1984 Cincinnati Reds season

1984 Cincinnati Reds
1984 Cincinnati Reds
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Riverfront Stadium
City	Cincinnati
Record	70–92 (.432)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	Marge Schott
General managers	Bob Howsam, Bill Bergesch
Managers	Vern Rapp, Pete Rose
Television	WLWT, Sports Time ; (Ray Lane, Ken Wilson)
Radio	WLW; (Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
	Seasons
	Seasons

The Cincinnati Reds' 1984 season consisted of the Cincinnati Reds attempting to win the National League West. It marked the return of Bob Howsam as General Manager, after Dick Wagner was fired during the 1983 season. The Reds finished in fifth place that year, as they escaped last place in the NL West, which the team had finished in 1982 and 1983.

Offseason

November 4, 1983: Brad Gulden was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.^[1]
November 12, 1983: Bob Owchinko was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds from the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[2]
November 21, 1983: Steve Christmas was traded by the Reds to the Chicago White Sox for Fran Mullins.^[3]
November 21, 1983: Wayne Krenchicki was purchased by the Reds from the Detroit Tigers.^[4]
December 5, 1983: Fran Mullins was drafted from the Reds by the San Francisco Giants in the rule 5 draft.^[5]
December 6, 1983: Tony Pérez was purchased by the Reds from the Philadelphia Phillies.^[6]
December 7, 1983: Dave Parker was signed as a free agent by the Reds.^[7]

Regular season

Reds pitcher Mario Soto endured two suspensions during the 1984 season for various incidents. In the first incident, on May 27 against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field, third baseman Ron Cey hit what was originally ruled a home run down the left field line. Believing the ball had gone foul, Soto and Reds manager Vern Rapp disputed the call, and during the argument, Soto shoved third base umpire Steve Rippley, who had made the call.

After conferring, the umpires changed their decision and ruled it a foul ball, drawing a protest from the Cubs. However, for shoving Rippley, Soto was ejected, prompting him to charge the field and attack Cubs coach Don Zimmer, which triggered a ten-minute brawl. Four days later, National League president Chub Feeney suspended Mario Soto for five games. This game is also notable because Soto's opponent that day was future Hall of Fame Dennis Eckersley, who would go on to become a record-setting closer years later. "Eck", who was making his Cubs debut after being acquired in a trade with the Boston Red Sox, took the loss that day.^[8]

In the second incident, on June 16, the Reds were playing the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta. Soto threw several brushback pitches at Braves slugger Claudell Washington. Washington tossed his bat in the direction of Soto, appeared to go out to retrieve it, but instead walked toward the mound. Umpire Lanny Harris attempted to restrain Washington. Harris was thrown to the ground. Soto used the distraction to punch Washington. Several of Washington's teammates attempted to hold Washington to the ground. While they were doing that, Soto fired the baseball into the crowd of players, striking Braves coach Joe Pignatano. He was suspended three games for this incident; Washington received a five-game suspension for shoving Lanny Harris.

The Reds drew the two smallest attendances in the history of Riverfront Stadium in 1984. Only 3,921 were on hand to see the Reds play the New York Mets on April 4, which was the record for the smallest crowd until May 31, when they lost to the Braves 7–1 in a makeup game from April, which drew just 2,472. That started a five-game series sweep of the Reds by Atlanta.

Prior to May 31, the Reds were 26-22 and trailed the San Diego Padres by a half-game in the NL West standings. From then until August 16, the Reds went 25-48 and had long left any hopes of winning the division. August 16 was the day the Reds brought Rose back as player-manager, as part of a trade with Montreal, as Rapp was fired.^[9]

Season standings

NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Diego Padres	92	70	0.568	—	48–33	44–37
Atlanta Braves	80	82	0.494	12	38–43	42–39
Houston Astros	80	82	0.494	12	43–38	37–44
Los Angeles Dodgers	79	83	0.488	13	40–41	39–42
Cincinnati Reds	70	92	0.432	22	39–42	31–50
San Francisco Giants	66	96	0.407	26	35–46	31–50

Record vs. opponents

1984 National League record Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	3–9	13–5	12–6	6–12	5–7	4–8	7–5	8–4	7–11	10–8	5–7
Chicago	9–3	—	7–5	6–6	7–5	10–7	12–6	9–9	8–10	6–6	9–3	13–5
Cincinnati	5–13	5–7	—	8–10	7–11	7–5	3–9	5–7	7–5	7–11	12–6	4–8
Houston	6–12	6–6	10–8	—	9–9	7–5	4–8	6–6	6–6	6–12	12–6	8–4
Los Angeles	12–6	5–7	7–11	9–9	—	6–6	3–9	3–9	4–8	10–8	10–8	6–6
Montreal	7–5	7–10	5–7	5–7	6–6	—	7–11	11–7	7–11	7–5	7–5	9–9
New York	8–4	6–12	9–3	8–4	9–3	11–7	—	10–8	12–6	6–6	4–8	7–11
Philadelphia	5-7	9–9	7–5	6–6	9–3	7–11	8–10	—	7–11	7–5	8–4	8–10
Pittsburgh	4–8	10–8	5–7	6–6	8–4	11–7	6–12	11–7	—	4–8	6–6	4–14
San Diego	11–7	6–6	11–7	12–6	8–10	5–7	6–6	5–7	8–4	—	13–5	7–5
San Francisco	8–10	3–9	6–12	6–12	8–10	5–7	8–4	4–8	6–6	5–13	—	7–5
St. Louis	7–5	5–13	8–4	4–8	6–6	9–9	11–7	10–8	14–4	5–7	5–7	—

Notable transactions

March 30, 1984: Dallas Williams was traded by the Reds to the Detroit Tigers for Charlie Nail (minors).^[10]
August 16, 1984: Tom Lawless was traded by the Reds to the Montreal Expos for Pete Rose. Rose was named player-manager, as Vern Rapp was fired.^[11]

Roster

1984 Cincinnati Reds roster

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

9 Vern Rapp
14 Pete Rose

Coaches

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	Brad Gulden	107	292	66	.226	4	33
1B	Dan Driessen	81	218	61	.280	7	28
2B	Ron Oester	150	553	134	.242	3	38
SS	Dave Concepción	154	531	130	.245	4	58
3B	Nick Esasky	113	322	62	.193	10	45
LF	Gary Redus	123	394	100	.254	7	22
CF	Eddie Milner	117	336	78	.232	7	29
RF	Dave Parker	156	607	173	.285	16	94

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
César Cedeño	110	380	105	.276	10	47
Tom Foley	106	277	70	.253	5	27
Duane Walker	83	195	57	.292	10	28
Dann Bilardello	68	182	38	.209	2	10
Wayne Krenchicki	97	181	54	.298	6	22
Eric Davis	57	174	39	.224	10	30
Tony Pérez	71	137	33	.241	2	15
Dave Van Gorder	38	101	23	.228	0	6
Pete Rose	26	96	35	.365	0	11
Tom Lawless	43	80	20	.250	1	2
Skeeter Barnes	32	42	5	.119	1	3
Alan Knicely	10	29	4	.138	0	5
Paul Householder	14	12	1	.083	0	0
Wade Rowdon	4	7	2	.286	0	0
Alex Treviño	6	6	1	.167	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
Mario Soto	33	237.1	18	7	3.53	185
Jeff Russell	33	181.2	6	18	4.26	101
Joe Price	30	171.2	7	13	4.19	129
Jay Tibbs	14	100.2	6	2	2.86	40
Bruce Berenyi	13	51.0	3	7	6.00	53
Tom Browning	3	23.1	1	0	1.54	14

Other pitchers