Cincinnati Reds, americká profesionální baseballová franšíza se sídlem v Cincinnati, Ohio. Reds hrají v National League (NL) a byly založeny v roce 1882. Vyhráli pět titulů World Series (1919, 1940, 1975, 1976, 1990) a devět NL vlajek.
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Světové organizace: Fakta nebo fikce?
Organizace Severoatlantické smlouvy začala ve středověku.
Město Cincinnati si klade za cíl hostit první opravdu profesionální baseballový tým, nazvaný Červené punčochy, který začal hrát v roce 1869 a byl neporažený ve svých prvních 81 hrách proti amatérským klubům. Další tým se stejným názvem v Cincinnati byl jedním ze zakládajících členů NL v roce 1876, ale tento tým byl vyloučen z ligy v roce 1880 kvůli nedělním hraním her a umožnění likéru na základě svého parkového parku. Zatímco rok 1882 - rok, kdy se klub Red Stockings, který představoval několik členů zakázané skupiny NL, připojil k vznikající americké asociaci (AA) - oficiálně uznává Major League Baseball jako první rok současné franšízy, většina Cincinnatians přesto považuje Reds za nejstarší franšíza v baseballu a organizace Reds sama zahrnuje tyto dřívější kluby do historie týmů.
Červené punčochy skončily na vrcholu AA v jejich první sezóně a zveřejnily výherní rekordy po většinu svých osmi let v lize. Tým se přestěhoval zpět do NL v roce 1890, ve stejném roce zkrátil přezdívku na „Reds“. Do konce 19. a začátku 20. století Cincinnati postavil řadu průměrných týmů, které do NL až do roku 1919 nikdy nedokončily vyšší než třetí místo. Družstvo 1919 vyhrálo 96 zápasů za outfielderem Eddem Roushem a džbánem Dolfem Luqueem na cestě k prvnímu franšízovému kotvišti World Series. Reds vyhráli World Series pět her na tři přes Chicago White Sox, ale jejich mistrovství bylo pošpiněno, když osm z Chicago hráčů bylo obviněno, že vzali úplatky hodit sérii (viz Black Sox Scandal). Úspěch Cincinnati byl však krátkodobý,a v polovině dvacátých let se tým vrátil na dno NL na dlouhý úsek, včetně čtyř rovných posledních míst od roku 1931 do roku 1934.
In 1938 the Reds’ young star pitcher Johnny Vander Meer became the only player in baseball history to throw no-hitters in consecutive starts. Vander Meer was a part of a nucleus of players that also included future Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi and that led the Reds to NL pennants in 1939 and 1940, as well as a World Series win in the latter season. By the middle of the decade, the Reds again found themselves routinely finishing in the bottom half of the NL.
Fearing association with communism at the height of the Red Scare in the United States, the team officially changed its nickname to “Redlegs” from 1954 to 1959. During this period one of the Reds’ few bright spots was Ted (“Big Klu”) Kluszewski, a power-hitting first baseman who famously cut the sleeves off his uniform to free his huge biceps. In 1956 Cincinnati called up outfielder Frank Robinson from the minor leagues, and he quickly became one of the biggest stars in the game. Robinson led the Reds to a pennant in 1961 (which was followed by a loss to the New York Yankees in the World Series), but in 1965 he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for three players of relatively little consequence in what is considered by many observers to be one of the worst trades in the history of the game.
Baseball in the 1970s was dominated by Cincinnati teams known as the “Big Red Machine,” which had left behind Crosley Field, with its distinctive left field terrace, for a new home, Riverfront Stadium. Boasting a regular lineup that featured three future Hall of Famers (catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, and first baseman Tony Pérez) as well as all-time major league hits leader Pete Rose, the Big Red Machine—under the guidance of manager Sparky Anderson—won five division titles in the first seven years of the decade. The Machine’s first two trips to the World Series ended in disappointment, however, as it lost to Robinson’s Orioles in 1970 and the Oakland Athletics in 1972, which was followed by a surprising loss to the underdog New York Mets in the 1973 NL Championship Series. The years of frustration ended in 1975, when the Reds won a remarkable 108 games and beat the Boston Red Sox for the franchise’s first World Series title in 35 years. While the 1976 Reds won six fewer games than their 1975 counterparts, they led major league baseball in all the major offensive statistical categories and swept both teams they faced in the postseason en route to a second consecutive championship, leading a number of baseball historians to claim that they were the second greatest team ever, after the famed 1927 Yankees.
The Reds closed out the 1970s with two second-place divisional finishes and an NL Championship Series loss in 1979, but they missed out on the postseason in each season of the following decade. The team’s most notable event of the 1980s was the 1989 lifetime ban from baseball of then manager Rose for gambling on the sport.
In 1990 the Reds surprisingly rebounded from their turbulent 1989 by winning their division after having never fallen out of first place for the entire season, the first time the feat had occurred in NL history. Behind first-year manager Lou Piniella, all-star shortstop Barry Larkin, and a motley crew of relief pitchers known as the “Nasty Boys,” the Reds swept Oakland to win the franchise’s fifth World Series.
Cincinnati fielded a few competitive teams through 1999, but the Reds of the first decade of the 21st century finished most of their seasons with losing records. In 2003 the Reds got a new home, the Great American Ball Park.
In 2010 the Reds ended a 15-year play-off drought—and surprised most baseball observers—by winning a divisional title after having placed no higher than third in their division in the previous nine seasons. Cincinnati bested that achievement in 2012 by winning 97 games (the team’s highest win total since the days of the Big Red Machine) and captured another NL Central championship. The Reds were then eliminated in the Division Series, and, the following year, the team won 90 games but lost in a one-game Wild Card play-off. Cincinnati could not continue its unexpected success, and the team returned to the lower echelons of the NL the following season.
