‘The Thing’ was the 1990 World Series, the Cincinnati Reds against the Oakland Athletics and it was a startling statement from Piniella, the Reds manager.
The A’s were heavy favorites, odds-on favorites. Maybe they’d win it in four straight. After all, they were led by the heavy-hitting Bash Brothers, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. And their pitching staff was potent, led by Dave Stewart and Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley and Rick Honeycutt.
And who were the Reds? They were a team that began the season 9-0 and 33-10. They led the division wire-to-wire, but struggled late in the season and had to hold off charges by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros before clinching it.
Piniella was adamant, though. He knew his team. He knew the toughness of players like Eric Davis, Chris Sabo, Billy Hatcher, Barry Larkin and Hal Morris. And he knew the pitching staff led by Jose Rijo and Tom Browning and how if the Reds led after six innings The Nasty Boys bullpen of Randy Myers, Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble shut it down completely.
And he had Jimmy Stewart’s scouting report. The Reds knew every move the A’s made, right down to how many times Canseco would step out of the box and how many times McGwire took practice swings.
“We ARE going to win it,” said Piniella.
Nobody was more accurate on a subject than Piniella was on that day. Not only did the Reds win it, they astounded the baseball world by taking down the A’s in four straight.
The message came early, in the bottom of the first in Game One. Davis hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first off Stewart and the Reds cruised behind Jose Rijo, 7-0, in Riverfront Stadium.
Game Two was a series-changer. The A’s jumped out to a 4-2 lead after three innings and sniffed a chance to take the series back to Oakland at one game apiece. It wasn’t about to happen. The Reds charged back and tied in the bottom of the eighth and the game went into extra innings.
In the bottom of the 10th, Reds catcher Joe Oliver drove a game-winning single down the left-field line off A’s closer Eckersley and the Reds won, 5-4, to take a two games to none lead. During the course of those two games, Hatcher banged seven straight hits, a World Series record.
The series moved to Oakland and it was more of the same. The Reds scored seven runs in the third inning and Sabo cracked two home runs as the Reds cruised , 8-3, in Game 3.
In Game 4, Oakland scored a run in the first inning off Rijo and Dave Stewart shut the Reds out for seven innings. Then the Reds quietly scored two runs in the eighth on a ground ball by Glenn Braggs and a sacrifice fly by Hal Morris to take a 2-1 lead.
Rijo shut the A’s down on two hits for eight innings and turned it over to Myers for the ninth inning and the Reds were World Series champions.
McGwire? He hit .214 with no homers and no RBI. Canseco? He hit .083 and his one hit in 12 at bats was a harmless home run. Hatcher hit .750, Sabo hit .563, Larkin hit .353. The Nasty Boys combined for 8 2/3 innings of scoreless relief pitching. But it was Rijo, with two victories, who claimed the MVP trophy.
That night after the Reds won Game 4, owner Marge Schott decided there should be a celebratory party. So the Reds left the splendor of their five-star hotel near Nob Hill in San Francisco and walked down the hill. And there they were, celebrating the 1990 World Series championship with sandwiches in a Carl’s Jr. fast food joint.
And as he ate his cheeseburger, Piniella looked at the writer, smiled broadly and said, “I told you so.”
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