The Cincinnati Reds have announced their 2026 Hall of Fame inductees. There will be three former players as well as one manager inducted in the late April. Making it on the modern player ballot were Aaron Harang and Brandon Phillips. Joining them through the veterans committee are Reggie Sanders and Lou Piniella.
Long overlooked here is Reggie Sanders. He was with the Reds from 1991 when he was a rookie who played in nine games through the 1998 season. During that time he played in 805 games and hit .271/.353/.476 with 152 doubles, 33 triples, 125 home runs, and he stole 158 bases. All of that came out to 21.5 WAR according to Baseball Reference. In the 1995 season he made the only All-Star game of his 17-year big league career. It was his best season as he hit .306/.397/.579. He finished 6th in the MVP voting that year.
The acquisition of Brandon Phillips in 2006 is one of the better moves ever made by the Reds. A former top prospect, Phillips had struggled to do much in the big leagues and by the end of 2005 Cleveland was ready to move forward without him. Cincinnati traded for him, sending at the time a player to be named later – which turned out to be Single-A reliever Jeff Stevens.
While Stevens would eventually pitch in the big leagues in parts of three seasons with the Chicago Cubs, he finished his career with a 6.27 ERA in 37.1 innings during that time. Phillips, though, turned into a 3-time All-Star. From 2006-2016 he played in 1614 games for Cincinnati and hit .279/.325/.429 with 311 doubles, 32 triples, 191 home runs, and 194 steals. He would earn four Gold Glove awards in his time with the Reds and in 2011 also won the Silver Slugger award.
A few years before Cincinnati picked up Phillips they would make a midseason trade to acquire Aaron Harang from Oakland. He struggled in that 2003 season after being acquired, and the next season he still had some struggles. But in 2005 he turned things around and anchored the Reds pitching staff for the next handful of years.
In parts of eight seasons with Cincinnati Harang would throw 1343 innings with a 4.28 ERA and 1125 strikeouts. His peak seasons with the Reds were from 2005-2007 when he had an ERA of 3.77 and threw 677.2 innings, going 43-30 for the team. In that 2006 season he became the first pitcher to lead the league in both wins and strikeouts and not win the Cy Young award. He would throw six complete games that year.
Lou Piniella took over as the Cincinnati Reds manager in 1990. Things went quite well that year as the team went 91-71, won the division, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLCS, and then went on to sweep the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. The next year was about as opposite as it gets as Piniella and the Reds won just 74 games. In the 1992 season things got back on track as the team won 90 games, but they finished eight games back in the division and in 1992 there was no wild card and despite the third best record in the National League they sat out of the playoffs. That would be his final year with Cincinnati. The team offered him a new contract, but he declined it and was soon thereafter named the manager of the Seattle Mariners.
I voted for Dat Dude (Phillips) and Francisco Cordero but Harang is a very worthy choice.
Agree 100% on Sanders being overdue and Piniella was a very good Reds manager in early 1990s.
I’m glad Lou Pinellia and Brandon Phillips got in. The other two are kinda meh. But, I have to remind myself that a team HOF is not the MLB HoF.
Im with you
Part of me believes the Reds know they didn’t give BP a proper sendoff when they let him go. BP was the biggest fan favorite for a solid decade, especially considering his time started right after Larkin retired and while Griffey’s time was waning. They traded him as part of a salary dump for nobodies and he never got a chance to get his well deserved ovation. At least Votto got half of the 2023 season for fans to say goodbye. We know how he felt about his contract situation, and if I’m not mistaken has not been acknowledged in any way since they traded him and it’s been 10 years.
When they announced the nominees it seemed apparent to me that maybe this was their attempt to right that wrong. I thought they picked people who, while decent players, had no shot of being in the HOF. Harang was borderline and at the end of the day deserves probably it too, but since the top 2 would be elected BP was basically a shoo in. I don’t know players get nominated but BP should have been a near unanimous selection.
BP deserves a special spot in the Reds’ HOF. He should’ve been first ballot, unanimous, no questions asked. Reliable. Team first. Good in the community. And a rare five-tool player. Cincinnati was blessed to have him for 10 years.
+100000000
Lou has become a legend in Seattle, so I wonder if there’s any in depth article about his leaving the Reds to join the Mariners. I wasn’t following it closely then, and don’t recall anything specific, but can imagine various things. Anyway, off to AI to dig into this.
From The New York Times in 1993:
“It was time for me to move on,” Piniella said Saturday, sitting in his office here at the Seattle Mariners’ new spring-training site. “I didn’t like some of the things that were done there, and as a manager, I had a chance to come back or move on and I chose to move on.”
Marge Schott, the Reds’ owner, offered Piniella a two-year contract extension, but it was what she didn’t offer in 1991 that precipitated his departure.
“It just wasn’t fun,” Piniella, the Mariners’ new manager, said, speaking generally of the latter part of his three-year tenure as manager in Cincinnati. Then he cited the specific incident that prompted his decision to leave.
“The biggest thing that didn’t leave a good taste was what happened when I had the problem with the umpires,” he related, speaking in a 90-minute interview. “When I got sued by the umpires, I got no backing from the organization. That started the wheels turning. I think any organization would back their manager. I got nothing, financial or anything. I went back in ’92 and fulfilled my contract, but when it came time to extend, I chose not to.”
In August 1991, Piniella became enraged when Gary Darling, the home-plate umpire in a game against San Francisco, reversed a ruling by another umpire and deprived the Reds’ Bill Doran of a home run. After the game, Piniella, he of the legendary temper, said that Darling was biased against the Reds. Two months later, Darling and the Major League Umpires Association filed a $5 million defamation suit against Piniella.
Fascinating! I don’t remember that Doran/Darling/Piniella episode at all!
A former top prospect, Phillips had struggled to do much in the big leagues and by the end of 2025 Cleveland was ready to move forward without him.
No wonder. If a prospect has spent more than 20 years in the minors, I don’t think they are going to work out.
Oopsies! (thanks, it is now corrected)
Lol hey you never know. He could be a late late late bloomer!!
BP and Sweet Lou definitely deserve to be in. Reggie Sanders was a pretty good player but not sure about HOF worthy. And Harang? Not at all.
Reds HOF, not MLB HOF. Harang was a mainstay on the pitching staff of a mediocre team and did good work in the community. I have a long story about how he made sure that a bunch of Red Sox fans passed an autographed ball to my very young daughter at Fenway. He’s in my HOF, in any case.
I realize it’s Reds HOF. And I admire what he did off the field. On the field he was very mediocre.
He did a lot of good in the community. An overall good guy
Harang wasn’t mediocre. In a 3-year span, he threw 667.2 innings, put up 15.7 bWAR, and went 43-30 for a bad team. In the second of those years, he led the NL in both wins and strikeouts; in the third year, he was 4th in the NL Cy Young voting, while leading the league in SO/W ratio.
And he was a first-rate citizen.
Thank you, Old Big Ed. Harang was a shining spot on some bad teams. Well deserved honor for Aaron.
BP’s defense was worth the cost of admission! Leaping & diving snags, throws from the knees and even his belly, behind the back flips, through the legs tosses… incredible defender! Taking a throw from left center, he tagged out a sliding runner going for 2 between his legs, with the runner’s face right into his bum! Solid hitter who even hit cleanup for a stretch. One of my favorite Red of the that era. And, he had that thing with Yadier, too.
I still watch that thing with Yadier on YouTube from time to time. Classic lol.
Same. The national media showed ridiculous bias, claiming BP started it for saying he didn’t like the Cards a day earlier — like, what is this, daycare? The next day he gives Molina the same friendly shinguard tap that he gave whenever he led off a game. Molina, apparently still “hurt” that an opponent said something that made him cry, stands up and challenges BP. I loved that BP got right back in his face. Yet the media fawned over Molina for “having his team’s back” and said BP was out of line. A lesson for all of us to watch everything in full context and without media noise. Facts > opinion.
Didn’t follow the Reds much in the 90s (I was in Gregg Maddox territory then) but can’t believe they waited this long to honor BP. Outside of the BRM era, I can’t think of too many players as talented and likeable as him. Unfortunately typical when I hear the back story of grudges past. Being that I wasn’t too enthused with how Lindner ran the team, how far back to we have to go to find competent and honorable ownership?
Well Marge was the last owner to win a WS but there was lots of controversy. However she was passionate about winning and I would say every owner since then hasn’t had that kind of passion.
I think all are good choices, but I’m especially happy for Aaron Harang. He was the Reds Ace in the early 2000’s, and was the Opening Day starter 5 years in a row. His career fell apart after Dusty brought him in to pitch relief in between starts when he ran out of relievers. Harang pitched 3 innings of relief and was never the same after that
Yep I watched that game. Ran out of relievers in extras and Harang came in and was a horse. Never the same after.
I saw it, too, and recall–perhaps incorrectly–that he volunteered to do it and that he threw harder than I’d ever seen him throw.
Reds to sign LH Reliever Caleb Ferguson per MLB Trade Rumors and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Looks like a good addition to the bullpen.
Yeah seems like a good signing. I wonder what the price tag is?
I agree. One of the Reds better signings of late.
Agreed. Not a big SO guy last year, but made up for it with a good GB rate and by keeping the ball in the park.
I’m happy with all 4 of these picks to the Reds HOF! (I voted for Phillips and Harang, and I voted for Reggie in at least one past Reds HOF election.)
Congrats, and well-deserved, Brandon, Aaron, Reggie, and Sweet Lou!
(Side note – I had no idea that the Reds HOF had a Veteran’s Committee!)
All 4 deserve this honor! Congratulations
Reggie Sanders was a better player overall than Phillips. In their time with the Reds, they were pretty similar in terms of value. BP was just a Red longer. Very different players. But some of you have forgotten or are not old enough to remember how excellent Sanders was.
Harang is also getting short shrift. ERAs were a lot higher in his time.
Anyway, it’s not like the Reds HoF is a super exclusive club. They let Ron Oester in, of all people. And that’s just silly.
I loved Reggie Sanders, from my dad’s hometown. My favorite Red in the early-mid 90s. It’s a stretch to confidently claim he was better overall than BP as a Red (an OF w one season over 20 HRs and two seasons of 65+ RBIs), but that’s your opinion. Unfortunately for RS, he had an unrealistic expectation thrust upon him from day-one: being a better version of Eric Davis. And because of that, a lot of people forget how good (not great) he was.
People also overstate how good BP was. He was flashy. He made highlight-reel plays. But he never really hit all that well. Sanders was often injured, and that hurts him, but he had a 118 OPS+ with the Reds. Phillips finished with a 99 OPS+ in his time with the Reds. Both could steal a base. Defense matters, and BP was better at that, but there’s a huge offensive gap between them.
It’s cool to make a case with facts, but statements like “he never really hit that well” tells me you’ve made up your mind on this one based on something else.
I mean, he had one season where he was significantly above average as a hitter.
I just looked up Phillips’ batting records and I think he did very well for a second baseman. He was a winner. I wish we had still had his equal. So, I agree with you.