Johnson had other problems. He was living unmarried with his girlfriend, Susan, and team owner Marge Schott was miffed. She told Johnson he could manage the 1995 team, but no matter what happened, he was finished after the season.
Johnson married Susan and led the Reds to the 1995 playoffs, but Schott wasn’t appeased. Johnson was fired after the ’95 season — but he and Susan lived happily ever after, and Johnson later led the Baltimore Orioles to the wild card in 1996 and the American League East title in 1997, losing to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS.
2 Ron Gant was a star outfielder with the Atlanta Braves and signed the richest contract ever given by the Braves at the time in 1994, but he broke his leg in two places riding an ATV and the Braves let him go. The Reds took a chance and signed him. Gant hit 29 homers, drove in 88 runs and batted .276 for the '95 Reds.
3 The Reds were in Los Angeles, getting ready for Game 1 of the National League Division Series. On the giant Diamondvision screen in left field, a close-up appeared of Seattle pitcher Randy Johnson with his long, stringy hair and his disheveled mustache.
Spotting Johnson, Marge Schott asked, “Who is that guy who looks like a bum off the street?” Told that it was Randy Johnson, one of baseball’s all-time great pitchers, Schott said, “Well, looking like that, he’d never pitch for me.”
4 One of baseball's all-time meltdowns was the performance of outfielder Reggie Sanders in the 1995 postseason. In the NLDS against the Dodgers and the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, Sanders batted 29 times and struck out 19 times.
Undaunted as the whiffs mounted, Sanders continued to flash his ever-present smile that rivaled that belonging to Brandon Phillips. He patted his cheeks with sweet-smelling cologne, and told inquisitive writers, “No big deal. I’ll get ’em next time.”
He eventually did, but not with the Reds. He later played in the World Series with Arizona, San Francisco and St. Louis. He hit 305 homers and stole 304 bases in his career.
5 It wasn't Barry Larkin's best year, but the Reds shortstop was the 1995 National League MVP, hitting .319 with 15 homers, 66 RBIs and 51 stolen bases. He also was an All-Star and won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.
He hit .385 in the three-game sweep of the Dodgers in the NLDS and was the only effective hitter in the NLCS, hitting .389 as the Reds were swept in four games by the Braves.
6 Pete Schourek, a No. 2 draft pick of the New York Mets, was plagued by injuries and tossed on the scrap heap, from where he was rescued by Reds General Manager Jim Bowden.
Manager Davey Johnson called Schourek “The Riverboat Gambler” because nothing fazed him and he showed no signs of distress under any circumstances — plus he had a fondness for casinos. His teammates called him Kramer because he resembled the goofy-looking character on “Seinfeld” and he wore a T-shirt with Kramer’s picture on it under his uniform.
Schourek went 18-7 with a 3.22 ERA in 1995 and was runner-up to Greg Maddux in the Cy Young voting. He gave up only two runs in 141/3 postseason innings (1.26 ERA), but was 0-1 in two starts due to lack of run support.
7 Because the Braves were overloaded with left-handed hitters, the Reds decided to start four left-handed pitchers in the NLCS — Pete Schourek (twice), David Wells and John Smiley. They lost all four.
8 Game 1 set the tone in the '95 NLCS. Behind Schourek, the Reds led 1-0 after eight innings, but the Braves tied it in the ninth on a fielder's choice by Cincinnati native David Justice and won it in the 11th, 2-1. The Reds shot themselves in both feet by hitting into five double plays.
9 The Reds died quietly in Game 4 of the NLCS when four Braves pitchers combined to shut them out, 6-0, with left-hander Steve Avery pitching six shutout innings. An injured Avery later signed with the Reds (1999) and was paid a full year's salary for going 6-7 in 19 starts in the season the Reds missed out on the postseason by losing a wild-card playoff game to the Mets.
10 Thomas Howard, who attended Valley View High School in Germantown, was an outfielder for the '95 Reds. At the same time, Marge Schott's gardener was named Howard. When the Reds tried to trade Howard in 1996, GM Jim Bowden mentioned it to Schott and she said, "Why are you trying to trade my gardener?"
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