on what I regard as the best team in the history of the game -- the 1976 (Reds) -- I don't know what else a player could ask for,'' Morgan told The Enquirer last July before his number-retirement ceremony at Cinergy Field.

5) CHARLIE HUSTLE RAN HIMSELF INTO RECORD BOOKS

In the middle of the 1985 season, when he was chasing Ty Cobb's career hit record of 4,191, Pete Rose named his five favorite all-time hitters: Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Mickey Mantle.

Rose knew he wasn't in those sluggers' class.

But it doesn't matter.

''You still hear the peals of excited laughter when he steps up to the plate,'' New Yorker baseball writer Roger Angell told The Enquirer in 1985. ''He is among the most vivid, pleasing, exemplary players I ever had the pleasure to watch.

''It's not a case of him doing astounding things like Reggie Jackson in the World Series or Willie Mays in his prime. But don't worry about measuring that. What matters is how much fun it was to watch Pete Rose play.''

Fourteen years later, Barry Larkin said much the same thing in a story from spring training.

''I don't think I'd be thinking (about reaching the) Hall of Fame, regardless of if I'm on the last year of my career,'' Larkin said. ''I just go out there and play. What's the criteria? Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame. So, in my opinion, nobody should be there. Because he's the best guy I've ever seen play.''

Nobody has ever known how to play the game better than Rose, in terms of his playing the game correctly, taking the extra base and relishing the competition. It is best thing that can be said about both Rose and Larkin. Born and raised in the birthplace of professional baseball, they exemplify how the game was meant to be played.

6) REDS GREATEST LINEAGE AT ONE POSITION IS SHORTSTOP

The tradition of outstanding Reds shortstops was begun by George Wright with the 1869 Red Stockings, and really picked up steam in the second half of the 20th century.

No single position has a greater heritage on the Reds than shortstop. Roy McMillan, who gets the vote of many old-timers as the best-fielding of any of the Reds shortstops, was voted by the writers as the Most Valuable Player of the 1956 Reds . . . even though that was one of the great slugging teams of all-time. The Reds tied the then major-league record of 221 HR; McMillan hit only three.

But his glovework held the defense together.

McMillan begat Leo Cardenas, who begat Davey Concepcion who begat Barry Larkin as the greatest of them all. In 1995, he was named National League MVP, and in 1996 he became the first shortstop in the 30-30 club (33 home runs, 36 stolen bases).

With two or three more highly productive seasons, Larkin will have a good shot at making the Hall of Fame.

7) FOSTER'S THREE MAMMOTH SEASONS EDGE ERIC DAVIS

It was the most difficult pick of all, even more wrenching than Kluszewski over Perez: the booming thunder of George (Yahtzee) Foster or the lightning speed-and-power combination of Eric Davis?

By an eyelash, we chose Foster, mainly because from 1976-78, he led the league three straight times in RBI (121, 149 and 120, respectively) and twice in HR (52 in 1977, and 40 in 1978).

Davis -- because he never played in more than 135 games in any of eight seasons as a Red (1984-91) -- never led the league in anything.

That said, Davis' 27 HR-80 stolen base combination in 1986, and 37 HR-50 SB in 1987, was more stunning than anything Foster ever put together.

When one factors in Davis' greatness and fearlessness as an outfielder (compared to Foster, who was never more than adequate and fearful in left field -- he rarely ran into the wall to make a catch), one can easily understand the dilemma.

Still, to lead the league five times in two such mega-marquee categories in the course of only three years -- not to mention leading the league in runs scored (124) and slugging percentage (.631) in 1977 -- gives the narrowest edge to Foster.

Maybe if we didn't already have a Hall of Famer in centerfield (Edd Roush), we'd choose Davis over Foster.

Then again, maybe not.

8) ROUSH ONE OF ONLY THREE OR FOUR HOLDOVERS FROM 1969

In the centennial season of professional baseball, the Cincinnati baseball writers picked their Reds' 100th anniversary team: Ernie Lombardi at catcher, Ted Kluszewski at first base, Hughie Critz at second base, Roy McMillan at short, Heinie Groh at third, and an outfield of Frank Robinson, Edd Roush and Pete Rose, with Eppa Rixey as the left-handed pitcher and Bucky Walters as the right-handed pitcher.

Today, of the eight position players, only three, maybe four, would be ''re-elected'' if a similar vote was taken to name an all-century team: Roush, Robby, Rose and maybe Big Klu (unless he were pushed out by Tony Perez).

In that same survey, Roush was voted the ''Greatest Red Ever.'' Rose would probably win such a vote today, but the point was well-made: Roush, the Reds' first Hall of Famer (1962) to play in the 20th century, was revered by Cincinnatians.

''The feeling is mutual,'' Roush told author Donald Honig in The Glory of Their Times.

He was the top National League centerfielder of his era (1913-31). Roush led the league with a .341 average in 1917, his first full season as a Red, and won the batting title again in 1919 with a .321 average.

His fire led the turnaround of the franchise that culminated in the 1919 World Championship, and appropriately, after his trade to the New York Giants following the 1926 season, sent the club into an 11-year funk of losing seasons, including five last-place finishes.

Above all else, Roush was a winner.

9) IT'S EITHER ROBBY OR J.B.

Pete Rose had all those hits and all that hustle, but an objective reading of the record would indicate the greatest Red of all-time is either Johnny Bench or Frank Robinson.

Rose made the Reds go, but, as the great pitcher Sandy Koufax once said, ''When I faced that great Reds lineup (in 1963-65), the guy I worried about was Frank Robinson, not Pete Rose . . . Frank's the guy who could take you out of the ballpark.''

Bench is the answer if the debate is who was the best player at his position in Reds history. But Robinson is the answer if the debate is who was the most productive Reds player for a sustained period, minimum 10 years.

Over those 10 seasons (1956-65), Robinson averaged 101 RBI, 32 HR, 32 doubles, 5 triples, 104 runs scored, 16 stolen bases and a .303 batting average in 150 games. Bench's averages in his best 10-year stretch as a Red (1968-1977) were 103 RBI, 29 HR, 29 doubles, 2 triples, 82 runs, 6 stolen bases and a .270 average in 149 games.

Nobody crowded the plate more than Robinson . . . and regularly bounced back up from a dusting to jack a home run. Nobody went into second base harder to break up a double play.

The trade of Robinson to Baltimore after the 1965 season is regarded as one of the worst in history. In 1966, Robby won the Triple Crown in the American League.

10) THE 'OTHER' STARTING PITCHERS AND THE BULLPEN

One could make make a case, and it wouldn't involve any sort of a stretch, that Jim Maloney was the most dominating pitcher the Reds ever had. No, he didn't make the Hall of Fame as did left-hander Eppa Rixey (1921-33 with the Reds), but in his seven full seasons (1963-69), Maloney's .661 winning percentage (117-60) was 130 points higher than the Reds overall record (.531) during that stretch.

He won two of every three games in which he got decisions.

That is remarkable. And he pitched three no-hitters, two of them at the Reds' home park, Crosley Field, known as a bandbox. By comparison, Rixey's .548 (179-148) was 71 points higher than the Reds overall record (.477) during his time here.

But for the Achilles tendon he tore running out a groundball at Crosley Field on April 16, 1970 -- it basically ended his career at age 30 -- Maloney likely would be in the Hall of Fame. Injuries cost Don Gullett a shot at immortality, too.

In nine seasons (1970-78), the first seven with the Reds and the last two with the New York Yankees, Gullet was 109-50, giving him a winning percentage (.686) that was the third-best ever for pitchers with at least 100 victories. And how good is the Reds' all-century bullpen? Good enough that you'd root for the starting pitcher to get pulled just to see any of the ''relievers'' get in there.

One of the pitchers we wish we had room for? Mario Soto, one of the few reasons to go to the park in the early 1980s. Our ''long men'' are Johnny Vander Meer, the only pitcher in history to throw back-to-back no-hitters, and Jose Rijo, the staff ace of the 1990 World Champions who won Games 1 and 4 of the World Series.

Need a couple of middle-inning workhorses? Clay Carroll and Pedro Borbon, from the Big Red Machine; both had rubber arms. Need a strikeout? Call on Rob Dibble, one of the Nasty Boys from the 1990 World Champions. Topping it all off is Johnny Franco, master of the screwball and as gutty a pitcher as the Reds have ever had. He has the club record for saves (148).

SOURCES: The Cincinnati Reds, by Lee Allen, 1948; The Cincinnati Game, by John Baskin and Lonnie Wheeler, 1988; Crosley Field: The Illustrated History of a Classic Ballpark, by Greg Rhodes and John Erardi, 1995; The Cincinnati Reds Media Guide, 1999, and The Baseball Encyclopedia, 1996. The Reds' all-century team and front office was selected by The Enquirer sports staff.