1962 Cincinnati Reds season

March 2026 November 2013 Cincinnati Reds 1962 National League Crosley Field Cincinnati Bill DeWitt Bill DeWitt Fred Hutchinson WLWT(Ed Kennedy, Frank McCormick) WKRC(Waite Hoyt, Gene Kelly) 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, 3 1 2 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 1961 pennant by 4 games over the second-place Dodgers. The Reds' lineup returned intact, although sophomore Leo Cárdenas 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 as National League champions. 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 7. Cincinnati stayed a relatively distant third for most of the season until a 9-game winning streak August 5–13 drew the Reds to within 6 1 2 games of the Dodgers and to within 4 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 6-game winning streak. 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 before returning in September. The Giants came to Crosley Field to play a 2-game set with the Reds September 12–13, the last time the Giants and Reds would meet. The Reds won both games to pull to within 3 games of the Giants and Dodgers with 13 games to go. With first place within reach, the Reds went on a crucial 9-game road trip to New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but won just 3 of 9 games, going 1–2 in each city. Meanwhile, the Giants also initially stumbled down the stretch. After leaving Cincinnati, the Giants went to Pittsburgh and promptly got swept in a 4-game series at Forbes Field, which marked 6-straight losses. San Francisco righted the ship and won 7 of its last 11 to tie the Dodgers at 101-61 while the Reds were three games back. In a 3-game "playoff" series where the statistics counted for the regular season, San Francisco beat Los Angeles 2 games to 1 to win the right to face the New York Yankees in the 1962 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 288.1 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: Outfielder Gus Bell was drafted from the Reds by the New York Mets in the 1961 MLB expansion draft.Gus Bell page at Baseball Reference December 14, 1961: Pitcher Marshall Bridges was traded by the Reds to the New York Yankees for catcher Jesse Gonder.Jesse Gonder page at Baseball Reference December 15, 1961: Pitcher Dave Stenhouse and catcher Bob Schmidt were traded by the Reds to the Washington Senators for outfielder Marty Keough and pitcher Johnny Klippstein.Marty Keough page at Baseball Reference Regular season Season standings Record vs. opponents CIN Notable transactions May 7, 1962: Bob Miller and Cliff Cook were traded by the Reds to the New York Mets for Don Zimmer.Don Zimmer page at Baseball Reference 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 = 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 Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Johnny Edwards Johnny Edwards (baseball) 133 452 115 .254 8 50 1B Gordy Coleman 136 476 132 .277 28 86 2B Don Blasingame 141 494 139 .281 2 35 SS Leo Cárdenas 153 589 173 .294 10 60 3B Eddie Kasko 134 533 148 .278 4 41 LF Wally Post 109 285 75 .263 17 62 CF Vada Pinson 155 619 181 .292 23 100 RF Frank 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 Jerry Lynch 114 288 81 .281 12 57 Marty Keough 111 230 64 .278 7 27 Don Zimmer 63 192 48 .250 2 16 Hank Foiles 14 131 36 .275 7 25 Cookie Rojas 97 86 19 .221 0 6 Don Pavletich 34 63 14 .222 1 7 Joe Gaines 64 52 12 .231 1 7 Gene Freese 18 42 6 .143 0 1 Rogelio Álvarez 14 28 6 .214 0 2 Tommy Harper 6 23 4 .174 0 1 Cliff Cook 6 5 0 .000 0 0 Darrell Johnson 2 4 0 .000 0 0 Jesse Gonder 4 4 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 Bob Purkey 37 288.1 23 5 2.81 141 Joey Jay 39 273.0 21 14 3.76 155 Jim O'Toole 36 251.2 16 13 3.50 170 Jim Maloney 22 115.1 9 7 3.51 105 Joe Nuxhall 12 66.0 5 0 2.45 57 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 Moe Drabowsky 23 83.0 2 6 4.99 56 Sammy Ellis 8 28.0 2 2 6.75 27 John Tsitouris 4 21.1 1 0 0.84 7 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 Jim Brosnan 48 4 4 13 3.34 51 Johnny Klippstein 40 7 6 4 4.47 67 Bill Henry Bill Henry (baseball, born 1927) 40 4 2 11 4.58 35 Dave Sisler 35 4 3 1 3.92 27 Ted Wills 26 0 2 3 5.31 58 Howie Nunn 6 0 0 0 5.59 4 Bob Miller Bob Miller (baseball, born 1935) 6 0 0 0 21.94 4 Dave Hillman 2 0 0 0 9.82 0 Awards and honors All-Star Game Bob Purkey, Pitcher, Reserve (both games) Frank Robinson, Outfield, Reserve (second game) Farm system Minor League Baseball 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 KuehlLEAGUE CHAMPIONS: San Diego, MaconJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007 References External links 1962 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference Category:Cincinnati Reds seasons Cincinnati Reds season Cincinnati Reds Category:1960s in Cincinnati