1999 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1999 Cincinnati Reds season was the 130th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball. During the season the Reds became a surprising contender in the National League Central, winning 96 games and narrowly losing the division to the Houston Astros, ultimately missing the playoffs after losing a tie-breaker game to the New York Mets.[1] As of 2023, the 1999 Reds currently hold the Major League record for the most wins by a team that failed to reach the playoffs in the Wild Card era.

1999 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
DivisionCentral
BallparkCinergy Field
CityCincinnati
Record96–67 (.589)
Divisional place2nd
OwnersMarge Schott, Carl Lindner
General managersJim Bowden
ManagersJack McKeon
TelevisionFox Sports Ohio
(George Grande, Chris Welsh)
RadioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
StatsESPN.com
Baseball Reference
← 1998 Seasons 2000 →

Offseason

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  • November 5, 1998: Melvin Nieves was released by the Cincinnati Reds.[2]
  • November 10, 1998: Bret Boone was traded by the Cincinnati Reds with Mike Remlinger to the Atlanta Braves for Rob Bell, Denny Neagle, and Michael Tucker.[3]
  • November 11, 1998: Paul Konerko was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago White Sox for Mike Cameron.[4]
  • December 21, 1998: Steve Avery was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.[5]
  • February 2, 1999: Mark Sweeney was traded by the San Diego Padres with Greg Vaughn to the Cincinnati Reds for Damian Jackson, Reggie Sanders, and Josh Harris (minors).[6]

Regular season

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Opening Day starters

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Pos Player
CF Mike Cameron
SS Barry Larkin
1B Sean Casey
LF Greg Vaughn
RF Dmitri Young
C Eddie Taubensee
3B Aaron Boone
2B Pokey Reese
P Brett Tomko

Summary

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In the May 19 contest versus the Colorado Rockies, the Reds won by a 24−12 final, tied for the fourth-highest run-scoring output in MLB history. The Reds' Jeffrey Hammonds hit three home runs this game; following the season, Colorado acquired him via trade. Both Hammonds and Sean Casey totaled four hits. Casey was on base seven times with three walks, and hit two home runs and six RBI. The Reds totaled six home runs; Casey added two, and Brian Johnson one. Colorado's Larry Walker and Dante Bichette both had four hits. Bichette also had five RBI, and Vinny Castilla hit a three-run home run.[7]

Season standings

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NL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 97 65 .599 50‍–‍32 47‍–‍33
Cincinnati Reds 96 67 .589 45‍–‍37 51‍–‍30
Pittsburgh Pirates 78 83 .484 18½ 45‍–‍36 33‍–‍47
St. Louis Cardinals 75 86 .466 21½ 38‍–‍42 37‍–‍44
Milwaukee Brewers 74 87 .460 22½ 32‍–‍48 42‍–‍39
Chicago Cubs 67 95 .414 30 34‍–‍47 33‍–‍48

Record vs. opponents

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Source: NL Standings Head-to-Head
Team AZ ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LA MIL MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona 4–5 7–2 1–8 6–7 8–1 5–4 7–6 5–4 6–3 7–2 8–1 5–2 11–2 9–3 4–4 7–8
Atlanta 5–4 2–5 8–1 5–4 9–4 6–1 5–4 5–2 9–4 9–3 8–5 6–3 5–4 4–5 8–1 9–9
Chicago 2–7 5–2 5–8 4–5 6–3 3–9 2–7 6–6 2–5 3–6 2–7 7–6 6–3 1–7 7–5 6–9
Cincinnati 8–1 1–8 8–5 7–2 6–1 9–4 4–3 6–6 4–3 5–5 6–3 7–6 6–3 4–5 8–4 7–8
Colorado 7–6 4–5 5–4 2–7 5–4 2–6 8–5 6–3 6–3 4–5 5–4 2–7 4–9 4–9 4–5 4–8
Florida 1–8 4–9 3–6 1–6 4–5 2–7 7–2 5–4 8–4 3–10 2–11 3–4 3–6 4–5 3–4 11–7
Houston 4–5 1–6 9–3 4–9 6–2 7–2 6–3 8–5 7–2 4–5 6–1 5–7 8–1 5–4 5–7 12–3
Los Angeles 6–7 4–5 7–2 3–4 5–8 2–7 3–6 7–2 5–4 4–4 6–3 3–6 3–9 8–5 3–6 8–7
Milwaukee 4–5 2–5 6–6 6–6 3–6 4–5 5–8 2–7 5–4 2–5 5–4 8–4 3–5 4–5 7–6 8–6
Montreal 3–6 4–9 5–2 3–4 3–6 4–8 2–7 4–5 4–5 5–8 6–6 3–6 5–3 4–5 5–4 8–10
New York 2–7 3–9 6–3 5–5 5–4 10–3 5–4 4–4 5–2 8–5 6–6 7–2 7–2 7–2 5–2 12–6
Philadelphia 1–8 5–8 7–2 3–6 4–5 11–2 1–6 3–6 4–5 6–6 6–6 3–4 6–3 2–6 4–5 11–7
Pittsburgh 2–5 3–6 6–7 6–7 7–2 4–3 7–5 6–3 4–8 6–3 2–7 4–3 3–6 4–5 7–5 7–8
San Diego 2–11 4–5 3–6 3–6 9–4 6–3 1–8 9–3 5–3 3–5 2–7 3–6 6–3 5–7 2–7 11–4
San Francisco 3–9 5–4 7–1 5–4 9–4 5–4 4–5 5–8 5–4 5–4 2–7 6–2 5–4 7–5 6–3 7–8
St. Louis 4–4 1–8 5–7 4–8 5–4 4–3 7–5 6–3 6–7 4–5 2–5 5–4 5–7 7–2 3–6 7–8


Transactions

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  • June 2, 1999: Ben Broussard was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 2, 1999.[8]
  • August 4, 1999: Jason Bere was released by the Cincinnati Reds.[9]

Roster

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1999 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Eddie Taubensee 126 424 132 .311 21 87
1B Sean Casey 151 594 197 .332 25 99
2B Pokey Reese 149 585 167 .285 10 52
3B Aaron Boone 139 472 132 .280 14 72
SS Barry Larkin 161 583 171 .293 12 75
LF Greg Vaughn 153 550 135 .245 45 118
CF Mike Cameron 146 542 139 .256 21 66
RF Michael Tucker 133 296 75 .253 11 44

Other batters

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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
OF Dmitri Young 127 373 112 .300 14 56
OF Jeffrey Hammonds 123 262 73 .279 17 41
3B Mark Lewis 88 173 44 .254 6 28
C Brian Johnson 45 117 27 .231 5 18
IF Chris Stynes 73 113 27 .239 2 14
1B Hal Morris 80 102 29 .284 0 16
C Jason LaRue 36 90 19 .211 3 10
1B Mark Sweeney 37 31 11 .355 2 7
SS Travis Dawkins 7 7 1 .143 0 0
LF Kerry Robinson 9 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W= Wins; L = Losses; K = Strikeouts; ERA = Earned run average; WHIP = Walks + Hits Per Inning Pitched

Player G GS IP W L K ERA WHIP
Harnisch, Pete 33 33 198.1 16 10 120 3.68 1.24
Tomko, Brett 33 26 172.0 5 7 132 4.78 1.36
Villone, Ron 29 22 142.2 9 7 97 4.23 1.31
Parris, Steve 22 21 128.2 11 4 86 3.50 1.36
Neagle, Denny 20 19 111.2 9 5 76 4.27 1.20
Avery, Steve 19 19 96.0 6 7 51 5.16 1.59
Guzmán, Juan 12 12 77.1 6 3 60 3.03 1.18

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G GS IP W L ERA SO
Bere, Jason 12 10 43.1 3 0 6.85 28

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Graves, Danny 75 8 7 27 3.08 69
Sullivan, Scott 79 5 4 3 3.01 78
Williamson, Scott 62 12 7 19 2.41 107
Reyes, Dennys 65 2 2 2 3.79 72
White, Gabe 50 1 2 0 4.43 61
Belinda, Stan 29 0 3 1 5.27 40
Greene, Rick 1 0 0 0 4.76 3
Ryan, B.J. 1 0 0 0 4.50 1
Hudek, John 2 0 0 1 27.00 0

Awards and honors

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Legacy

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The 96 wins by the 1999 Cincinnati Reds were the most since the 1976 Big Red Machine who compiled 102 victories en route to their second consecutive World Series title. The Reds would not reach the 90-win plateau again until the 2010 season, when the team won the National League Central title with 91 victories.[11]

The 1999 team is regarded as one of the best teams not to make the playoffs. Since the switch to 162 game season in 1962, the Reds have the sixth-best record, only to not make the playoffs at 96-67.[12]

Notable Records

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The team scored 865 runs, which still stands as the franchise record for runs scored in a season. The team also set franchise highs in most runs batted in (820), most total bases (2,549), and highest slugging percentage (.451)[11]

On May 19, 1999, the Reds set three franchise records when they collected 28 hits, 15 extra base hits, and 55 total bases in a 24–12 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Sean Casey and Jeffrey Hammonds also set individual franchise records with each scoring five runs.[13]

On September 4, 1999, the Reds set a franchise record when they clubbed nine home runs in a 22–3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.[13] Eight different Reds players homered in the game, the only time since 1901 that a team has achieved this.[14]

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians International League Dave Miley
AA Chattanooga Lookouts Southern League Phillip Wellman
A Clinton LumberKings Midwest League Freddie Benavides
A Rockford Reds Midwest League Mike Rojas
Rookie GCL Reds Gulf Coast League Donnie Scott
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League Russ Nixon

[15][page needed]

References

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  1. ^ Kapur, Nick (October 2, 2010). "Teams That Were Almost Great: The 1999 Cincinnati Reds". UmpBump.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2010. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  2. ^ "Melvin Nieves Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  3. ^ Bret Boone Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ^ "Paul Konerko Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  5. ^ Steve Avery Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  6. ^ "Mark Sweeney Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  7. ^ Gould, Andrew (March 17, 2017). "The top 15 highest scoring MLB games in history". Bleacher Report. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  8. ^ Ben Broussard Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  9. ^ "Jason Bere Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  10. ^ "Hutch Award". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Reds Season Records". Archived from the original on April 27, 2007.
  12. ^ "Best baseball teams to not make the playoffs".
  13. ^ a b "Reds Single Game Records". Archived from the original on March 8, 2007.
  14. ^ "Player Batting Game Finder: In the Regular Season, since 1901, requiring Home Runs >= 1, sorted by most instances". Stathead Baseball. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  15. ^ Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles (2007). Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 9781932391176. OCLC 233698065.