1975 Cincinnati Reds

 Not every World Series winning teams are timeless. It's an unfortunate side effect of there being well over 100 champions. Some find a way to stand out and stay relevant in the culture. Those teams are given names like Murderers Row and the Gas House Gang. And of course, there is the Big Red Machine.

The Cincinnati Reds had been enjoying a successful decade as the 70's were hitting the halfway point; they had pennants in 1970 and 1972, and an additional West Division title in 1973, but they hadn't managed to win the World Series yet. The magic had started with Manager Sparky Anderson taking over in 1970, but in '75 they were ready to ramp things up.

The Reds absolutely dominated the league. They set an NL record with 64 wins (1 win short of the MLB record) at home en route to a 108-54 record, running away with the NL West by 20 games over the 2nd place Dodgers. In the NLCS, the East sent the Pittsburgh Pirates in attempt to slow them down, but the Reds bulldozed by in a 3 game sweep to take their 3rd pennant of the decade.

If the Reds had built themselves as an unstoppable behemoth, their opponents in the World Series weren't impressed. The Boston Red Sox had just dispatched the 3x defending champion Oakland Athletics in the ALCS and felt they were riding into destiny as the series began with a 6-0 Boston victory. The Reds responded with a win in Game 2, then took 2 of 3 at home to bring the series back to Boston just 1 win away from the title.

Young fans today who weren't around for the lengthy title drought for the Red Sox will erroneously see the footage of Carlton Fisk's walk off homer in Game 6 and think the Red Sox won the World Series off that, but all it did was force the decisive Game 7 the next night. Some teams will take a gut punch like that and never recover, others will find a way to overcome...and the greats like the Big Red Machine will look for the most dramatic way to etch their names into history.

The Red Sox entered Game 7 confident at home, then took a 3-0 lead early. Into the 6th, Johnny Bench hit into what was going to be an inning ending double play, except Pete Rose was on 1st base, and Charlie Hustle was not going to make things easy. Rose slid hard into Denny Doyle, forcing a bad throw to 1st Base and keeping the inning alive. Tony Perez followed and hit a 2 out home run over the Green Monster, making the score 3-2. The Reds would follow it up the next inning with another run to tie things up.

In the 9th inning, Ken Griffey walked, got sacrificed over, then went to 3rd base on a groundout. With 2 outs and Pete Rose stepping up, the Red Sox decided to intentionally walk the future hit king and instead wanted to face the NL MVP Joe Morgan, who would single in Griffey and give the Reds the 4-3 lead. Will McEneny would handle the Red Sox in the bottom of the 9th 1-2-3 and the Big Red Machine had the first of their back-to-back titles.

Hall of Fame 2nd Baseman Joe Morgan took home the NL MVP award for '75 with his Gold Glove work, a Majors leading 132 Walks and his team high .327 Average and 67 Stolen Bases. He had the game winning RBI in both Games 3 and 7 of the World Series.

Regarded by many as the best Catcher in NL history, Bench was still in elite form, leading the Reds with 28 Home Runs and 110 RBI. The all star would win his 8th of 10 straight Gold Gloves.

Like any all time team, the Reds were not short on Hall of Famers, and Tony Perez was yet another one, rocking perfect defense at 1st Base while securing a trip to the all star game.

Other regulars on the Big Red Machine. Concepcion joined Bench, Morgan and Pete Rose as all star starters in addition to his Gold Glove. Geronimo in the outfield also added a Gold Glove making it that the Reds had half of the best defenders playing the field regularly.

Off the bench for Cincinnati. Armbrister's card showcases the controversy her got into in Game 3 of the World Series. As he dropped down a sacrifice bunt, he found himself tangled up with Carlton Fisk, who airmailed the throw to 2nd Base as a result. No interference was called and the Red Sox were left kicking rocks. If interference was called and Boston ended up winning Game 3, who knows what history would unfold, especially given the way Game 6 could have ended the entire series...

Don Gullett was the go to pitcher for Cincinnati when the playoffs started. He got the win over Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the NLCS, and added a victory in the World Series. He led the team with a 2.42 ERA and co-led with 15 Wins.

Nolan and Billingham were the other 15 game winners for the Reds. Norman also led the staff with 119 Strikeouts and had a win over the Pirates in the playoffs.

The Reds trusted two rookies with Closer duties in '75. Eastwick led the NL with 22 Saves, finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting, picked up the victory in the pennant clinching win over the Pirates, was the winner of 2 games against the Red Sox and picked up the save in Game 5. McEnaney had 15 Saves of his own and was trusted to close the door on the Red Sox in Game 7 to secure the title.

Bullpen and other arms the Reds called upon. Borbon was the guy finishing the pennant in the extra inning clincher over the Pirates.

Rose was his usual unstoppable self in 1975. The all star finished 5th behind Morgan in MVP voting for the regular season, but he was the choice for World Series MVP with his 10 Hits and 2 RBI, and the fact that twice the Red Sox didn't want anything to do with him in crucial spots, setting the table for both of Morgan's game winning RBIs. For the regular season, the all time Hit king led the team with 210 Hits while leading baseball with 112 Runs and 47 Doubles.