100 Things Reds Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

by Joel Luckhaupt

In this ultimate resource guide for true fans of baseball’s first professional team, author Joel Luckhaupt has collected every essential piece of Cincinnati Reds trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranked them from one to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist for fans to complete in their lifetime. Most Reds fans have taken in a game or two at the Great American Ball Park, have seen highlights of the Big Red Machine, and remember the team’s surprising triumph in the 1990 World Series. But only real fans know which 15-year-old took the mound for the Reds in 1944, can name the pitcher who gave up Pete Rose’s 4,192nd hit, or remember how many dogs owner Marge Schott owned. 100 Things Reds Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the perfect book for any fan of Reds baseball, whether a die-hard booster from the days of Ted Kluszewski or a new supporter of Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto, and Aroldis Chapman.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book for any Reds fan. You learn a lot about the team history, your favorite players and ones you've never heard of plus important events in team history and even things to do and see.

[Jesse Jester · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a huge fan of Joel Luckhaupt for years and I appreciate the work he put into this book. I feel like he deserves a lot of credit for his tireless work for the team on social media and Reds history.

The interesting thing about the Reds is that the majority of their history can be divided into 3 eras. The Lombardi/Walters era, Frank Robinson Era, and the Big Red Machine era. It isn't Luckhaupt's fault that the majority of the Reds stars come from those 3 time periods, but it does cause a lot of overlap in this book.

Still, this is a great read for any Reds fan. An updated version would probably cover thr entirety of Joey Votto's career, the team's first Cy Young season, and probably the current rise of the youth culture in Cincinnati. There's also now a 2nd team with 100 losses... yeah. Also, the Castellini chapter would be markedly different as well.

Good reading to you, and go Redlegs!!

[Allie Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent non fiction. Definitely heavier on the “things you should know” vs. “things to do”. I learned a good number of things I’d had no clue about, but was also disappointed a couple of historical things I *do* know didn’t make the cut. (If sports statistics aren’t your thing this would be horrible for you!) As is typical with a Reds focused book, there was soooo much about Pete Rose. Even most other MLB/baseball books I’ve read never fail to mention the guy, so I think at this point there is nothing new for me to know or learn about him. I’m a little “Pete Rosed Out”. For *me*, the 2013 publication date also made this slightly less enjoyable. As a 2023 fan I’d love an updated version of this!

[Maddie Faulkner · Rating 5 out of 5]

would love to see an updated edition in the next couple of years

[Bob Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book for a new fan

[Hollyann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Joel Luckhaupt being interviewed on Sports Of All Sorts or some other local show like that and decided to go buy his book when it came out. Myself, and my boyfriend both really enjoyed this book and made me feel truly enlightened after reading it, and even more proud to be a reds fan and to live in Cincinnati. The only part of this book that I didn't like was just one word that kinda even got under my skin. In the section about Pete Rose the sentence says "Ask a non-reds fan over the age of 40 to name a Cincinnati Reds player, and more often than not "he'll" say "Pete Rose"." The problem with that "HE'LL". I find it ignorant. I know plenty of women baseball fans and myself as one of them. But overall it's a solid book and I suggest ALL reds fans to read it, maybe even baseball fans too.

[Jess Bellflower · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent my afternoon cuddled with my pups and finishing my latest book. This book is pretty unconventional to books I typically read and review, but since it’s about one of my other passions, I knew I still had to post it.
I love sports, especially my hometown Cincinnati teams. Cincinnati baseball has a rich history and the older I get, the more I learn to love. This book not only includes chapters about recent Reds memories, including Jay Bruce’s walk off homer in to clench a playoff run, but also memories dating all the way back to 1869, including Pete Rose’s home plate slide to win an AllStar game to the success of the big red machine. I love how it includes interesting facts and information throughout, but also includes things you can do today to appreciate the Reds.

[Karen (Living Unabridged) · Rating 3 out of 5]

First poignant moment: the forward by Dusty Baker. Good-bye, Dusty. I, for one, liked you. Best wishes for your future.

Otherwise, this is a random list of 100 people, events, games, and things related to the Cincinnati Reds. Die-hard fans might not find a lot of new information, but, then again, you might. Relive the heady Big Red Machine days. Rejoice again in the 1990 series, about which the A's are still trying to figure out what hit them. Think about what might have been (Ken Griffey, Jr, I'm looking at you).

Reading this book is a nice way to spend some quiet off-season evenings while you wait for Spring Training.

Recommended for: fans of the one and only Cincinnati Reds.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice overview of Reds history in 100 bite-size entries. Written by a "stats guy," I was worried it might get bogged down in numbers and dates, but it was just the opposite, really personalizing a lot of players I knew very little about beyond their name and position on the field. Some moments felt repetitious and others a tad glossed-over, and there were WAY too many typos for a book as professional-looking as this one, but there was plenty of information and anecdotes I'd never heard before. It really gave me the urge to make another trip through the Reds Hall of Fame and hopefully made me fractionally better at Cincinnati trivia.

[Dan Darragh · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, I gave this five stars, but if you're not a Reds fan you'd probably give it two or three stars. Four if you're a baseball fan in general. The older you are, the more personalities and occurrences you will remember and even if you thought you knew everything about a certain player you'll often learn a little more. These are vignettes of about a 1 1/2-2 pages long and not arranged in any order. Great book for the bathroom or airplane. And more fun than reading about the Reds in the sports section this year.

[Eric Weisheit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book! Dude knows his stuff ... NO doubt about it!

[Matt Ely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good content, but poorly written.

[Bryan Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome book overall. enjoyed reading it. the stories were well written and it covered a lot of things and people I didnt know about.

[Don Hobbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. As a long time Reds die-hard, I was hoping for more stories and little tidbits of information I didn't know. The older stories for teams before my time were good.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

One hundred percent fun. This book gave me even more pride in being a Reds fan.