NJ: Ballpark effects on the Reds

Notes and Judgments

The Reds also experienced an example of this ballpark allure, although thanks to Bob Howsam the Reds played it to their advantage. In 1970 the Reds opened the season at Crosley Field. In fact, they opened the year 70-30. They finished the year with an impressive record, although not as impressive as their .700 start, and lost handily in the World Series. That Reds' team, built of sluggers like Lee May, was not ideal for a speed-friendly Astroturf field. Howsam, realizing this, traded for speedsters like Joe Morgan and slimmed down the outfield to players like Ken Griffey and Dave Concepcion, who could better handle the fast field and take advantage of it on the base paths. Those Reds also accumulated many walks, which were valuable for setting up runners to score. That team was ideally built for its ballpark. And when the Reds returned to prominence in 1990 and 1995 their teams were made up of slim players and not all power hitters who would not experience any benefit from a symmetrical ballpark the way left handed hitters do with the Reds' new park's short right field fence. So when Reds' leadership in late 2006 decided to revamp the power hitting Reds into a team based on fielding and pitching, they failed to take into account that with the features of the new ballpark, the path to success would be strong power hitters and ground ball pitchers. By the time management was done revamping the Reds into a "small ball" team, the Reds' record had dropped to 20 games under .500 halfway through the 2007 season.