The Greatest Player in the History of the Cincinnati Reds
Lots of good players. The pitching crop is a little thin, with Eppa Rixey leading the way with 173 wins. Lots of guys who were good for awhile, but nobody who was good for long.
The hitters are much more impressive. Pete Rose had 3,358 hits, 601 doubles and scored 1,741 runs as a Red. Johnny Bench played great defense at catcher and hit 389 homers and had 1,376 RBI. Despite the apparent advantage to Rose, Bench was a far superior offensive player. Rose consumed 7,861 outs in his career while Bench used up only 5,854. If we just look at (Runs + RBI)/Out, Rose is at .353 while Bench is at .421. Bench was a significantly better offensive player per out consumed than Rose, and of course defensively there was no comparison.
Barry Larkin must be considered very close with almost 200 more runs scored than Bench, and 200 more hits. But Bench whips him in the power stats with almost 200 more homers and over 450 more RBI.
