Ranking every Reds player who's had his jersey retired

The Cincinnati Reds is oldest professional baseball franchise. The club celebrated 150 years of Reds baseball during the 2019 season, and the team is just embarked on season No. 154 as the 2023 Opening Day is now in the rearview mirror.

Throughout their history, the Reds have retired 10 different jersey numbers (this does not include MLB's league-wide retirement of No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson).

But which one of those 10 players and managers deserves the top spot in the Reds organization? It's time to rank every Cincinnati Reds great who's had his number retired by the organization.

10. Reds manager Fred Hutchinson (No. 1)

It's fair to say that a majority of Reds fans who grew up watching the Big Red Machine know who wore Nos. 5 and 14. Another generation of Cincinnati faithful grew up watching No. 11 locking down the left side of the infield. And No. 19 has been part of the Cincinnati Reds roster for over 15 years.

But when you look up above the lower-levels of Great American Ball Park and see the No. 1, it's quite possibile that very few Reds fans actually know the man who used to don that jersey. It was former Cincinnati skipper Fred Hutchinson.

Hutch, as he was commonly referred to, spent 10 years as a major league pitcher and was named an All-Star in 1951. But it was Hutchinson's time as a manager that saw him receive the distinct honor of having his jersey number retired by the Cincinnati Reds.

Hutchinson was a player/ manager for the Detroit Tigers from 1952-1953 and after a three-year stop with the St. Louis Cardinals, he became the skipper of the Cincinnati Reds in 1959. Hutchinson led the Redlegs back to the postseason in 1961, though his Cincinnati team fell in five game to the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Fred Hutchinson was ready to lead his troops into battle during the 1964 season, but was diagnosed with cancer shortly before the season began. Hutchinson appeared in just over 100 games during the 1964 season and succumb to the disease in November of that year. The Reds honored Hutchinson's courage by retiring his No. 1 jersey.