1928 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
BallparkRedland Field
CityCincinnati
OwnersC. J. McDiarmid
ManagersJack Hendricks
← 1927 Seasons 1929 →

The 1928 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the National League with a record of 78–74, 16 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Off-season

On March 13, the Reds lost outfielder Rube Bressler, as he was selected by the Brooklyn Robins off waivers.

Regular season

Cincinnati had a very solid start to the season, winning 19 of their first 30 games, and was leading the National League by one game over the second place Chicago Cubs. The Reds continued to play excellent baseball, and following a 20–12 victory over the Boston Braves on June 2, the team had increased their lead for the pennant to 3.5 games with a 32–17 record.

Throughout the remainder of June, the club struggled, winning only seven of their next 23 games, quickly falling to fifth place in the league. At the end of June, Cincinnati had a 39–33 record and was seven games behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals. In July, the Reds won eight of their first nine games to climb back into the pennant race, as they were in second place, cutting the Cardinals lead to 4.5 games. Cincinnati remained hot throughout the month, and by the end of July, the team remained in second place, but they could not close the gap on St. Louis, as they were five games behind.

The Reds struggled to a poor 11–14 record in August, falling back into fifth place by the end of the month, with a record of 70–56, seven games out of first place. The struggles continued into September, as Cincinnati finished the season in fifth place with a 78–74 record, 16 games behind the Cardinals.

The Reds 78 victories represented an increase of three from the previous season, and the club finished over .500 for the 10th time over the past 12 seasons. Attendance improved to 490,490 for the season, an increase of nearly 50,000 from the 1927 season.

Outfielder Ethan Allen led the Reds in batting average, as he hit .305 with a home run and 62 RBI in 129 games. Catcher Val Picinich led the club in home runs, as he hit seven, while batting .302 in 96 games. Outfielder Curt Walker batted .279 with six home runs and a team best 73 RBI and 19 stolen bases. Second baseman Hughie Critz led Cincinnati with 95 runs scored, as he finished the season with a .296 batting average with five home runs and 52 RBI, while adding 18 stolen bases. As a team, the Reds stole an NL high 83 bases.

Eppa Rixey led the Reds pitching staff, as he finished the season with a 19–18 record with a 3.43 ERA in 43 games. Rixey led the Reds with 291.1 innings pitched and 17 complete games. Ray Kolp had the best ERA on the club at 3.13, as he finished the season with a 13–10 record in 44 games. Red Lucas had a solid season, going 13–9 with a 3.39 ERA in 27 games. Dolf Luque led the team with 72 strikeouts, while earning a record of 11–10 with a 3.57 ERA in 33 games.

Season standings

National League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
St. Louis Cardinals 95 59 0.617 — 42–35 53–24
New York Giants 93 61 0.604 2 51–26 42–35
Chicago Cubs 91 63 0.591 4 52–25 39–38
Pittsburgh Pirates 85 67 0.559 9 47–30 38–37
Cincinnati Reds 78 74 0.513 16 44–33 34–41
Brooklyn Robins 77 76 0.503 17½ 41–35 36–41
Boston Braves 50 103 0.327 44½ 25–51 25–52
Philadelphia Phillies 43 109 0.283 51 26–49 17–60

Record vs. opponents

1928 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 7–15 5–17 10–12 6–16 13–9 5–16 4–18
Brooklyn 15–7 — 10–12 10–12–1 9–13–1 15–7 9–12 9–13
Chicago 17–5 12–10 — 13–9 14–8 13–9 11–11 11–11
Cincinnati 12–10 12–10–1 9–13 — 8–14 13–7 12–10 12–10
New York 16–6 13–9–1 8–14 14–8 — 17–5 11–11 14–8
Philadelphia 9–13 7–15 9–13 7–13 5–17 — 4–18 2–20
Pittsburgh 16–5 12–9 11–11 10–12 11–11 18–4 — 7–15
St. Louis 18–4 13–9 11–11 10–12 8–14 20–2 15–7 —


Roster

1928 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

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 Val Picinich 96 324 98 .302 7 35
1B High Pockets Kelly 116 402 119 .296 3 58
2B Hughie Critz 153 641 190 .296 5 52
SS Hod Ford 149 506 122 .241 0 54
3B Chuck Dressen 135 498 145 .291 1 59
OF Curt Walker 123 427 119 .279 6 73
OF Ethan Allen 129 485 148 .305 1 62
OF Billy Zitzmann 101 266 79 .297 3 33

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
Wally Pipp 95 272 77 .283 2 26
Marty Callaghan 81 238 69 .290 0 24
Pid Purdy 70 223 69 .309 0 25
Bubbles Hargrave 65 190 56 .295 0 23
Joe Stripp 42 139 40 .288 1 17
Clyde Sukeforth 33 53 7 .132 0 3
Pinky Pittenger 40 38 9 .237 0 4
Jack White 1 3 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
Eppa Rixey 43 291.1 19 18 3.43 58
Dolf Luque 33 234.1 11 10 3.57 72
Red Lucas 27 167.1 13 9 3.39 35
Pete Donohue 23 150.0 7 11 4.74 37

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
Ray Kolp 44 209.0 13 10 3.19 61
Jakie May 21 79.1 3 5 4.42 39
Carl Mays 14 62.2 4 1 3.88 10
Ken Ash 8 36.0 3 3 6.50 6
Harlan Pyle 2 1.1 0 0 20.25 1

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
Pete Appleton 31 3 4 0 4.68 20
Jim Joe Edwards 18 2 2 2 7.59 11
Jim Beckman 6 0 1 0 5.87 4
Si Johnson 3 0 0 0 4.35 1

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
B Peoria Tractors Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Ernie Krueger

[1]

Notes

  1. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

Categories