Cincinnati slugger Ted Kluszewski isn’t the name that comes to mind when you think of the 1975 World Series champion Reds. But Big Klu, in his role as hitting coach, was the man behind the key play in that Fall Classic.
Little Joe Morgan‘s little base hit drove in the winning run of Game Seven, in the crucial ninth inning.
“A couple of years ago, I would have struck out on that pitch,” Morgan said, of the slider tossed by reliever Jim Burton. “I was trying to go the other way with it and hit the ball toward the end of the bat. Kluszewski has been working with me, and it paid off.”
With that bloop hit—about as bloopy as any bloop single in the history of baseball—the Reds squeaked past the Red Sox to win a hard-fought series. Many still consider that World Series, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025, as the most thrilling in the history of the annual postseason event.
Morgan’s hit, with a nod to Kluszewski, finally elevated the Big Red Machine to the status of world champions. All these years later, the team stands as one of the greatest in history. Its nickname is arguably the greatest too.
Who were the Big Red Machine?
The “Big Red Machine was a nickname given to the Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s. The first time that the Reds were referred to as the “big red machine” was in July 1969, by Los Angeles Herald-Examiner reporter Bob Hunter. In September of that year, The Sporting News used the term for the first time, in an article by Charley Feeney.
In 1970, under first-year manager Sparky Anderson, Cincinnati surged to a great start. The team won nine of its first 12 games, and had a 22-6 record after an eight-game winning streak in late April, early May. By the end of May, the Reds were up seven games, and by July 12th, the team had a 10-game lead in the NL West. Under Anderson, guided by a young, talented roster, the 1970 Reds won 70 of its first 100 games, setting an NL record. By that time, Cincinnati was regularly being referred to as “The Big Red Machine.” In October, when Cincinnati prepared for the World Series, The Sporting News ran a full-page article with a graphic celebrating the term “Big Red Machine.”
The Reds continued to be called the Big Red Machine throughout the 1970s. The core of the group was catcher Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, first baseman Tony Perez, and second baseman Joe Morgan. Bench, Perez, and Morgan were later elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1975, the Reds won its first World Series title of the Big Red Machine era. They repeated as champions in 1976. As of 2025, they are the last National League team to win back-to-back titles.
The ’75 title came after failures in the World Series in 1970 and 1972. Indeed, the Reds were being talked about as “that team that never wins the big game” after losing their final games in the postseason in 1970, 1972, and 1973. But in 1975, Cincinnati’s mettle was tested, and the team responded to the challenge.
In Game Seven of the 1975 Series, the Reds scored four runs in the last four innings, erasing a 3-0 deficit. The Red Sox hadn’t yet been tagged with the dreaded “Curse” label in ’75, but the loss stung in New England, even as the Reds let loose a collective sigh of relief in the visitors’ clubhouse at Fenway Park.
“I’m happy for this team, and I’m happy for me too,” Anderson beamed in the clubhouse, his silver hair soaked with champagne. Bench was giddy, while Rose and Morgan took turns bear-hugging every teammate they could find. That group, with the always-optimistic Perez, formed the Big Four for the Red Machine. The force of their personalities and leadership overshadowed a talented supporting cast.
The Big Red Machine lineup came to be called “The Great Eight.” It consisted of:
- Rose, 3B
- Ken Griffey, RF
- Morgan, 2B
- Bench, C
- Perez, 1B
- George Foster, LF
- Cesar Geronimo, CF
- Davey Concepcion, SS
When that group, The Great Eight, started for the Reds in 1975-76, the team was a remarkable 64-16. In 1976, the Reds were a perfect 7-0 in the postseason.
The Big Red Machine name continued to be used for Cincinnati into the early 1980s. But when Bench retired after the 1983 season as the greatest catcher in history, it generally faded. By 1990, when the franchise won a World Series with an entirely new cast of players, the name Big Red Machine was no longer attached to the franchise.
But, the 1975 World Series champs, with Hall of Famers Anderson, Bench, Morgan, and Perez, is a great team that will always have an important place in baseball history. Fifty years after that title, the team deserves to be celebrated.
