1962 Cincinnati Reds season

1962 Cincinnati Reds
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1890)
Location
Crosley Field (since 1934)
Cincinnati (since 1882)
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

• October 10, 1961: Gus Bell was drafted from the Reds by the New York Mets in the 1961 MLB expansion draft.^[1]
• December 14, 1961: Marshall Bridges was traded by the Reds to the New York Yankees for Jesse Gonder.^[2]
• December 15, 1961: Dave Stenhouse and Bob Schmidt were traded by the Reds to the Washington Senators for Marty Keough and Johnny Klippstein.^[3]

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

• May 7, 1962: Bob Miller and Cliff Cook were traded by the Reds to the New York Mets for Don Zimmer.^[4]

Roster

1962 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers 42 Jim Brosnan 34 Moe Drabowsky 32 Sammy Ellis 44 Bill Henry 38 Dave Hillman 30 Joey Jay 47 Johnny Klippstein 46 Jim Maloney 39 Bob Miller 43 Howie Nunn 41 Joe Nuxhall 31 Jim O'Toole 37 Bob Purkey 40 Dave Sisler 38 John Tsitouris 39 Ted Wills		Catchers  6 Johnny Edwards  9 Hank Foiles  5 Darrell Johnson Infielders 11 Rogelio Álvarez 19 Don Blasingame 16 Leo Cárdenas 18 Gordy Coleman 15 Cliff Cook 12 Gene Freese 14 Tommy Harper 10 Eddie Kasko  8 Don Pavletich 17 Cookie Rojas 14 Don Zimmer		Outfielders 21 Joe Gaines 25 Marty Keough 24 Jerry Lynch 28 Vada Pinson 29 Wally Post 20 Frank Robinson Other batters  7 Jesse Gonder		Manager  1 Fred Hutchinson Coaches 23 Otis Douglas  4 Reggie Otero  2 Dick Sisler  3 Jim Turner 27 Pete Whisenant

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

• 1962 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference