1978 Cincinnati Reds season explained

Cincinnati Reds
Season:	1978
League:	National League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Riverfront Stadium
City:	Cincinnati
Record:	92–69 (.571)
Divisional Place:	2nd
Owners:	Louis Nippert
General Managers:	Bob Howsam, Dick Wagner
Managers:	Sparky Anderson
Television:	WLWT (Ken Coleman, Bill Brown)
Radio:	WLW (Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)

The 1978 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds finished in second place in the National League West with a record of 92-69, 2½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium. Following the season, Anderson was replaced as manager by John McNamara, and Pete Rose left to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies for the 1979 season.

Offseason

October 31, 1977: Woodie Fryman and Bill Caudill were traded by the Reds to the Chicago Cubs for Bill Bonham.^[1]
October 31, 1977: Joe Henderson was purchased from the Reds by the Toronto Blue Jays.^[2]
December 9, 1977: Dave Collins was acquired by the Reds from the Seattle Mariners for Shane Rawley.
February 25, 1978: Dave Revering and cash were traded by the Reds to the Oakland Athletics for Doug Bair.^[3]

Spring training

In honor of Saint Patrick's Day, Reds general manager Dick Wagner had green versions of the Reds' uniforms made. The Reds hosted the New York Yankees at Al Lopez Field on March 17, 1978. This was the first time a major league team wore green trimmed uniforms on March 17, a practice adopted in subsequent years by multiple major league teams.^[4]

Regular season

During the season, Pete Rose tied the National League record with a 44-game hitting streak held by Willie Keeler. The streak began on June 14, and came to an end on August 1.

On June 16, 1978 at Riverfront Stadium, Tom Seaver recorded a 4-0 no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the only no-hitter of his professional career.

Notable transactions

June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft
- Skeeter Barnes was drafted by the Reds in the 16th round. Player signed June 8, 1978.^[5]
- Otis Nixon was drafted by the Reds in the 21st round, but did not sign.^[6]
May 19, 1978: Dale Murray was traded by the Reds to the New York Mets for Ken Henderson.

Pete Rose hitting streak

On May 5, 1978, Rose became the 13th and youngest player in major league history to collect his 3,000th career hit, with a single off Expos pitcher Steve Rogers. Three days later, due to an illness and back spasms, Rose was forced to snap a 678 consecutive games played streak, which was the longest active streak in the majors at the time.^[7]

On June 14 in Cincinnati, Rose singled in the first inning off Cubs pitcher Dave Roberts; Rose would proceed to get a hit in every game he played until August 1, making a run at Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hitting streak, which had stood virtually unchallenged for 37 years. The streak started quietly, but by the time it had reached 30 games, the media took notice and a pool of reporters accompanied Rose and the Reds to every game. On July 19 against the Phillies, Rose was hitless going into the ninth with his team trailing. He ended up walking and the streak appeared over. But the Reds managed to bat through their entire lineup, giving Rose another chance. Facing Ron Reed, Rose laid down a perfect bunt single to extend the streak to 32 games.

He eventually tied Willie Keeler's single season National League record at 44 games; but on August 1, the streak came to an end as Gene Garber of the Braves struck out Rose in the ninth inning. The competitive Rose was sour after the game, blasting Garber and the Braves for treating the situation "like it was the ninth inning of the 7th game of the World Series" and adding that "Phil Niekro would have given me a fastball to hit."^[8]

Game	Date	Pitcher	Team	Singles	Doubles
1	06-14-1978	Dave Roberts	Chicago Cubs	2	0
2	06-16-1978	John Denny	St. Louis Cardinals	2	1
3	06-17-1978	Pete Vukovich	St. Louis Cardinals	2	0
4	06-18-1978	Silvio Martinez	St. Louis Cardinals	1	0
5	06-20-1978	John Montefusco	San Francisco Giants	2	1
6	06-21-1978	Ed Halicki	San Francisco Giants	1	0
7	06-22-1978	Bob Knepper	San Francisco Giants	1	0
8	06-23-1978	Burt Hooton	Los Angeles Dodgers	1	0
9	06-24-1978	Bob Welch	Los Angeles Dodgers	1	0
10	06-25-1978	Tommy John	Los Angeles Dodgers	2	0
11	06-26-1978	Mark Lemongello	Houston Astros	1	0
12	06-27-1978	Joe Niekro	Houston Astros	1	0
13	06-28-1978	Tom Dixon	Houston Astros	1	0
14	06-29-1978	Floyd Bannister	Houston Astros	1	1
15	06-30-1978	Lance Rautzhan	Los Angeles Dodgers	1	0
16	06-30-1978	Bob Welch	Los Angeles Dodgers	3	0
17	07-01-1978	Rick Rhoden	Los Angeles Dodgers	1	1
18	07-02-1978	Doug Rau	Los Angeles Dodgers	1	1
19	07-03-1978	Floyd Bannister	Houston Astros	3	1
20	07-04-1978	J. R. Richard	Houston Astros	1	0
21	07-05-1978	Joe Niekro	Houston Astros	1	0
22	07-07-1978	Vida Blue	San Francisco Giants	3	0
23	07-07-1978	Jim Barr	San Francisco Giants	1	0
24	07-08-1978	John Montefusco	San Francisco Giants	1	0
25	07-09-1978	Ed Halicki	San Francisco Giants	3	0
26	07-13-1978	Jerry Koosman	New York Mets	2	1
27	07-14-1978	Pat Zachry	New York Mets	2	0
28	07-15-1978	Craig Swan	New York Mets	1	0
29	07-16-1978	Paul Siebert	New York Mets	1	1
30	07-17-1978	Stan Bahnsen	Montreal Expos	1	0
31	07-18-1978	Hal Dues	Montreal Expos	2	1
32	07-19-1978	Ron Reed	Philadelphia Phillies	1	0
33	07-20-1978	Jim Kaat	Philadelphia Phillies	1	0
34	07-21-1978	Ross Grimsley	Montreal Expos	1	0
35	07-22-1978	Dan Schatzeder	Montreal Expos	1	0
36	07-22-1978	Steve Rogers	Montreal Expos	2	1
37	07-24-1978	Pat Zachry	New York Mets	1	0
38	07-25-1978	Craig Swan	New York Mets	3	1
39	07-26-1978	Nino Espinosa	New York Mets	1	1
40	07-28-1978	Randy Lerch	Philadelphia Phillies	1	1
41	07-28-1978	Steve Carlton	Philadelphia Phillies	1	0
42	07-29-1978	Jim Lonborg	Philadelphia Phillies	3	0
43	07-30-1978	Larry Christenson	Philadelphia Phillies	2	0
44	07-31-1978	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	1	0

^[9]

Roster

1978 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	120	393	102	.260	23	73
1B	153	524	131	.250	16	70
2B	132	441	104	.236	13	75
3B	159	655	198	.302	7	52
SS	153	565	170	.301	6	67
LF	158	604	170	.281	40	120
CF	122	296	67	.226	5	27
RF	158	614	177	.288	10	63

^[10]

Other batters

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

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
89	157	40	.255	0	11
86	146	39	.267	6	23
64	144	24	.167	3	19
50	113	17	.150	0	11
52	105	25	.238	1	6
102	102	22	.216	0	7
83	65	13	.200	1	4
63	55	18	.327	2	5
13	35	9	.257	1	3
9	19	4	.211	1	2
6	8	3	.375	0	1
4	4	1	.250	0	0
5	3	0	.000	0	0

^[10]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
36	259.2	16	14	2.88	226
31	177.1	11	9	3.70	111
26	145.0	6	4	3.97	88
23	140.1	11	5	3.53	83
16	96.0	4	8	4.50	31

Other pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
42	174.0	8	11	4.14	90
5	18.0	1	0	2.50	13
6	11.0	0	1	9.82	9

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
70	7	6	28	1.97	91
63	9	7	5	4.38	72
62	8	2	4	4.98	35
57	9	1	4	5.78	32
15	1	1	2	4.13	25
3	1	0	0	1.80	2

Farm system

References

1978 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference
Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 2nd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 1997. 978-0-9637189-8-3.

Notes and References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/frymawo01.shtml Woodie Fryman
https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hendejo01.shtml Joe Henderson
https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/reverda01.shtml Dave Revering
Web site: How St. Patrick's became baseball's holiday; Cincy GM Dick Wagner turned the Reds green in '78 . Tom Singer . March 17, 2010 . MLB.com . February 23, 2012.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/barnesk01.shtml Skeeter Barnes
https://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nixonot01.shtml Otis Nixon
News: Illness Benches Rose, Ends Streak. Bob. Hertzel. The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1. Newspapers.com. May 8, 1978. August 23, 2023.
News: Former reliever Gene Garber recalls 19-year career and his role in baseball history . Baseball Digest . Joe . O'Loughlin . 2004.
Web site: Pete Rose Consecutive Games Hitting Streak by Baseball Almanac.
Web site: 1978 Cincinnati Reds Statistics.