The birth of the Reds and the American Association (1881–1889) The origins of the modern Cincinnati Reds baseball team can be traced back to the expulsion from the National League of an earlier team bearing the same name. In 1876, Cincinnati became one of the charter members of the new
National League (NL), but the club ran afoul of league organizer and longtime president
William Hulbert for selling beer during games and renting out its ballpark on Sundays. Both were important in enticing the city's large
German population to support the team. While Hulbert made clear his distaste for both beer and Sunday baseball at the founding of the league, neither practice was against league rules at the time. On October 6, 1880, however, seven of the eight team owners adopted a pledge to ban both beer and Sunday baseball at the regular league meeting in December. Only Cincinnati president W. H. Kennett refused to sign the pledge, so the other owners preemptively expelled Cincinnati from the league for violating the new rules even though they were not yet in effect. Cincinnati's expulsion incensed
Cincinnati Enquirer sports editor
O. P. Caylor, who made two attempts to form a new league on behalf of the receivers for the now-bankrupt Reds franchise. When these attempts failed, he formed a new independent ball club known as the
Red Stockings in the spring of 1881 and brought the team to St. Louis for a weekend exhibition. The Reds' first game was a 12–3 victory over the St. Louis club. After the 1881 series proved successful, Caylor and former Reds president Justus Thorner received an invitation from Philadelphia businessman Horace Phillips to attend a meeting of several clubs in Pittsburgh, planning to establish a new league to compete with the NL. Upon arriving, however, Caylor and Thorner found that no other owners had accepted the invitation, while even Phillips declined to attend his own meeting. By chance, the duo met former pitcher Al Pratt, who paired them with former
Pittsburgh Alleghenys president H. Denny McKnight. Together, the three hatched a scheme to form a new league by sending a telegram to each of the owners who were invited to attend the meeting stating that he was the only person who did not attend, and that everyone else was enthusiastic about the new venture and eager to attend a second meeting in Cincinnati. The ploy worked, and the
American Association (AA) was officially formed at the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati. The new Reds – with Thorner now serving as president – became a charter member of the AA. Led by the hitting of third baseman
Hick Carpenter, the defense of future
Hall of Fame second baseman
Bid McPhee and the pitching of 40-game-winner
Will White, the Reds won the inaugural AA pennant in 1882. With the establishment of the
Union Association in 1884, Thorner left the club to finance the
Cincinnati Outlaw Reds and managed to acquire the lease on the Reds'
Bank Street Grounds playing field, forcing new president Aaron Stern to relocate three blocks away to the hastily built League Park. The club never placed higher than second or lower than fifth for the rest of its tenure in the American Association.
The National League returns to Cincinnati (1890–1911) The Cincinnati Red Stockings left the American Association on November 14, 1889, and joined the National League along with the
Brooklyn Bridegrooms after a dispute with St. Louis Browns owner
Chris von der Ahe over the selection of a new league president. The National League was happy to accept the teams in part due to the emergence of the new Player's League, an early failed attempt to break the
reserve clause in baseball that threatened both existing leagues. Because the National League decided to expand while the American Association was weakening, the team accepted an invitation to join the National League. After shortening their name to the Reds, the team wandered through the 1890s, signing local stars and aging veterans. During this time, the team never finished above third place (1897) and never closer than games to first (1890). At the start of the 20th century, the Reds had hitting stars
Sam Crawford and
Cy Seymour. Seymour's .377 average in 1905 was the first individual batting crown won by a Red. In 1911,
Bob Bescher stole 81 bases, which is still a team record. Like the previous decade, the 1900s were not kind to the Reds, as much of the decade was spent in the league's
second division.
Redland Field to the Great Depression (1912–1932) led Cincinnati to the 1919 World Series. In 1912, the club opened Redland Field (renamed
Crosley Field in 1934), a new steel-and-concrete ballpark. The Reds had been playing baseball on that same site – the corner of Findlay and Western Avenues on the city's west side — for 28 years in wooden structures that had been occasionally damaged by fires. By the late 1910s, the Reds began to come out of the second division. The 1918 team finished fourth, and new manager
Pat Moran led the Reds to an NL
pennant in 1919, in what the club advertised as its "Golden Anniversary." The 1919 team had hitting stars
Edd Roush and
Heinie Groh, while the pitching staff was led by
Hod Eller and left-hander
Harry "Slim" Sallee. The Reds finished ahead of
John McGraw's
New York Giants and then won the
World Series in eight games over the
Chicago White Sox. By 1920, the
"Black Sox" scandal had brought a taint to the Reds' first championship. After 1926 and well into the 1930s, the Reds were second division dwellers.
Eppa Rixey,
Dolf Luque and
Pete Donohue were pitching stars, but the offense never lived up to the pitching. By 1931, the team was bankrupt, the
Great Depression was in full swing and Redland Field was in a state of disrepair.
Championship baseball and revival (1933–1940) Powel Crosley, Jr., an electronics
magnate who, with his brother
Lewis M. Crosley, produced radios, refrigerators and other household items, bought the Reds out of bankruptcy in 1933 and hired
Larry MacPhail to be the general manager. Crosley had started
WLW radio, the Reds flagship radio broadcaster, and the
Crosley Broadcasting Corporation in Cincinnati, where he was also a prominent civic leader. MacPhail began to develop the Reds'
minor league system and expanded the Reds' fan base. Throughout the rest of the decade, the Reds became a team of "firsts." The now-renamed Crosley Field became the host of the first night game in 1935, which was also the first baseball fireworks night. (The fireworks at the game were shot by Joe Rozzi of Rozzi's Famous Fireworks.)
Johnny Vander Meer became the only pitcher in major league history to throw back-to-back no-hitters in 1938. Thanks to Vander Meer,
Paul Derringer and second baseman/third baseman-turned-
pitcher Bucky Walters, the Reds had a solid pitching staff. The offense came around in the late 1930s. By 1938, the Reds, led by manager
Bill McKechnie, were out of the second division, finishing fourth.
Ernie Lombardi was named the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1938. By 1939, the Reds were National League champions but were swept in the World Series by the
New York Yankees. In 1940, the Reds repeated as NL Champions, and for the first time in 21 years, they captured a world championship, beating the
Detroit Tigers four games to three.
Frank McCormick was the 1940 NL MVP; other position players included
Harry Craft,
Lonny Frey,
Ival Goodman,
Lew Riggs and
Bill Werber.
1941–1969 World War II and age finally caught up with the Reds, as the team finished mostly in the second division throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1944,
Joe Nuxhall (who was later to become part of the radio broadcasting team), at age 15, pitched for the Reds on loan from Wilson Junior High school in Hamilton, Ohio. He became the youngest player ever to appear in a major league game, a record that still stands today. Ewell "The Whip" Blackwell was the main pitching stalwart before arm problems cut short his career.
Ted Kluszewski was the NL home run leader in 1954. The rest of the offense was a collection of over-the-hill players and not-ready-for-prime-time youngsters. (1953) In April 1953, in a
political climate increasingly dominated by
McCarthyism, the Reds announced a preference to be called the "
Redlegs". Saying that the name of the club had been "Red Stockings" and then "Redlegs", The team hoped to avoid any association between the team and the
political connotation of the word "red" to mean
communism, but as the
New York Times reported, "The political significance of the word 'Reds' these days and its effect on the change was not discussed by management". From 1956 to 1960, the club's logo was altered to remove the term "REDS" from the inside of the "
wishbone C" symbol. The team reverted to the name "Reds" for the 1959 season, when McCarthyism ended. The word "REDS" reappeared on the 1961 uniforms, but the point of the "C" was removed. The traditional home uniform logo was reinstated in 1967. In 1956, the Redlegs, led by National League
Rookie of the Year Frank Robinson, hit 221 home runs to tie the NL record. By 1961, Robinson was joined by
Vada Pinson,
Wally Post,
Gordy Coleman and
Gene Freese. Pitchers
Joey Jay,
Jim O'Toole and
Bob Purkey led the staff. The Reds captured the 1961 National League pennant, holding off the
Los Angeles Dodgers and
San Francisco Giants, only to be defeated by the perennially powerful
New York Yankees in the
World Series. The Reds had winning teams during the rest of the 1960s, but did not produce any championships. They won 98 games in 1962, paced by Purkey's 23 wins, but finished third. In 1964, they lost the pennant by one game to the
St. Louis Cardinals after having taken first place when the
Philadelphia Phillies collapsed in September. Their beloved manager
Fred Hutchinson died of cancer just weeks after the end of the 1964 season. The failure of the Reds to win the 1964 pennant led to owner
Bill DeWitt selling off key components of the team in anticipation of relocating the franchise. In response to DeWitt's threatened move, women of Cincinnati banded together to form the
Rosie Reds to urge DeWitt to keep the franchise in Cincinnati. The Rosie Reds are still in existence, and are currently the oldest fan club in Major League Baseball. After the 1965 season, DeWitt executed what is remembered as the most lopsided trade in baseball history, sending former MVP Frank Robinson to the
Baltimore Orioles for pitchers
Milt Pappas and
Jack Baldschun, and outfielder
Dick Simpson. Robinson went on to win the MVP and Triple Crown in the American League in 1966, and led Baltimore to its first-ever World Series title in a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds did not recover from this trade until the rise of the "Big Red Machine" in the 1970s. (pictured in 1969), the Reds' home stadium from 1912 to 1970 Starting in the early 1960s, the Reds' farm system began producing a series of stars, including
Jim Maloney (the Reds' pitching ace of the 1960s),
Pete Rose,
Tony Pérez,
Johnny Bench,
Lee May,
Tommy Helms,
Bernie Carbo,
Hal McRae,
Dave Concepción and
Gary Nolan. The tipping point came in 1967, with the appointment of
Bob Howsam as general manager. That same year, the Reds avoided a move to San Diego when the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County agreed to build a state-of-the-art, downtown stadium on the edge of the Ohio River. The Reds entered into a 30-year lease in exchange for the stadium commitment keeping the franchise in Cincinnati. In a series of strategic moves, Howsam brought in key personnel to complement the homegrown talent. The Reds' final game at Crosley Field, where they had played since 1912, was played on June 24, 1970, with a 5–4 victory over the
San Francisco Giants. Under Howsam's administration starting in the late 1960s, all players coming to the Reds were required to shave and cut their hair for the next three decades in order to present the team as wholesome in an era of turmoil. The rule was controversial, but persisted well into the ownership of
Marge Schott, echoing the
New York Yankees policy that persisted until February 2025. On at least one occasion, in the early 1980s, enforcement of this rule lost the Reds the services of star reliever and Ohio native
Rollie Fingers, who would not shave his trademark handlebar mustache in order to join the team. The rule was not officially rescinded until 1999, when the Reds traded for slugger
Greg Vaughn, who had a goatee. Much like when players would depart the Yankees, players who left the Reds took advantage with their new teams; Pete Rose, for instance, grew his hair out much longer than would be allowed by the Reds once he signed with the
Philadelphia Phillies in 1979. The Reds' rules also included conservative uniforms. In Major League Baseball, a club generally provides most of the equipment and clothing needed for play. However, players are required to supply their gloves and shoes themselves. Many players enter into sponsorship arrangements with shoe manufacturers, but until the mid-1980s, the Reds had a strict rule requiring players to wear only plain black shoes with no prominent logo. Reds players decried what they considered to be the boring color choice, as well as the denial of the opportunity to earn more money through shoe contracts. In 1985, a compromise was struck in which players could paint red marks on their black shoes and were allowed to wear all-red shoes the following year.
The Big Red Machine (1970–1976) (pictured in 1974), the home stadium of the Reds from 1970 to 2002 In , little-known
George "Sparky" Anderson was hired as manager of the Reds, and the team embarked upon a decade of excellence, with a lineup that came to be known as "
the Big Red Machine." Playing at Crosley Field until June 30, 1970, when they moved into
Riverfront Stadium, a new 52,000-seat multi-purpose venue on the shores of the
Ohio River, the Reds began the 1970s with a bang by winning 70 of their first 100 games.
Johnny Bench,
Tony Pérez,
Pete Rose,
Lee May and
Bobby Tolan were the early offensive leaders of this era.
Gary Nolan,
Jim Merritt,
Wayne Simpson and
Jim McGlothlin led a pitching staff that also included veterans
Tony Cloninger and
Clay Carroll, as well as youngsters
Pedro Borbón and
Don Gullett. The Reds breezed through the 1970 season, winning the NL West and capturing the NL pennant by sweeping the
Pittsburgh Pirates in three games. By the time the club got to the
World Series, however, the pitching staff had run out of gas, and the veteran
Baltimore Orioles, led by Hall of Fame third baseman and World Series MVP
Brooks Robinson, beat the Reds in five games. After the disastrous
season – the only year in the decade in which the team finished with a losing record – the Reds reloaded by trading veterans
Jimmy Stewart, May and
Tommy Helms to the
Houston Astros for
Joe Morgan,
César Gerónimo,
Jack Billingham,
Ed Armbrister and
Denis Menke. Meanwhile,
Dave Concepción blossomed at
shortstop. 1971 was also the year a key component of future world championships was acquired, when
George Foster was traded to the Reds from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for shortstop
Frank Duffy. The
Reds won the NL West in baseball's first-ever
strike-shortened season, and defeated the
Pittsburgh Pirates in a
five-game playoff series. They then faced the
Oakland Athletics in the
World Series, where six of the seven games were decided by one run. With powerful slugger
Reggie Jackson sidelined by an injury incurred during Oakland's
playoff series, Ohio native
Gene Tenace got a chance to play in the series, delivering four home runs that tied the World Series record for homers, propelling Oakland to a dramatic seven-game series win. This was one of the few World Series in which no starting pitcher for either side pitched a complete game. The
Reds won a third NL West crown in after a dramatic second-half comeback that saw them make up games on the
Los Angeles Dodgers after the
All-Star break. However, they lost the NL pennant to the
New York Mets in five games in the
NLCS. In Game 1,
Tom Seaver faced Jack Billingham in a classic pitching duel, with all three runs of the 2–1 margin being scored on home runs.
John Milner provided New York's run off Billingham, while Pete Rose tied the game in the seventh inning off Seaver, setting the stage for a dramatic game-ending home run by Johnny Bench in the bottom of the ninth. The New York series provided plenty of controversy surrounding the riotous behavior of
Shea Stadium fans toward Pete Rose when he and
Bud Harrelson scuffled after a hard slide by Rose into Harrelson at second base during the fifth inning of Game 3. A full bench-clearing fight resulted after Harrelson responded to Rose's aggressive move to prevent him from completing a double play by calling him a name. This also led to two more incidents in which play was stopped. The Reds trailed 9–2, and New York's manager
Yogi Berra and legendary outfielder
Willie Mays, at the request of National League president
Warren Giles, appealed to fans in left field to restrain themselves. The next day the series was extended to a fifth game when Rose homered in the 12th inning to tie the series at two games each. The Reds won 98 games in but finished second to the 102-win
Los Angeles Dodgers. The
1974 season started off with much excitement, as the
Atlanta Braves were in town to open the season with the Reds.
Hank Aaron entered opening day with 713 home runs, one shy of tying
Babe Ruth's record of 714. The first pitch Aaron swung at in the 1974 season was the record-tying home run off Jack Billingham. The next day, the Braves benched Aaron, hoping to save him for his record-breaking home run on their season-opening homestand. Then-commissioner
Bowie Kuhn ordered Braves management to play Aaron the next day, where he narrowly missed a historic home run in the fifth inning. Aaron went on to set the record in Atlanta two nights later. The 1974 season also saw the debut of Hall of Fame radio announcer
Marty Brennaman after
Al Michaels left the Reds to broadcast for the
San Francisco Giants. With 1975, the Big Red Machine lineup solidified with the "Great Eight" starting team of Johnny Bench (catcher), Tony Pérez (first base), Joe Morgan (second base), Dave Concepción (shortstop), Pete Rose (third base),
Ken Griffey (right field), César Gerónimo (center field) and George Foster (left field). The starting pitchers included Don Gullett,
Fred Norman, Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham,
Pat Darcy and
Clay Kirby. The bullpen featured
Rawly Eastwick and
Will McEnaney, who combined for 37 saves, and veterans Pedro Borbón and Clay Carroll. On Opening Day, Rose still played in left field and Foster was not a starter, while
John Vukovich, an off-season acquisition, was the starting third baseman. While Vuckovich was a superb fielder, he was a weak hitter. In May, with the team off to a slow start and trailing the Dodgers, Sparky Anderson made a bold move by moving Rose to third base, a position where he had very little experience, and inserting Foster in left field. This was the jolt that the Reds needed to propel them into first place, with Rose proving to be reliable on defense and the addition of Foster to the outfield giving the offense some added punch. During the season, the Reds compiled two notable streaks: 1.) winning 41 out of 50 games in one stretch, and 2.) by going a month without committing any errors on defense. at bat in a game at Dodger Stadium during the 1970s In the
1975 season,
Cincinnati clinched the NL West with 108 victories before sweeping the
Pittsburgh Pirates in three games to win the NL pennant. They went on to face the
Boston Red Sox in the
World Series, splitting the first four games and taking Game 5. After a three-day rain delay, the two teams met in Game 6, considered by many to be the best World Series game ever. The Reds were ahead 6–3 with five outs left when the Red Sox tied the game on former Red
Bernie Carbo's three-run home run, his second pinch-hit, three-run homer in the series. After a few close calls both ways,
Carlton Fisk hit a dramatic 12th-inning home run off the
foul pole in left field to give the Red Sox a 7–6 win and force a decisive game 7. Cincinnati prevailed the next day when Morgan's
RBI single won Game 7 and gave the Reds their first championship in 35 years. The Reds have not lost a World Series game since Carlton Fisk's home run, a span of nine straight wins. saw a return of the same starting eight in the field. The starting rotation was again led by Nolan, Gullett, Billingham and Norman, while the addition of rookies
Pat Zachry and
Santo Alcalá comprised an underrated staff in which four of the six had ERAs below 3.10. Eastwick, Borbon and McEnaney shared closer duties, recording 26, eight and seven saves, respectively. The
Reds won the NL West by 10 games and went undefeated in the postseason, sweeping the
Philadelphia Phillies (winning game 3 in their final at-bat) to return to the
World Series, where they beat the
Yankees at the newly renovated
Yankee Stadium in the first Series held there since 1964. This was only the second-ever sweep of the Yankees in the World Series, and the Reds became the first NL team since the 1921–22
New York Giants to win consecutive World Series championships. The 1975 and 1976 Reds were the last NL team to
repeat as champions until the
Los Angeles Dodgers won back-to-back World Series in 2024 and 2025. Beginning with the 1970 National League pennant, the Reds beat either of the two Pennsylvania-based clubs – the
Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates – to win their pennants (they beat the Pirates in 1970, 1972, 1975 and 1990, and the Phillies in 1976), making the Big Red Machine part of the rivalry between the two Pennsylvania teams. In 1979, Pete Rose added further fuel to the Big Red Machine, being part of the rivalry when he signed with the Phillies and helped them win their first World Series in .
The Machine dismantled (1977–1989) The late 1970s brought turmoil and change to the Reds. Popular
Tony Pérez was sent to the
Montreal Expos after the 1976 season, breaking up the Big Red Machine's starting lineup. Manager Sparky Anderson and general manager
Bob Howsam later considered this trade to be the biggest mistake of their careers. Starting pitcher
Don Gullett left via free agency and signed with the New York Yankees. In an effort to fill that gap, a trade with the
Oakland Athletics for starting ace
Vida Blue was arranged during the 1977–78 offseason. However, then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn vetoed the trade in order to maintain competitive balance in baseball; some have suggested that the actual reason had more to do with Kuhn's continued feud with Athletics owner Charlie Finley. On June 15, 1977, the Reds acquired pitcher
Tom Seaver from the
New York Mets for Pat Zachry,
Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson and Dan Norman. In other deals that proved to be less successful, the Reds traded Gary Nolan to the
California Angels for Craig Hendrickson; Rawly Eastwick to the
St. Louis Cardinals for
Doug Capilla; and
Mike Caldwell to the
Milwaukee Brewers for Rick O'Keeffe and Garry Pyka, as well as
Rick Auerbach from Texas. The end of the Big Red Machine era was heralded by the replacement of general manager Bob Howsam with
Dick Wagner. In his last season as a Red, Rose gave baseball a thrill as he challenged
Joe DiMaggio's
56-game hitting streak, tying for the second-longest streak ever at 44 games. The streak came to an end in Atlanta after striking out in his fifth at-bat in the game against
Gene Garber. Rose also earned his 3,000th hit that season, on his way to becoming baseball's all-time hits leader when he rejoined the Reds in the mid-1980s. The year also witnessed the only no-hitter of Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver's career, coming against the
St. Louis Cardinals on June 16, 1978. slugged 52 home runs in 1977, earning the
NL MVP award. After the
1978 season and two straight second-place finishes, Wagner fired manager Anderson in a move that proved to be unpopular. Pete Rose, who had played almost every position for the team except pitcher, shortstop and catcher since 1963, signed with Philadelphia as a free agent. By , the starters were Bench (catcher),
Dan Driessen (first base), Morgan (second base), Concepción (shortstop) and
Ray Knight (third base), with Griffey, Foster and Geronimo again in the outfield. The pitching staff had experienced a complete turnover since 1976, except for Fred Norman. In addition to ace starter Tom Seaver, the remaining starters were
Mike LaCoss,
Bill Bonham and
Paul Moskau. In the bullpen, only Borbon had remained.
Dave Tomlin and
Mario Soto worked middle relief, with
Tom Hume and
Doug Bair closing. The
Reds won the 1979 NL West behind the pitching of Seaver, but were dispatched in the
NL playoffs by the
Pittsburgh Pirates. Game 2 featured a controversial play in which a ball hit by Pittsburgh's
Phil Garner was caught by Reds outfielder
Dave Collins but was ruled a trap, setting the Pirates up to take a 2–1 lead. The Pirates swept the series 3 games to 0 and went on to win the
World Series against the
Baltimore Orioles. The
1981 team fielded a strong lineup, with only Concepción, Foster and Griffey retaining their spots from the 1975–76 heyday. After Johnny Bench was able to play only a few games as catcher each year after 1980 due to ongoing injuries,
Joe Nolan took over as starting catcher. Driessen and Bench shared first base, and Knight starred at third. Morgan and Geronimo had been replaced at second base and center field by
Ron Oester and Dave Collins, respectively. Mario Soto posted a banner year starting on the mound, only surpassed by the outstanding performance of Seaver's Cy Young runner-up season. La Coss,
Bruce Berenyi and
Frank Pastore rounded out the starting rotation. Hume again led the bullpen as closer, joined by Bair and
Joe Price. In , the Reds had the best overall record in baseball, but finished second in the division in both of the half-seasons that resulted from a mid-season players'
strike, and missed the playoffs. To commemorate this, a team photo was taken, accompanied by a banner that read "Baseball's Best Record 1981." By , the
Reds were a shell of the original Red Machine, having lost 101 games that year. Johnny Bench, after an unsuccessful transition to third base, retired a year later. After the heartbreak of 1981, general manager Dick Wagner pursued the strategy of ridding the team of veterans, including third baseman Knight and the entire starting outfield of Griffey, Foster and Collins. Bench, after being able to catch only seven games in 1981, was moved from platooning at first base to be the starting third baseman;
Alex Treviño became the regular starting catcher. The outfield was staffed with
Paul Householder,
César Cedeño and future
Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates manager
Clint Hurdle on Opening Day. Hurdle was an immediate bust, and rookie
Eddie Milner took his place in the starting outfield early in the year. The highly touted Householder struggled throughout the year despite extensive playing time. Cedeno, while providing steady veteran play, was a disappointment, unable to recapture his glory days with the
Houston Astros. The starting rotation featured the emergence of a dominant Mario Soto and featured strong years by Pastore and Bruce Berenyi, but Seaver was injured all year, and their efforts were wasted without a strong offensive lineup. Tom Hume still led the bullpen along with Joe Price, but the colorful
Brad "The Animal" Lesley was unable to consistently excel, and former All-Star
Jim Kern was also a disappointment. Kern was also publicly upset over having to shave off his prominent beard to join the Reds, and helped force the issue of getting traded during mid-season by growing it back. The season also saw the midseason firing of manager
John McNamara, who was replaced as skipper by
Russ Nixon. The Reds fell to the bottom of the Western Division for the next few years. After the 1982 season, Seaver was traded back to the Mets. found
Dann Bilardello behind the plate, Bench returning to part-time duty at first base, rookie
Nick Esasky taking over at third base and
Gary Redus taking over from Cedeno. Tom Hume's effectiveness as a closer had diminished, and no other consistent relievers emerged. Dave Concepción was the sole remaining starter from the Big Red Machine era. Wagner's tenure ended in 1983, when Howsam, the architect of the Big Red Machine, was brought back. The popular Howsam began his second term as the Reds' general manager by signing Cincinnati native
Dave Parker as a free agent from Pittsburgh. In , the Reds began to move up, depending on trades and some minor leaguers. In that season, Dave Parker,
Dave Concepción and Tony Pérez were in Cincinnati uniforms. In August of the same year,
Pete Rose was reacquired and hired to be the Reds player-manager. After raising the franchise from the grave, Howsam gave way to the administration of
Bill Bergesch, who attempted to build the team around a core of highly regarded young players in addition to veterans like Parker. However, he was unable to capitalize on an excess of young and highly touted position players including
Kurt Stillwell,
Tracy Jones and
Kal Daniels by trading them for pitching. Despite the emergence of Tom Browning as Rookie of the Year in , when he won 20 games, the rotation was devastated by the early demise of Mario Soto's career to arm injury. Under Bergesch, the Reds finished second four times from 1985 to . Among the highlights, Rose became the all-time hits leader,
Tom Browning threw a
perfect game,
Eric Davis became the first player in baseball history to hit at least 35 home runs and steal 50 bases, and
Chris Sabo was the
1988 National League Rookie of the Year. The Reds also had a bullpen star in
John Franco, who was with the team from 1984 to 1989. Rose once had Concepción pitch late in a game at Dodger Stadium. In 1989, following the release of the
Dowd Report, which accused Rose of betting on baseball games, Rose was banned from baseball by
Commissioner Bart Giamatti, who declared him guilty of "conduct detrimental to baseball."
World championship and the end of an era (1990–2002) In , general manager Bergesch was replaced by
Murray Cook, who initiated a series of deals that would finally bring the Reds back to the championship, starting with acquisitions of
Danny Jackson and
José Rijo. An aging Dave Parker was let go after a revival of his career in Cincinnati following the
Pittsburgh drug trials. Barry Larkin emerged as the starting shortstop over Kurt Stillwell, who, along with reliever
Ted Power, was traded for Jackson. In , Cook was succeeded by
Bob Quinn, who put the final pieces of the championship puzzle together, with the acquisitions of
Hal Morris,
Billy Hatcher and
Randy Myers. in 1990 In , the
Reds, under new manager
Lou Piniella, shocked baseball by leading the NL West from wire-to-wire, making them the only NL team to do so. Winning their first nine games, they started 33–12 and maintained their lead throughout the year. Led by
Chris Sabo,
Barry Larkin,
Eric Davis,
Paul O'Neill and Billy Hatcher on the field, and by José Rijo, Tom Browning and the "Nasty Boys" –
Rob Dibble,
Norm Charlton and Randy Myers – on the mound, the Reds took out the
Pirates in the
NLCS. The Reds swept the heavily favored
Oakland Athletics in four straight and extended a winning streak in the
World Series to nine consecutive games. This Series, however, saw Eric Davis severely bruise a kidney diving for a fly ball in Game 4, and his play was greatly limited the next year. In , Quinn was replaced in the front office by
Jim Bowden. On the field, manager Lou Piniella wanted outfielder Paul O'Neill to be a power hitter to fill the void Eric Davis left when he was traded to the
Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for
Tim Belcher. However, O'Neill only hit .246 with 14 home runs. The Reds returned to winning after a losing season in , but 90 wins was only enough for second place behind the division-winning
Atlanta Braves. Before the season ended, Piniella got into an altercation with reliever Rob Dibble. In the offseason, Paul O'Neill was traded to the
New York Yankees for outfielder
Roberto Kelly, who was a disappointment for the Reds over the next couple of years, while O'Neill led a downtrodden Yankees franchise to a return to glory. Around this time, the Reds would replace their Big Red Machine–era uniforms in favor of a pinstriped uniform with no sleeves. Controversy erupted after the 1992 season when team owner
Marge Schott was reported to have racially and ethnically slurred players and business associates, and in a November interview, praised the early efforts of
Adolf Hitler. As punishment, Major League Baseball's executive council prevented her from exercising day-to-day oversight of the Reds during the 1993 season. Schott did not like Johnson, and she did not approve of Johnson living with his fiancée before they were married. The and seasons continued the trend of big-hitting, poor pitching and poor records. Griffey, Jr. joined the
500 home run club in 2004, but was again hampered by injuries.
Adam Dunn emerged as consistent home run hitter, including a home run against
José Lima. He also broke the major league record for
strikeouts in 2004. Although a number of
free agents were signed before 2005, the Reds were quickly in last place, and manager
Dave Miley was forced out in the
2005 midseason and replaced by
Jerry Narron. Like many other small-market clubs, the Reds dispatched some of their veteran players and began entrusting their future to a young nucleus that included Adam Dunn and
Austin Kearns. played in his hometown of Cincinnati from 2000 to 2008. 2004 saw the opening of the
Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame (HOF), which had been in existence in name only since the 1950s, with player plaques, photos and other memorabilia scattered throughout their front offices. Ownership and management desired a standalone facility where the public could walk through interactive displays, see locker room recreations, watch videos of classic Reds moments and peruse historical items, such as the history of Reds uniforms dating back to the 1920s or a baseball marking every hit
Pete Rose had during his career.
Robert Castellini took over as controlling owner from Lindner in 2006. Castellini promptly fired general manager Dan O'Brien and hired
Wayne Krivsky. The Reds made a run at the playoffs, but ultimately fell short. The
2007 season was again mired in mediocrity. Midway through the season, Jerry Narron was fired as manager and replaced by
Pete Mackanin. The Reds ended up posting a winning record under Mackanin, but finished the season in fifth place in the Central Division. Mackanin was manager in an interim capacity only, and the Reds, seeking a big name to fill the spot, ultimately brought in
Dusty Baker. Early in the
2008 season, Krivsky was fired and replaced by
Walt Jocketty. Although the Reds did not win under Krivsky, he is credited with revamping the farm system and signing young talent that could potentially lead the team to success in the future. The Reds failed to post winning records in both 2008 and 2009. In 2010, with
NL MVP Joey Votto and
Gold Glovers
Brandon Phillips and
Scott Rolen, the Reds posted a 91–71 record and were NL Central champions. The following week, the Reds became only the second team in MLB history to be no-hit in a postseason game when Philadelphia's
Roy Halladay shut down the National League's No. 1 offense in
Game 1 of the NLDS. The Reds eventually lost in a three-game sweep of the
NLDS to Philadelphia. After coming off their surprising 2010 NL Central Division title, the Reds fell short of many expectations for the
2011 season. Multiple injuries and inconsistent starting pitching played a big role in their mid-season collapse, along with a less productive offense as compared to the previous year. The Reds ended the season at 79–83, and won the 2012 NL Central Division Title. On September 28,
Homer Bailey threw a 1–0 no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, marking the first Reds no-hitter since
Tom Browning's perfect game in 1988. Finishing with a 97–65 record, the Reds earned the second seed in the
Division Series and a matchup with the eventual World Series champion, the
San Francisco Giants. After taking a 2–0 lead with road victories at
AT&T Park, they headed home looking to win the series. However, they lost three straight at their home ballpark, becoming the first National League team since the
Chicago Cubs in 1984 to lose a division series after leading 2–0. , first baseman (2007–2023) In the offseason, the team traded outfielder
Drew Stubbs – as part of a three-team deal with the
Arizona Diamondbacks and
Cleveland Indians – to the Indians, and in turn received right fielder
Shin-Soo Choo. On July 2, 2013, Homer Bailey pitched a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants for a 4–0 Reds victory, making him the third pitcher in Reds history with two complete-game no-hitters in their career. Following six consecutive losses to close out the 2013 season, including a loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in the National League wild-card playoff game, the Reds decided to fire Dusty Baker. During his six years as manager, Baker led the Reds to the playoff three times; however, they never advanced beyond the first round. On October 22, 2013, the Reds hired pitching coach
Bryan Price to replace Baker as manager. Under Price, the Reds were led by pitchers
Johnny Cueto and the hard-throwing
Aroldis Chapman. The offense was led by All-Star third baseman
Todd Frazier, Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, but although they had plenty of star power, the Reds never got off to a good start and ended the season in lowly fourth place in the division to go along with a 76–86 record. During the offseason, the Reds traded pitchers
Alfredo Simón to the Tigers and
Mat Latos to the Marlins. In return, they acquired young talents such as
Eugenio Suárez and
Anthony DeSclafani. They also acquired veteran slugger
Marlon Byrd from the Phillies to play left field. The Reds' 2015 season wasn't much better, as they finished with the second-worst record in the league at 64–98, their worst finish since 1982. The Reds were forced to trade star pitchers Johnny Cueto and
Mike Leake to the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants, respectively, receiving minor league pitching prospects for both. Shortly after the season's end, the Reds traded Home Run Derby champion Todd Frazier to the Chicago White Sox and closing pitcher Aroldis Chapman to the New York Yankees. In 2016, the Reds broke the then-record for home runs allowed during a single season, The Reds held this record until the
2019 season when it was broken by the
Baltimore Orioles. The previous record holder was the 1996 Detroit Tigers with 241 home runs yielded to opposing teams. The Reds went 68–94 and again were one of the worst teams in MLB. The Reds traded outfielder
Jay Bruce to the Mets just before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline in exchange for two prospects: infielder
Dilson Herrera and pitcher Max Wotell. During the offseason, the Reds traded Brandon Phillips to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for two minor league pitchers. On September 25, 2020, the Reds earned their first postseason berth since 2013, ultimately earning the seventh seed in the expanded 2020 playoffs. The
2020 season had been shortened to 60 games as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Reds lost their first-round series against the
Atlanta Braves two games to none. The Reds finished the 2021 season with a record of 83–79, good for third in the NL Central. In 2022, the Reds started out the regular season with a ghastly 3–22 record. Their three-game win total in 25 games had not seen since the
2003 Detroit Tigers and was tied for second-worst overall behind the
1988 Baltimore Orioles, who started 2–23 in their first 25 games. They would finish the season with a record of 62–100. The 2023 season found the Reds in contention for a wild card berth up until the final weekend of the season. They eventually fell short of a playoff berth by 2 games with a record of 82–80. The team was led by a group of young players including rookies
Spencer Steer,
Matt McLain and
Elly De La Cruz. De La Cruz caused quite a buzz from the beginning of his mid-season call up and in his 15th career game became the first Red to hit for the cycle since Eric Davis in 1989. At the end of the season, retirement speculation surrounded former MVP Joey Votto. With high hopes of competing in the 2024 season, the Reds started off strong, beginning the season 14–11, winning the season series against the
2023 NLCS runner-up
Philadelphia Phillies 4–3. However, they went 9–18 in the month of May, dropping their chances of making the playoffs. While the Reds went on to play well against contenders, they struggled against teams playing under .500. This ultimately made them fall short, specifically in one run games where they ranked second-to-last in MLB, only in front of the
Chicago White Sox. On September 22, 2024, the Reds fired manager
David Bell with only five games remaining in the season. Bench coach
Freddie Benavides was named interim manager. The Reds also fired co-bench coach and infield coach
Jeff Pickler. On October 4, 2024, the team announced that
Terry Francona would be hired as the team's next manager. On October 8, 2024, the Reds fired hitting coach
Joel McKeithan and his assistants,
Terry Bradshaw and
Tim Lamonte. On October 24, 2024, the Reds announced that former Red and
Cleveland Guardians hitting coach
Chris Valaika would be the team's new director of hitting and MLB hitting coach. The Reds bounced back in 2025. With offseason trades for
Gavin Lux and
Brady Singer, the Reds improved their depth both in the field and at the plate. This turned out to be prudent, as top pitching prospect
Rhett Lowder - slated to be a fixture in the rotation - was sidelined before the season even began. They did not get swept in 2025 until the August 25-27 series at Los Angeles Dodgers and would be swept one more time in the Sept 12-14 series at Athletics. They finished the season 83-79, but by virtue of winning the season series against the New York Mets 4-2, the Reds would make their first postseason appearance since the shortened 2020 season and first 162-game-season postseason appearance since 2013. Unfortunately, the Reds would lose the Wild Card round to the Dodgers in two games. ==Ballparks==