There are very few corners with more baseball history than the corner of Findlay
and Western in Cincinnati. Today it is nothing more than an off ramp and a parking
lot. Located about a mile due north of today's Great American Ballpark, much
of the modern day history of the Reds (prior to the Big Red Machine) happened
here. This is where Eddie Lombardi became a Hall of Famer behind the plate...
where Ted Kluszewski hit a Major League Leading 49 HR and a Major League Leading
141 RBI's and batted .326 only to come in 2nd to Willie Mays in MVP voting that
nearly caused the Queen City to erupt... and this is where Pete Rose, Tony Perez
and Johnny Bench began their careers that would forever be enshrined in the
history books (for both great and bad). |