Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue

Baseball's Greatest Forgotten Rivalry

Tom Van Riper

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Paperback

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English

Rowman and Littlefield
06 February 2024

Sports & outdoor recreation; Baseball

Call it the forgotten rivalry. The Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers may not share geographical boundaries, and today they don’t even play in the same division, but for a period of time in the 1970s Dodgers vs. Reds was the best rivalry in Major League Baseball. They boasted the biggest names of the game—Johnny Bench, Steve Garvey, Pete Rose, Don Sutton, and Ron Cey, to name a few—and appeared in the World Series seven out of nine years.

In Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue: Baseball's Greatest Forgotten Rivalry, Tom Van Riper provides a fresh look at these two powerhouse teams and the circumstances that made them so pivotal. Van Riper delves into the players, managers, executives, and broadcasters from the rivalry whose impact on baseball continued beyond the 1970s—including the first recipient of Tommy John surgery (Tommy John himself), the all-time hit king turned gambling pariah (Pete Rose), and two young announcers who would soon go on to national prominence (Al Michaels and Vin Scully). In addition, Van Riper recounts in detail the 1973 season when both teams were at or near their peak form, particularly the extra-inning nail-biter between the Reds and Dodgers that took place on September 21 and effectively decided the divisional race.

Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue includes never-before-published interviews with former players from the rivalry, providing a personal and in-depth look at this decade in baseball full of upheaval and change. Baseball’s realignment in 1994 may have rendered this great rivalry nearly forgotten, but its story is one that will be enjoyed by baseball fans and historians of all generations.

By: Tom Van Riper
Imprint: Rowman and Littlefield
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 358g
ISBN: 9781538192511
ISBN 10: 1538192519
Pages: 228
Publication Date: 06 February 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue: Baseball's Greatest Forgotten Rivalry

[An] essential summer read if you're a sucker for baseball history. Reds fans will certainly enjoy Riper's dissection of the subject and fully grasp the thesis of the book, articulated in his concluding statement about all the great talent on both teams: 'With that kind of talent supplementing a slew of Hall of Fame-calibre players and three Hall of Fame managers, you've got a rivalry for the ages -a rivalry that ought to be remembered more than it is.' 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.