Classic Reds

The 50 most historically significant games of baseball’s first all-professional team

Choosing the 50 greatest games is hard to do; ranking them is even harder. Now every Reds fan can relive memories of baseball before and after the Big Red Machine, debate about these choices, or make a list of their own.

Highlighting these moments is a unique way of telling the great story of the Cincinnati Reds. While many fans will know about Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, and Tony Perez, how many will remember names like Bumpus, Bubbles, and Noodles, who each had their moments of glory in a Reds uniform? It’s easy for players and moments to disappear in a history that spans 150 years, but baseball roots run deep in Reds country. Classic Reds keeps those roots strong.

Joe Heffron worked as a local umpire for many years and attended the Bill Kinnamon Umpire School in St. Peters­burg, Florida. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and of the Reds.

Jack Heffron has written about the Reds for Cincinnati magazine, winning two ASJA awards for sportswriting. He has edited numerous books on baseball. He works at a marketing agency in Cincinnati and teaches in the journalism department at the University of Cincinnati. Both Joe and Jack are members of the Society for American Baseball Research.