1962 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1962 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball the team finished in third place in the National League standings, with a record of 98–64, 3½ games behind the NL Champion San Francisco Giants. The Reds were managed by Fred Hutchinson, and played their home games at Crosley Field.

Contents

• Offseason
• Notable transactions
• Starters by position
• Reserves
• Starting pitchers
• Other pitchers
• Relief pitchers
• Farm system
• References

The Reds entered the season as the defending NL Champions, having won the '61 pennant by four games over the second-place Dodgers. The Reds' lineup returned intact, although sophomore Leo Cardenas was set to replace veteran Eddie Kasko at shortstop, putting the versatile Kasko in a "super-sub" role. That all changed in spring training when slugging third-baseman Gene Freese broke his ankle during an intra-squad game and missed virtually the entire season. The light-hitting Kasko was moved to third base, and played well, but the Reds sorely missed the 26 home runs and 87 RBI that Freese had provided the year before. The lack of Freese's big bat severely hurt the Reds' chances to repeat.

The Dodgers and Giants dominated the National League most of the year, with the Reds a distant third. Aided by two expansion teams (the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets), the top NL teams were winning at a very high rate. By June 6, Giants were 40-16 (.714) and the Dodgers 40-17 (.702). The Reds were playing solid baseball themselves (29-20, .592), but still trailed the Giants by 7 1/2 games and the Dodgers by seven. Cincinnati stayed a relatively distant third for most of the season until a nine-game winning streak Aug. 5-13 drew the Reds to within 6 1/2 games of the Dodgers and four games of the Giants. By Aug. 25, the Reds had crept to within 3 games of the Dodgers and 3 1/2 games of the Giants, thanks to a six-game winning streak. The Giants came to Crosley Field to play a two-game set with the Reds Sept. 12-13, the last time the Giants and Reds would meet. The Reds won both games to pull to within 3 of the Giants with 13 games to go.

The Reds had made up ground on both the Giants and the Dodgers, who had finally started to fade. Los Angeles lost star pitcher Sandy Koufax to a finger injury on July 17 against the Reds. The lefty missed 58 games and approximately 13 to 14 starts. By the time Koufax returned on Sept. 21, Los Angeles was in a tailspin. The Dodgers lost 10 of their last 13 regular season games including their last three games against St. Louis. Koufax was not fully recovered and was ineffective in his three late-season starts, going 0-2 plus a no decision, allowing nine runs in just 6 2/3 innings. The Reds couldn't fully take advantage of LA's struggles. After sweeping the visiting Giants in two games, the Reds went on a crucial nine-game road trip to New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and won just three of nine games, going 1-2 in each city. Meanwhile, the Giants also stumbled. After leaving Cincinnati, the Giants went to Pittsburgh and promptly got swept in a four-game series at Forbes Field, which marked six-straight losses. San Francisco righted the ship and won seven of its last 11 to tie the Dodgers at 101-61. San Francisco beat Los Angeles 2 games to 1 in the best of three playoff series, and went on to face the New York Yankees in the World Series.

The Reds finished with virtually the same winning percentage (.605) as the one (.604) that was good enough to win the NL pennant in 1961. Reds right fielder Frank Robinson followed up his '61 MVP season with another monster year at the plate, slugging 39 home runs (3rd in the NL), 136 RBI (3rd in the NL), and his .342 batting average was just .004 behind the Dodgers' Tommy Davis in a race for the batting crown. Robinson also led the league with 134 runs scored and a 1.045 OPS, while he was second in the Senior Circuit with 208 hits and 380 total bases. Robinson finished fourth in the NL MVP voting behind Maury Wills, Willie Mays and Davis.

Bob Purkey emerged as the Reds' staff ace with a career year, compiling a 23-5 record while pitching 288 innings. Purkey was third in the NL Cy Young Award voting behind the Dodgers' Don Drysdale and San Francisco's Jack Sanford. Purkey also finished eighth in the NL MVP voting.