Cincinnati Reds, ameriška profesionalna baseball franšiza s sedežem v Cincinnatiju, Ohio. Redsi igrajo v državni ligi (NL) in so bili ustanovljeni leta 1882. Osvojili so pet naslovov svetovne serije (1919, 1940, 1975, 1976, 1990) in devet NLP-ov zastavic.
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Svetovne organizacije: dejstvo ali fikcija?
Organizacija Severnoatlantske pogodbe se je začela v srednjem veku.
Mesto Cincinnati trdi, da gosti prvo resnično profesionalno bejzbolsko ekipo, imenovano Rdeče nogavice, ki je začela igrati leta 1869 in je bila neporažena na svojih prvih 81 igrah proti ljubiteljskim klubom. Druga istoimenska ekipa s sedežem v Cincinnatiju je bila leta 1876 ena izmed ustanovnih članov NL, vendar je bila ta ekipa leta 1880 izgnana iz lige, ker je v nedeljo igrala igre in dovolila alkohol na podlagi svojega igrišča. Medtem ko se je 1882 - leto, ko se je rdeči nogavični klub, v katerem je bilo nekaj članov prepovedane ekipe NL, pridružil začetnemu ameriškemu združenju (AA) - je glavni ligaški bejzbol uradno priznal kot prvo leto prve franšize, večina Cincinnatijcev kljub temu meni, da so Reds najstarejše franšiza v bejzbolu, sama organizacija Reds pa te zgodnejše klube vključuje v ekipno zgodovino.
Rdeče nogavice so v prvi sezoni končale na vrhu AA in v večini svojih osmih let v ligi postavile zmagovalne rekorde. Ekipa se je leta 1890 vrnila v NL, kar je še isto leto skrajšala vzdevek "rdeči". Cincinnati je na koncu številnih osrednjih moštev do konca 19. stoletja in začetka 20. leta končal višje kot tretje mesto v NL-ju do leta 1919. Moštvo 1919 je osvojilo 96 iger za napadalca Edda Rousha in vrčka Dolfa Luqueja na poti. do prvega svetovnega priveza franšize. Redsi so v Chicago White Soxu zmagali v petih tekmah svetovne serije do tri, a je njihovo prvenstvo omadeževalo, ko so osem igralcev Chicaga obtožili, da so vzeli podkupnino za metanje serije (glej škandal Black Sox). Cincinnatijev uspeh je bil kratkotrajen,in sredi dvajsetih let prejšnjega stoletja se je ekipa vrnila na dno NL na dolgi raztežaj, vključno s štirimi zadnjimi zadnjimi kraji med letoma 1931 in 1934.
In 1938 the Reds’ young star pitcher Johnny Vander Meer became the only player in baseball history to throw no-hitters in consecutive starts. Vander Meer was a part of a nucleus of players that also included future Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi and that led the Reds to NL pennants in 1939 and 1940, as well as a World Series win in the latter season. By the middle of the decade, the Reds again found themselves routinely finishing in the bottom half of the NL.
Fearing association with communism at the height of the Red Scare in the United States, the team officially changed its nickname to “Redlegs” from 1954 to 1959. During this period one of the Reds’ few bright spots was Ted (“Big Klu”) Kluszewski, a power-hitting first baseman who famously cut the sleeves off his uniform to free his huge biceps. In 1956 Cincinnati called up outfielder Frank Robinson from the minor leagues, and he quickly became one of the biggest stars in the game. Robinson led the Reds to a pennant in 1961 (which was followed by a loss to the New York Yankees in the World Series), but in 1965 he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for three players of relatively little consequence in what is considered by many observers to be one of the worst trades in the history of the game.
Baseball in the 1970s was dominated by Cincinnati teams known as the “Big Red Machine,” which had left behind Crosley Field, with its distinctive left field terrace, for a new home, Riverfront Stadium. Boasting a regular lineup that featured three future Hall of Famers (catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, and first baseman Tony Pérez) as well as all-time major league hits leader Pete Rose, the Big Red Machine—under the guidance of manager Sparky Anderson—won five division titles in the first seven years of the decade. The Machine’s first two trips to the World Series ended in disappointment, however, as it lost to Robinson’s Orioles in 1970 and the Oakland Athletics in 1972, which was followed by a surprising loss to the underdog New York Mets in the 1973 NL Championship Series. The years of frustration ended in 1975, when the Reds won a remarkable 108 games and beat the Boston Red Sox for the franchise’s first World Series title in 35 years. While the 1976 Reds won six fewer games than their 1975 counterparts, they led major league baseball in all the major offensive statistical categories and swept both teams they faced in the postseason en route to a second consecutive championship, leading a number of baseball historians to claim that they were the second greatest team ever, after the famed 1927 Yankees.
The Reds closed out the 1970s with two second-place divisional finishes and an NL Championship Series loss in 1979, but they missed out on the postseason in each season of the following decade. The team’s most notable event of the 1980s was the 1989 lifetime ban from baseball of then manager Rose for gambling on the sport.
In 1990 the Reds surprisingly rebounded from their turbulent 1989 by winning their division after having never fallen out of first place for the entire season, the first time the feat had occurred in NL history. Behind first-year manager Lou Piniella, all-star shortstop Barry Larkin, and a motley crew of relief pitchers known as the “Nasty Boys,” the Reds swept Oakland to win the franchise’s fifth World Series.
Cincinnati fielded a few competitive teams through 1999, but the Reds of the first decade of the 21st century finished most of their seasons with losing records. In 2003 the Reds got a new home, the Great American Ball Park.
In 2010 the Reds ended a 15-year play-off drought—and surprised most baseball observers—by winning a divisional title after having placed no higher than third in their division in the previous nine seasons. Cincinnati bested that achievement in 2012 by winning 97 games (the team’s highest win total since the days of the Big Red Machine) and captured another NL Central championship. The Reds were then eliminated in the Division Series, and, the following year, the team won 90 games but lost in a one-game Wild Card play-off. Cincinnati could not continue its unexpected success, and the team returned to the lower echelons of the NL the following season.
