With a rich history that includes a storied rivalry with the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees, author Tom Van Riper looked beyond traditional history to dive into the 1970s matchups between the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers in “Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue: Baseball’s Greatest Forgotten Rivalry.”
Somehow, it’s as though star-studded rosters with the likes of Dodgers’ Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Don Sutton and Reds’ Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Pete Rose weren’t competing for supremacy during a time when the American League and National League only had East and West divisions.
“These two teams in that era, were such a big deal nationally,” Van Riper said in an exclusive interview with DodgerBlue.com. “When I think back to being a baseball fan as a kid, I think of these teams a lot. They were such a big part of baseball and really the driving force in the ’70s.”
Van Riper acknowledged the term “rivalry” can be interpreted a multitude of ways, which he believes is a factor in Dodgers’ games against the Reds not comparing favorably to those with the Giants or Yankees.
“I realize the Dodgers traditional rival are the Giants, which has a long history both in New York and California. Dodgers versus Reds in [the 1970s] is a little different thing,” Van Riper explained.
“It’s not a rivalry in the traditional sense where you have the geographic factor. And it kind of disappeared all-together in the mid-90s when baseball realigned and the Reds moved into the Central division. But for this period of time, in the ’70s, they were both in the National League West and became real superpowers close to the same time.
“This started before free agency and extended into the early years of free agency, which meant there was not quite as much drastic turnover. You basically had a great National League West rivalry between the same core groups of players. [The rivalry] was really based on how good the teams were, not so much geography or anything else.”
From 1972-77, a Dodgers or Reds player won the NL MVP Award each season, both teams averaged over 90 wins during the decade, and one or the other reached the postseason in nine of the 10 years, including combining for seven trips to the World Series.
At least five players from the Dodgers or Reds were starters in the All-Star Game each season from 1974-1978. On June 13, 1973, Garvey, Davey Lopes, Cey and Bill Russell played together for the first time. They went on to become the longest-lasting infield foursome in MLB history.
The focal point of Van Riper’s book is the 1973 season, with a vivid walk-through of a crucial late-season meeting at Dodger Stadium. The Reds finished 99-63 and 3.5 games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL standings that year.
Cincinnati fell to the New York Mets in five games in NL Championship Series. The Mets were then defeated in the World Series by the Oakland Athletics.
Van Riper spent 10 years at Forbes Magazine where he covered the business aspect of professional sports. He grew up in New York, neither a fan of the Dodgers or Reds, but the Mets, and was influenced to cover the history between Los Angeles and Cincinnati because of the period of sustained success.
“Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue: Baseball’s Greatest Forgotten Rivalry” can be purchased at Amazon, and Van Riper can be followed on Twitter, @RipSays.
