1991 Cincinnati Reds season explained

Cincinnati Reds
Season:	1991
League:	National League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Riverfront Stadium
City:	Cincinnati, Ohio
Record:	74–88 (.457)
Divisional Place:	5th
Owners:	Marge Schott
General Managers:	Bob Quinn
Managers:	Lou Piniella
Television:	WLWT, SportsChannel (Marty Brennaman, Gordy Coleman, Steve LaMar)
Radio:	WLW (Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)

The 1991 Cincinnati Reds season had the team defend their World Series championship, but the team would finish with a losing mark, regressing 17 games from the season before. Their winning percentage (.457) set a new record for worst among defending World Series champions, besting the previous mark set by the Chicago White Sox in 1918. This would be a record for seven years.^[1]

Offseason

• January 29, 1990: Skeeter Barnes was signed as a free agent by the Reds.^[2]
• December 5, 1990: Bill Doran was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.^[3]

Regular season

• April 28, 1991: Against the Cubs, relief pitcher Rob Dibble nearly blew a save, allowing two runs on five hits. Clinging to a 4–3 lead in the ninth with the tying run on first, Dibble struck out Ryne Sandberg to finish the game. Despite the win, in frustration he then flung a baseball 400 feet into the center-field seats, inadvertently striking a woman.^[4]
• June 28, 1991: Barry Larkin had six RBIs in a game against the Houston Astros.
• Barry Larkin had a 19-game hitting streak.
• At the beginning of July, the Reds peaked at ten games above .500 (44–34). They were in second place in the NL West, only four games behind the Dodgers, and 3.5 games ahead of third place Atlanta.
• On July 6, the Reds spiraled after a 3-0 loss to the Astros. They would lose ten games in a row from that day to July 19 that dropped them to .500 (44-44). They won the next day and ended July at .500 (49-49)
• August saw the Reds essentially drop from contention. They would teeter around .500 before dropping down below the mark for good on August 31.
• July 23, 1991: In the bottom of the eight inning of a 8–5 loss at the Cubs, Rob Dibble (fresh off a three-game suspension) was ejected for throwing the ball into the back of the leg of baserunner Doug Dascenzo.^[5]

Notable transactions

• June 14, 1991: Reggie Jefferson was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Cleveland Indians for Tim Costo.^[6]
• July 18, 1991: Stan Jefferson was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.

Roster

1991 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches (bench) (hitting/first base) (third base) (bullpen) (pitching)

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		91	270	72	.267	3	31
1B		136	478	152	.318	14	59
2B		111	361	101	.280	6	35
3B		153	582	175	.301	26	88
SS		123	464	140	.302	20	69
LF		138	442	116	.262	4	41
CF		89	285	67	.235	11	33
RF		153	532	136	.256	28	91

Other batters

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
	100	333	86	.258	12	40
	94	269	58	.216	11	41
	85	250	65	.260	11	39
	97	212	47	.222	4	20
	98	169	38	.225	1	4
	53	138	32	.232	6	19
	51	123	23	.187	1	11
	52	89	26	.292	2	6
	24	63	18	.286	0	3
	9	40	8	.200	1	3
	13	19	1	.053	0	0
	10	19	3	.158	0	0
	10	10	1	.100	0	1
	5	7	1	.143	1	1
	3	6	0	.000	0	0

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
	36	230.1	14	14	4.18	115
	30	204.1	15	6	2.51	172
	27	139.2	7	13	5.48	93
	20	99.2	7	7	4.06	50
	5	28.0	1	2	3.86	31

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
	58	132.0	6	13	3.55	108
	39	108.1	3	5	2.91	77
	27	101.1	6	9	4.35	51
	29	85.2	6	4	3.47	40
	16	25.1	0	2	6.04	21

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
	67	3	5	31	3.17	124
	68	5	3	3	3.62	51
	28	0	2	1	5.25	15
	22	1	1	0	3.78	20
	22	0	2	0	6.97	14
	11	0	0	0	1.93	11
	11	0	0	0	2.25	4

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Tom Browning, pitcher
• Rob Dibble, relief pitcher
• Barry Larkin, shortstop
• Lou Piniella, manager

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[7]

References

• 1991 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2014 Red Sox among worst defending champs in MLB history .
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/barnesk01.shtml Skeeter Barnes page at Baseball Reference
3. Web site: Bill Doran Statistics and History . Baseball-Reference.com . August 24, 2012.
4. News: More Dibble devilment. Rob. Parker. The Cincinnati Enquirer. 29. Newspapers.com. April 29, 1991. August 17, 2023.
5. News: Dibble ejected for throwing at runner. Cincinnati Equirer. Rob. Parker. 11. Newspapers.com. July 24, 1991. July 24, 2024.
6. Web site: Reggie Jefferson Statistics and History . Baseball-Reference.com . August 24, 2012.
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007