Nobody’s been asking for it, but we’re going to give it to you anyway: the best all-time Cincinnati Reds Opening Day lineup ever!
Robert and Brian couldn’t completely agree in their 2nd podcast, which should be live pretty soon, so we’ll give both answers when there were disagreements.
P: Jose Rijo (Robert); Mario Soto (Brian)
C: Johnny Bench (both)
1B: Tony Perez (Robert); Joey Votto (Brian)
2B: Joe Morgan (both)
3B: Pete Rose (Robert); Chris Sabo (Brian)
SS: Barry Larkin (both)
RF: Jay Bruce (Robert); Frank Robinson (Brian)
CF: Eric Davis (Robert); Ken Griffey Jr. (Brian)
LF: Frank Robinson (both)
A few more notes:
- Brian completely snubbed the all-time hit king Pete Rose, because he played so many different positions on Opening Day, while Robert had a hard time placing him and had to snub fan favorite Sabo
- Robert completely snubbed the great Joey Votto for Tony Perez, but he’s open to letting Votto on his all-time team next year
- Brian used human cloning to place Frank Robinson in both left and right field; Robert avoided the issue of cloning and put Jay Bruce in right (though a case could be made for Reggie Sanders)
- While Robert put Eric Davis above The Kid in center field, he and Brian both agree that Ken Griffey Jr. had the sweetest swing ever to grace a baseball field
- Robert picked Rijo as his starting pitcher totally off emotion; Brian used these things called “sta-tis-tics” to make a case for the great Mario Soto.
Who would you include that we didn’t?
Comment here or let us hear you on Twitter @BleedinCincyRed.
