1962 Cincinnati Reds season

1962 Cincinnati Reds
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Bill DeWitt
General manager(s) Bill DeWitt
Manager(s) Fred Hutchinson
Local television WLWT
(Ed Kennedy, Frank McCormick)
Local radio WKRC
(Waite Hoyt, Gene Kelly)
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The 1962 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball the team finished in third place in the National League standings, with a record of 98–64, 3½ games behind the NL Champion San Francisco Giants. The Reds were managed by Fred Hutchinson, and played their home games at Crosley Field.

The Reds entered the season as the defending NL Champions, having won the '61 pennant by four games over the second-place Dodgers. The Reds' lineup returned intact, although sophomore Leo Cardenas was set to replace veteran Eddie Kasko at shortstop, putting the versatile Kasko in a "super-sub" role. That all changed in spring training when slugging third-baseman Gene Freese broke his ankle during an intra-squad game and missed virtually the entire season. The light-hitting Kasko was moved to third base, and played well, but the Reds sorely missed the 26 home runs and 87 RBI that Freese had provided the year before. The lack of Freese's big bat severely hurt the Reds' chances to repeat.

The Dodgers and Giants dominated the National League most of the year, with the Reds a distant third. Aided by two expansion teams (the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets), the top NL teams were winning at a very high rate. By June 6, Giants were 40-16 (.714) and the Dodgers 40-17 (.702). The Reds were playing solid baseball themselves (29-20, .592), but still trailed the Giants by 7 1/2 games and the Dodgers by seven. Cincinnati stayed a relatively distant third for most of the season until a nine-game winning streak Aug. 5-13 drew the Reds to within 6 1/2 games of the Dodgers and four games of the Giants. By Aug. 25, the Reds had crept to within 3 games of the Dodgers and 3 1/2 games of the Giants, thanks to a six-game winning streak. The Giants came to Crosley Field to play a two-game set with the Reds Sept. 12-13, the last time the Giants and Reds would meet. The Reds won both games to pull to within 3 of the Giants with 13 games to go.

The Reds had made up ground on both the Giants and the Dodgers, who had finally started to fade. Los Angeles lost star pitcher Sandy Koufax to a finger injury on July 17 against the Reds. The lefty missed 58 games and approximately 13 to 14 starts. By the time Koufax returned on Sept. 21, Los Angeles was in a tailspin. The Dodgers lost 10 of their last 13 regular season games including their last three games against St. Louis. Koufax was not fully recovered and was ineffective in his three late-season starts, going 0-2 plus a no decision, allowing nine runs in just 6 2/3 innings. The Reds couldn't fully take advantage of LA's struggles. After sweeping the visiting Giants in two games, the Reds went on a crucial nine-game road trip to New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and won just three of nine games, going 1-2 in each city. Meanwhile, the Giants also stumbled. After leaving Cincinnati, the Giants went to Pittsburgh and promptly got swept in a four-game series at Forbes Field, which marked six-straight losses. San Francisco righted the ship and won seven of its last 11 to tie the Dodgers at 101-61. San Francisco beat Los Angeles 2 games to 1 in the best of three playoff series, and went on to face the New York Yankees in the World Series.

The Reds finished with virtually the same winning percentage (.605) as the one (.604) that was good enough to win the NL pennant in 1961. Reds right fielder Frank Robinson followed up his '61 MVP season with another monster year at the plate, slugging 39 home runs (3rd in the NL), 136 RBI (3rd in the NL), and his .342 batting average was just .004 behind the Dodgers' Tommy Davis in a race for the batting crown. Robinson also led the league with 134 runs scored and a 1.045 OPS, while he was second in the Senior Circuit with 208 hits and 380 total bases. Robinson finished fourth in the NL MVP voting behind Maury Wills, Willie Mays and Davis.

Bob Purkey emerged as the Reds' staff ace with a career year, compiling a 23-5 record while pitching 288 innings. Purkey was third in the NL Cy Young Award voting behind the Dodgers' Don Drysdale and San Francisco's Jack Sanford. Purkey also finished eighth in the NL MVP voting.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
San Francisco Giants 103 62 0.624 — 61–21 42–41
Los Angeles Dodgers 102 63 0.618 1 54–29 48–34
Cincinnati Reds 98 64 0.605 3½ 58–23 40–41
Pittsburgh Pirates 93 68 0.578 8 51–30 42–38
Milwaukee Braves 86 76 0.531 15½ 49–32 37–44
St. Louis Cardinals 84 78 0.519 17½ 44–37 40–41
Philadelphia Phillies 81 80 0.503 20 46–34 35–46
Houston Colt .45s 64 96 0.400 36½ 32–48 32–48
Chicago Cubs 59 103 0.364 42½ 32–49 27–54
New York Mets 40 120 0.250 60½ 22–58 18–62

Record vs. opponents

1962 National League Records

Sources:
Team CHC CIN HOU LAD MIL NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago — 4–14 7–11 4–14 8–10 9–9 10–8 4–14 6–12 7–11
Cincinnati 14–4 — 13–5 9–9 13–5 13–5 8–10 13–5 7–11 8–10
Houston 11–7 5–13 — 6–12 7–11 13–3–1 1–17 5–13 7–11 9–9–1
Los Angeles 14–4 9–9 12–6 — 10–8 16–2 14–4 10–8 10–11 7–11
Milwaukee 10–8 5–13 11–7 8–10 — 12–6 11–7 10–8 7–11 12–6
New York 9–9 5–13 3–13–1 2–16 6–12 — 4–14 2–16 4–14 5–13
Philadelphia 8–10 10–8 17–1 4–14 7–11 14–4 — 7–10 5–13 9–9
Pittsburgh 14–4 5–13 13–5 8–10 8–10 16–2 10–7 — 7–11 12–6
San Francisco 12–6 11–7 11–7 11–10 11–7 14–4 13–5 11–7 — 9–9
St. Louis 11–7 10–8 9–9–1 11–7 6–12 13–5 9–9 6–12 9–9 —

Notable transactions

Roster

1962 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Edwards, JohnnyJohnny Edwards 133 452 115 .254 8 50
1B Coleman, GordyGordy Coleman 136 476 132 .277 28 86
2B Blasingame, DonDon Blasingame 141 494 139 .281 2 35
SS Cárdenas, LeoLeo Cárdenas 153 589 173 .294 10 60
3B Kasko, EddieEddie Kasko 134 533 148 .278 4 41
LF Post, WallyWally Post 109 285 75 .263 17 62
SS Pinson, VadaVada Pinson 155 619 181 .292 23 100
SS Robinson, FrankFrank Robinson 162 609 208 .342 39 136

Reserves

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Keough, MartyMarty Keough 111 230 64 .278 7 27
Lynch, JerryJerry Lynch 114 288 81 .281 12 57
Zimmer, DonDon Zimmer 63 192 48 .250 2 16
Foiles, HankHank Foiles 14 131 36 .275 7 25
Rojas, CookieCookie Rojas 97 86 19 .221 0 6

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Purkey, BobBob Purkey 37 288.3 23 5 2.81 141
Jay, JoeyJoey Jay 39 273 21 14 3.76 155
O'Toole, JimJim O'Toole 36 251.7 16 13 3.50 170
Maloney, JimJim Maloney 22 115.3 9 7 3.51 105

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Drabowsky, MoeMoe Drabowsky 23 83 2 6 4.99 56

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Brosnan, JimJim Brosnan 48 4 4 13 3.34 51
Klippstein, JohnnyJohnny Klippstein 40 7 6 4 4.47 67

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA San Diego Padres Pacific Coast League Don Heffner
A Macon Peaches Sally League Dave Bristol
B Rocky Mount Leafs Carolina League Hersh Freeman and Jack Cassini
D Tampa Tarpons Florida State League Johnny Vander Meer and Hersh Freeman
D Geneva Redlegs New York–Penn League Karl Kuehl

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Diego, Macon[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Gus Bell page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Jesse Gonder page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Marty Keough page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Don Zimmer page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

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