The Machine: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds by Joe Posnanski

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Synopsis

There are memorable teams in baseball—and then there are utterly unforgettable teams like the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. From 1972 to 1976, the franchise known as the Big Red Machine dominated the National League, winning four division crowns, three league pennants, and two World Series titles. But their 1975 season has become the stuff of sports legend.

In The Machine, award-winning sports columnist Joe Posnanski captures all of the passion and tension, drama and glory of this extraordinary team considered to be one of the greatest ever to take the field. Helmed by Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, the lineup for the '75 Reds is a Who's Who of baseball stars: Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster, Cesar Geronimo, and Dave Concepcion. Like a well-oiled engine, the '75 Reds ended the regular season with 108 wins and finished a whopping 20 games ahead of their closest division competitor, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But that remarkable year was not without controversy. Feuds, fights, insults, and run-ins with fans were as much a part of the season as hits, runs, steals, and strikeouts. Capturing this rollicking thrill-ride of a story, Posnanski brings to vivid life the excitement, hope, and high expectations that surrounded the players from the beginning of spring training through the long summer and into a nail-biting World Series, where, in the ninth inning of the seventh game, the Big Red Machine fulfilled its destiny, defeating the Boston Red Sox 4-3.

As enthralling and entertaining as the season and players it captures, The Machine is the story of a team unlike any other in the sport's glorioushistory.

Biography

Joe Posnanski has been a sports columnist at the Kansas City Star since 1996 and is a contributing writer to Sports Illustrated. He has twice been named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors. His previous book, The Soul of Baseball, was the winner of the prestigious 2007 Casey Award for the best baseball book of the year. He has also won the nation's top honors as a feature writer and project writer, and he has been nominated for awards by the Associated Press Sports Editors nineteen times. In 2004, he became the first sportswriter to be nominated in four separate categories. Posnanski and his wife live in Kansas City, Missouri, with their two daughters.