1890 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
BallparkLeague Park
CityCincinnati
OwnerAaron S. Stern[1] & Al Johnson
ManagerTom Loftus
← 1889 Seasons 1891 →

The 1890 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fourth in the National League with a record of 77–55, 10½ behind the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. Directly after the season ended, owner Aaron Stern sold the club to Al Johnson.

Regular season

After playing eight seasons in the American Association, the Cincinnati Red Stockings jumped to the National League for the 1890 season, and renamed themselves the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds hired Tom Loftus as their new manager. He last managed the Cleveland Spiders in 1889, leading them to a 61–72 record and a sixth-place finish in the National League.

In the off-season, the Reds acquired Lefty Marr from the Columbus Solons for $2000. Marr had hit .306 with a league high 15 triples for the Solons in 1889. He had also appeared in eight games with the Red Stockings in 1886. The team also purchased the contract of pitcher Frank Foreman from the Baltimore Orioles. Foreman was 23–21 with a 3.52 with the Orioles. Cincinnati also signed two 21-year-olds, catcher Jerry Harrington and pitcher Billy Rhines. Joe Knight, who last appeared in the majors with the Philadelphia Quakers in 1884 as a pitcher, was signed to play the outfield.

John Reilly led the club offensively, hitting .300 with team highs with six home runs and 86 RBI. Bid McPhee had a .256 average with three homers and 39 RBI, as well as team highs with 125 runs and 55 stolen bases. Knight led the club with a .312 average with four homers and 67 RBI in his only season in the majors. Rhines led the pitching staff, as he had a 28–17 record with league best 1.95 ERA.

Season summary

The Reds played their first National League game on April 19, 1890. Despite a home run from Bug Holliday, Cincinnati lost to the Chicago Colts by a 5–4 score. After hovering around the .500 level, as the Reds had a record of 11–11 after twenty-two games, the team went on a 22–2 run to boost their record to 33–13, and take a four-game lead over the second place Brooklyn Bridegrooms. Cincinnati would hold on to their first place lead until going into a slump in which the Reds lost ten of eleven games to fall into fourth place, 5.5 games out of first. By the time the season ended, the Reds had a 77–55 record, finishing in fourth place, 10½ games behind the Bridegrooms.

Season standings

National League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Brooklyn Bridegrooms 86 43 0.667 — 58–16 28–27
Chicago Colts 83 53 0.610 6½ 48–24 35–29
Philadelphia Phillies 78 53 0.595 9 54–21 24–32
Cincinnati Reds 77 55 0.583 10½ 50–23 27–32
Boston Beaneaters 76 57 0.571 12 43–23 33–34
New York Giants 63 68 0.481 24 37–27 26–41
Cleveland Spiders 44 88 0.333 43½ 30–37 14–51
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 23 113 0.169 66½ 14–25 9–88

Record vs. opponents

1890 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHI CIN CLE NYG PHI PIT
Boston — 6–11 8–11 11–8 13–7 11–8–1 11–9 16–3
Brooklyn 11–6 — 11–9 9–7 17–3 10–8 10–8 18–2
Chicago 11–8 9–11 — 12–8–2 13–7 13–6 8–10–1 17–3
Cincinnati 8–11 7–9 8–12–2 — 13–4 14–6 11–9 16–4
Cleveland 7–13 3–17 7–13 4–13 — 6–12–2 5–14–1 12–6–1
New York 8–11–1 8–10 6–13 6–14 12–6–2 — 6–11 17–3–1
Philadelphia 9–11 8–10 10–8–1 9–11 14–5–1 11–6 — 17–2
Pittsburgh 3–16 2–18 3–17 4–16 6–12–1 3–17–1 2–17 —


Roster

1890 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

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 Jerry Harrington 65 236 58 .246 1 23
1B John Reilly 133 553 166 .300 6 86
2B Bid McPhee 132 528 135 .256 3 39
SS Ollie Beard 122 492 132 .268 3 72
3B Arlie Latham 41 164 41 .250 0 15
OF Joe Knight 127 481 150 .312 4 67
OF Lefty Marr 130 527 157 .298 1 73
OF Bug Holliday 131 518 140 .270 4 75

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
Tony Mullane 81 286 79 .276 0 34
Jim Keenan 54 202 28 .139 3 19
Hugh Nicol 50 186 39 .210 0 19
Kid Baldwin 22 72 11 .153 0 10
Billy Clingman 7 27 7 .259 0 5

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
Billy Rhines 46 401.1 28 17 1.95 182
Jesse Duryea 33 274.0 16 12 2.92 108
Tony Mullane 25 209.0 12 10 2.24 91
Frank Foreman 25 198.1 13 10 3.95 57
Lee Viau 13 90.0 7 5 4.50 41
John Dolan 2 18.0 1 1 4.50 9

References

  1. ^ "Reds owners". The Cincinnati Enquirer. November 3, 2005. p. 20. Retrieved September 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.

External links

1890 MLB season by team
Cincinnati Reds
Categories