The Big Red Machine - Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

The Big Red Machine was part of the rivalry between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although the Reds won four pennants in the 1970s, all of them came against both teams (Pirates in 1970, 1972, and 1975, and Phillies in 1976). In 1979, Pete Rose added further fuel in The Big Red Machine being part of the rivalry when he signed with the Phillies and helped them win their first World Series championship in 1980. Ray Knight replaced Pete Rose at third base for Cincinnati in 1979 and the rest of the Reds starting lineup still included six of the great eight: Bench, Morgan, Foster, Concepcion, Griffey and Geronimo. Dan Driessen took over at first base for Tony Perez in 1976. The Big Red Machine had one last great run in 1981 when they finished the strike season with the best record in baseball. Only three of the great eight remained in the starting lineup: Foster, Griffey and Concepcion. Bench had an injury plagued season and was moved from catcher to first base. Tom Seaver had a win-loss record of 14-2 and an ERA of 2.54 while starting only 23 games in the Red's strike-shortened 108-game regular season.