Tolan served during the
Vietnam War in the
478th Engineer Battalion of the
U.S. Army based at
Fort Thomas, Kentucky. His unit included several of his teammates including
Johnny Bench,
Pete Rose and
Darrel Chaney. Tolan was a reserve outfielder during his years with the Cardinals, with whom he won a
World Series title in . He also played on the
National League champions; however, the Cardinals lost to the
Detroit Tigers in the
World Series in seven games, after leading three games to one. Seeking to boost their offense, the Cardinals traded Tolan and reliever
Wayne Granger to Cincinnati for veteran outfielder
Vada Pinson. Finally given the opportunity to play every day, Tolan blossomed. As Cincinnati's regular center fielder, often batting second behind
Pete Rose and in front of
Alex Johnson in the Reds' lineup, Tolan in
hit .305 and established career highs in
home runs and
runs batted in (21 and 93 respectively). In this, the first year both leagues were split into two divisions, the Reds finished third in the
National League West, four games behind the division-winning
Atlanta Braves. The "Big Red Machine", which also featured future
Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and
Tony Pérez (and would later feature a third,
Joe Morgan), was just beginning to take shape. In , Tolan batted a career high .316 with 16 home runs and 80 RBIs, and led the National League in
stolen bases with 57 (the only time former Cardinal teammate
Lou Brock did not lead the National League in steals between and ) for a Reds team that won the National League West title for their first postseason berth since the
1961 World Series. The Reds swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the
NLCS in three games; in the second game, Tolan scored all three runs in a 3–1 victory, including hitting a fifth-inning home run off starter
Luke Walker. However, the
Baltimore Orioles defeated the Reds in the
World Series in five games. Tolan went 4-for-19 in the Series, including a home run off
Mike Cuellar in Game Two. Tolan missed the season after rupturing his
Achilles tendon playing
basketball, which violated a specific clause in his contract barring him from that activity. He came back in , winning both the
Comeback Player of the Year award and the
Hutch Award after batting .283 with 82 RBI and 42 stolen bases. Tolan became only the second player to win both the Hutch Award and his league's Comeback Player of the Year Award (
Tony Conigliaro was the first) and the first to do so during the same season. His Reds again defeated the Pirates in the
NLCS (this time with the winning run scoring on a
wild pitch by
Bob Moose, after the Reds entered the ninth inning trailing by a run) to win the pennant; however, they were defeated by the
Oakland Athletics in the
World Series in seven games. Two Tolan miscues contributed to the Game 7 loss. In the first inning, Tolan's 3-base error on a misplayed ball hit by
Ángel Mangual led to Oakland's first run. In the sixth, Tolan looked like he had a bead on a double to the base of the center field wall by
Sal Bando but the ball fell for a hit. Tolan said his hamstring tightened which inhibited his ability to make that play. After the 3–2 loss to Oakland, Tolan apologized to his teammates in the locker room. The poor 1972 finish spilled over into the next year for Tolan, as was a disastrous year for him. Tolan's batting average plummeted to .206, he became a malcontent and had several squabbles with Reds management, who were still unhappy with his 1971 basketball injury. Tolan also went
AWOL for two days in August and broke team rules by growing a
beard. On September 27, the team suspended Tolan for the remainder of the season. The Reds won yet another division title but the suspension forced Tolan to miss the
NLCS, which the Reds lost to the
New York Mets. At the end of the season the Reds traded Tolan to the Padres for pitcher
Clay Kirby. After the trade the
Major League Baseball Players Association filed a
grievance on Tolan's behalf. During the season, in which he batted .266 in 95 games, he learned that he had won his grievance. Tolan demanded that the Reds publicly apologize to him because his name had been
slandered but never got the apology. Tolan was released by the Padres after batting .255 in . He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as a
free agent, and in batted .261 as a part-time outfielder. The Phillies won the
National League East title to earn their first post-season appearance since the
"Whiz Kids" were swept by the
New York Yankees in the
1950 World Series. However, Tolan's former team, the Reds, defeated the Phillies in the
NLCS. Tolan played professionally in
Japan in . He was also a coach for the Padres from –. During the
strike of 1981, Tolan was dispatched to
Walla Walla, Washington, where he was
Tony Gwynn's first hitting coach. Tolan also was
player-manager of the
St. Petersburg Pelicans, a team in the
Senior Professional Baseball Association, in the two years of the league's operation, –. In his major league career, Tolan batted .265 with 86 home runs and 497 runs batted in, in 1,282
games played. ==Personal life==