Ten Favorite World Series: 1990 World Series (#7)

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Batter up! It's time to play ball with another one of my favorite Fall Classics. Thanks to the just-concluded World Series I got the inspiration for this series. And, no, this isn't a music countdown, but I can give you songs for the winners if you want! Here's the next series on the list. #7: 1990: Reds/A's Yesterday's favorite was the '88 Series that had the heavily-favored Oakland A's against the limping-into-the-series-like-Kirk-Gibson L.A. Dodgers, and I may have mentioned I didn't care for the A's because of Charlie Finley in the 70s. And yes, by the late 80s when the "A" in "AL" seemed to stand for "Athletics" Finley no longer owned them, but the stigma was still there with me. Along came the 1990 World Series and yet another opportunity to root against the A's (having taken 1989 off because they were playing the Giants and I really dislike the Giants). The incentive was compounded by the fact that it was my one-time love, the Cincinnati Reds, on the other side of the field. Much like 1988 the "pundits" gave the poor, poor pitiful National League sacrificial lamb du jour no chance against the mighty, mighty A's. "It's going to be a sweep," they proclaimed. Well, they got that part right. What they didn't get right was which team would be on which end of the broom. Nobody really gave the Reds a chance, despite the "Nasty Boys" bullpen. Truthfully, there were no real "superstars" on the team: only Barry Larkin, the shortstop, is in the Hall of Fame from that team. Still, with a solid team and good pitching (highlighted by Jose Rijo and Tom Browning [the only Reds pitcher to ever throw a perfect game]), the Reds were a team, playing -- pardon the hokey sports cliché here -- for the name on the front of their jerseys instead of the name on the back. And I mean nobody gave the Reds credit. Despite the butt-whipping the Reds put on the heavily favored A's with their superstar pitching and superstar hitting in game one, the A's were still favored to come back and win it. The pundits were still saying the A's could mount a comeback five minutes after the foul ball that went down the right field line sank into Todd Benzinger's glove, ending game four and the 1990 World Series with the Reds as champions! The 1990 series capped off a memorable year for the Reds, where they were on top of the NL West from start to finish. It was the fifth and most recent championship for the Queen City. I miss those days of a good team with good pitching and a, shall we say, "colorful" manager (Lou Piniella was the Reds' manager that year, and if you don't know about his antics you need to investigate for yourself because they're indescribable). I don't know if the Reds will straighten up and fly right again, given how seriously the ship has been listing to port over the past four years, but 1990 will always be the beacon in the darkness for Reds fans. 1990 World Series Cincinnati Reds (NL) / Oakland A's (AL) Winner: Reds, 4-game sweep Best game: Game two (Reds won, 5-4 in ten innings) Who I was pulling for: Reds Here's the final out of the 1990 series (with the WLW call by Marty Brennaman used because the TV announcers were still praising the A's):