October 16, 1975: Don Gullett allowed only five hits and Tony Perez broke an 0-15 slump with two home runs as the Reds took a three-games-to-two lead with a 6-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series.
The Red Sox scored first in the first inning when Denny Doyle tripled and Carl Yastrzemski scored him on a sacrifice fly. The lead held until the Reds’ fourth when Perez tied it with his first home run of the game. The Reds took the lead in the fifth inning when Pete Rose doubled home Gullett, who had singled with two outs. Perez made it 5-1 in the fifth when he connected for his second homer off Red Sox starter Reggie Cleveland, a three-run shot that also scored Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench. The Reds added their sixth and final run in the eighth on a Dave Concepcion sacrifice fly.
Meanwhile, Gullett was cruising on the mound. After allowing Doyle’s first inning triple, Gullett retired the next 16 Red Sox batters before walking Juan Beniquez in the sixth. The Red Sox did not get their second hit until Dwight Evans singled in the eighth inning. Gullett retired the first two Red Sox hitters in the ninth before Yastrzemski and Carlton Fisk both hit their first pitches for singles. Fred Lynn doubled home Yastrzemski to make the score 6-2. Rawly Eastwick then relieved Gullett and struck out Rico Petrocelli to end the game.
Perez had two homers, four rbi, and scored twice in the game while Rose had a double, a single, and an rbi.
October 16, 1976: Don Gullett allowed only five hits and Tony Perez collected three hits to lead the Reds to a 5-1 first game victory over the New York Yankees in the 1976 World Series.
Joe Morgan produced the first run of the 1976 World Series with a home run in the bottom of the first off Yankees starter Doyle Alexander. The Yankees tied in the second when Lou Piniella scored on a Graig Nettles sacrifice fly. The Reds took the lead in the third inning when Pete Rose’s sacrifice fly scored Dave Concepcion. The Reds scored again in the sixth on a Perez single to make it 3-1. The Reds scored their final two runs in the seventh when George Foster singled and scored on Cesar Geronimo’s triple. Geronimo then scored on a wild pitch by reliever Sparky Lyle.
Gullett went 7 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and walking three before Pedro Borbon retired the five Yankees he faced. In addition to Perez’s three hits, the Reds had two hits from both Foster and Bench.
October 16, 1990: Billy Hatcher went 3-3 and Eric Davis homered as Jose Rijo and manager Lou Piniella’s Reds shut out the Oakland A’s, 7-0, to open the 1990 World Series in Cincinnati.
The Reds opened the World Series scoring with two first inning runs. Hatcher drew a one-out walk and then scored on Davis’s home run. The Reds added two more in the third off A’s starter Dave Stewart when Barry Larkin led off with a walk and scored on Hatcher’s double, with Hatcher advancing to third on an errant throw home by A’s shortstop Mike Gallego. Hatcher then scored on a Paul O’Neill ground out, giving the Reds a 4-0 lead. The Reds scored three more times in the fifth off A’s reliever Todd Burns. Hatcher doubled with one out and O’Neill drew a walk. Davis singled to score Hatcher with O’Neill stopping at third. Both runners advanced on a ground out and then scored when Chis Sabo singled to centerfield.
Meanwhile, Reds pitchers Rijo, Rob Dibble, and Randy Myers pitched around trouble all day in shutting out the A’s. The A’s collected nine hits and walked three while leaving 11 runners on base. The A’s were a combined 0-9 with runners in scoring position in the game. Rickey Henderson had three hits for the A’s, including two doubles, and Carney Lansford had two singles.
October 16, 1992: The Reds hire Jim Bowden as their General Manager. At age 31, he was the youngest GM in major league history to that point. Bowden would go on to serve as Reds GM through 2003. Bowden’s Reds teams finished first in 1994, 1995, and 1999. He was named Major League Baseball Executive of the Year by Baseball America in 1999. As quoted from Wikipedia:
Bowden is known for his frequent roster moves, accessibility to the media, willingness to sign players with track records for personal problems, and affection for athletic outfielders. In his 16 years as an MLB general manager he was well respected for keeping low payroll clubs competitive. On the other side of the coin he was almost universally disliked by his peers as well as many Reds players and other members of the organization.