05-02-2017, 10:42 PM
Joe Morgan was two time National League MVP - 1975 and 1976. Here is is a bit more about his career in CIncinnati, which:
" ...included eight consecutive All-Star Game appearances (1972–1979) to go along with his 1966 and 1970 appearances with Houston. Morgan, along with teammates Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, and Dave Concepcion, led the Reds to consecutive championships in the World Series. Morgan drove in the winning run in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, now ranked as one of the greatest World Series of all time. He was the first second baseman in the history of the National League to win the MVP back to back (1975,1976).
A 10 time All-Star, Morgan retired with 2,571 hits and 1,133 RBI’s. While his lifetime average was .271, he hit between .288 and .327 during his peak years with the Reds. Additionally, he drew many walks, resulting in an excellent .392 on-base percentage. He also hit 268 home runs to go with 449 doubles and 96 triples, excellent power for a middle infielder of his era, and was considered by some the finest base stealer of his generation (689 steals at greater than 80% success rate). Besides his prowess at the plate and on the bases, Morgan was an exceptional infielder, winning the Gold Glove Award in consecutive years from 1972 to 1976."
Morgan was a critical piece of the Big Red Machine, and one of my favorite players. In 1978 I was a young fan at Riverfront watching a Reds game and for 9 innings had to endure a "Reds fan" screaming at Morgan, "Monkey! Look at that Monkey! Hey Monkey, come and get a peanut. Hey Monkey, come here, I got a banana for you!" It made me physically sick. I have a lifetime of great memories from watching the Big Red Machine at Riverfront and listening to them on the radio but this has remained a horrible memory.
Luckily I have known for a decade or more - as everyone does - that racism is ancient history. But then they talked all day on ESPN about this similar episode last night in Boston.
WTH? How is racism ancient history everywhere in America but nobody told the people in Boston? Can anyone explain this? I am not enjoying reliving this bad memory from ancient history and seeing it virtually replayed all day on ESPN.
" ...included eight consecutive All-Star Game appearances (1972–1979) to go along with his 1966 and 1970 appearances with Houston. Morgan, along with teammates Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, and Dave Concepcion, led the Reds to consecutive championships in the World Series. Morgan drove in the winning run in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, now ranked as one of the greatest World Series of all time. He was the first second baseman in the history of the National League to win the MVP back to back (1975,1976).
A 10 time All-Star, Morgan retired with 2,571 hits and 1,133 RBI’s. While his lifetime average was .271, he hit between .288 and .327 during his peak years with the Reds. Additionally, he drew many walks, resulting in an excellent .392 on-base percentage. He also hit 268 home runs to go with 449 doubles and 96 triples, excellent power for a middle infielder of his era, and was considered by some the finest base stealer of his generation (689 steals at greater than 80% success rate). Besides his prowess at the plate and on the bases, Morgan was an exceptional infielder, winning the Gold Glove Award in consecutive years from 1972 to 1976."
Morgan was a critical piece of the Big Red Machine, and one of my favorite players. In 1978 I was a young fan at Riverfront watching a Reds game and for 9 innings had to endure a "Reds fan" screaming at Morgan, "Monkey! Look at that Monkey! Hey Monkey, come and get a peanut. Hey Monkey, come here, I got a banana for you!" It made me physically sick. I have a lifetime of great memories from watching the Big Red Machine at Riverfront and listening to them on the radio but this has remained a horrible memory.
Luckily I have known for a decade or more - as everyone does - that racism is ancient history. But then they talked all day on ESPN about this similar episode last night in Boston.
WTH? How is racism ancient history everywhere in America but nobody told the people in Boston? Can anyone explain this? I am not enjoying reliving this bad memory from ancient history and seeing it virtually replayed all day on ESPN.
JOHN ROBERTS: From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly so that you will come to know the value of justice... I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
