Cincinnati Reds’ Pantheon – Where does the Big Dog belong?

The Cincinnati Reds have a long history of slugging corner infielders making it difficult to rank Tony Perez.

The Cincinnati Reds have eight bronze statues on display at Great American Ballpark.  Tony Perez is one of the Reds that has his likeness portrayed in this way and has been there since 2015.  That puts him in the discussion of one of the best eight players in Reds’ history.

The Reds have four players from the Big Red Machine memorialized and four players from before that period.  The only pitcher that is celebrated with a statue is former Reds’ radio announcer Joe Nuxhall.  He is a local boy made good.

Nuxhall was 135-117 over 16 MLB seasons.  He was mostly a starter who averaged just under 150 innings per season.  He also averaged less than 100 strikeouts per season, which was low even in the sixties when he pitched the most.

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Ernie Lombardi’s statue is who Nuxhall’s statue is throwing to.  In many ways Lombardi was Johnny Bench before Bench was.  Lombardi was an eight time All-Star and a National League MVP in 1938.  He was also the cornerstone of the other World Series Championship, 1940.

Ted Klusewski is on deck in statue land, but is second to none as a slugger.  The Big Klu was a four time All-Star for the Reds and led the NL in home runs and RBIs in 1954.  He was also a coach during the Big Red Machine era.

Those are the Cincinnati Reds’ greats that Tony Perez is clearly superior to in totality, but what about the rest?

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The other players that have statues are Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson, Pete Rose.  No one will ever be better than the Hit King in Cincinnati.  Pete Rose is the George Washington of the Reds’ Mount Rushmore.  He is currently getting ready to ride off into the sunset.

Johnny Bench also ranks ahead of Perez.  Many consider him the best catcher in the history of the game.  His list of accomplishments is impressive, but let’s just mention his 14 All-Star Games and 2 MVPS, nuff said.

Joe Morgan is the Reds’ best second baseman of all time.  He was the best offensive second baseman before Ryne Sandberg came along for the Chicago Cubs.  That makes him just behind Bench and Rose.

That leaves Frank Robinson and his MVP awards in each league to go with his Triple Crown.  Despite being a Hall of Famer, Perez is a step down from Robinson.  Perez was a seven time All-Star and a super teammate, but was never the man.

Next: What are the Reds doing with Robert Stephenson?

That leaves Perez ranked as the fifth most impressive player in Reds’ history.  He is the John Adams of the Reds’ pantheon. With Joey Votto amassing number like crazy it is only a matter of time before Perez faces another challenge to his legacy.