"Now batting #8 Joe Morgan......" Back in 1970 when the Cincinnati Reds appeared in their first world series in 9 years they had failed to beat the Baltimore Orioles they lost 4-1 the second baseman at the time was a guy by the name of Tommy Helms who previously was the winner of the 1966 National League Rookie of the Year Award winner later Tommy Manage the Reds in 1989 on an Interm basics he remains the answer of a trivia question who was manager of the Reds after Pete Rose stepped down in 1989. However we're not here to discuss Tommy Helms instead were here to talk about whom the Reds traded when Helms went to Houston Astros on November 29,1971 Joe Morgan. Joe started his career in 1963 with the Houston Colt .45s (Later renamed the Astros in 1965 when they moved into the Astrodome) until after the 1971 season then came the blockbuster trade where Joe went to Cincinnati besides the formentioned Tommy Helms the Astros also acquired Lee May,Jimmy Stewart (Not the actor) meanwhile going to Cincinnati was Jack Billingham,Cesat Geromino, Denis Menke, & Ed Armbrister.
Joe's first season in 1972 with the Reds turned out to be his first post season as well. Unfortunately he only batted .125 going 3 for 24. The following year in 1973 the Reds lost to the Mets in the NLCS 3-2 where Joe batted .100 2 for 20. Joe was a 10x All-Star player & he was voted MVP for the 1972 All-Star Game. 1975 however Joe came into his own that year he won the MVP by a huge margin he would steal 67 bases that year after reaching on base by either a hit or a walk 295 times. He even drove in the winning run in the 1975 World Series of Game 7. In 1976 Joe became the 2nd player in the National League to win back-to-back MVP awards (The first was Ernie Banks 1958 &1959 respectively). Joe played until the 1979 season with the Reds before going back to Houston as a free agent for a second go around with them however this time it was only for a year before he signed a 2-year contract with the San Francisco Giants then he moved on to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1983 being reunited with former Reds teammates Tony Perez & Pete Rose. Joe would have in my opinion won the World Series MVP award had the Phillies beaten the Baltimore Orioles in the 1983 World Series instead the Orioles won the series 4-1. By 1984 Joe played 1 more year for the Oakland A's then he retired after the season.
After retiring from the game Joe became broadcaster of the game many of todays fans would remember his time when he was calling games along with Jon Miller on ESPN. Joe was inducted to Cooperstown in 1990 along with Jim Palmer he as well Palmer were 1st ballot members. In an interview in 2000 someone asked his former manager of the Reds & newly elected Hall of Famer since he was inducted in 2000 Sparky Anderson on his thoughts of Joe Morgan, he replied by saying ".....Joe is best defined as the missing cog of the wheel to help the Reds become the Big Red Machine of the 1970's." So if you want my call if Joe deserves to be in the line-up without a doubt he does so what your take on this classy of a second baseman does he make the line-up or not let me know in the comments below until our next installment where we discuss Jose Cruz Sr. until then as usual I was reminded of another second baseman once saying about signing autographs "If a ballplayer doesn't sign autographs for little kids he is not an American, He's a Communist."
