{"id":140,"date":"2018-07-23T10:33:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T15:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/?page_id=140"},"modified":"2023-05-30T11:12:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T16:12:35","slug":"retire-dave-bristols-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/?p=140","title":{"rendered":"Retire Dave Bristol’s #4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baseball lifer gave many years of dedicated service to the Reds as a \"Dave-Bristol-Reds-photo\"player, coach, and manager. And he won.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Dave Bristol<\/span> was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame July 21, 2018. It was a long-overdue honor for a man who gave as much to the organization as anyone for many years.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another honor he deserves.<\/p>\n

How about retiring Dave\u2019s #4?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a Volunteer Ambassador at the Reds Hall of Fame, and I often work as a \u201cfollow\u201d on ballpark tours. One of the regular tour stops is near the retired-numbers area behind home plate.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s cool to see Frank Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Fred Hutchinson, and other Reds greats represented. All are certainly deserving of this honor.<\/p>\n

But as I look at 14, 5, and 24 for Rose, Bench, and P\u00e9rez, I realize there\u2019s a number that\u2019s missing \u2013 one that links all of these players together:<\/p>\n

Number 4.<\/p>\n

The man who developed so many players, including all of these RHOF inductees.<\/p>\n

So many of Bristol\u2019s former players speak almost reverently about how much he helped their careers, and how he cared about them as people as well as players.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite manager,\u201d said pitcher George Culver, who played for Walter Alston and other Hall of Fame managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave was going to make you a better player and a better person,\u201d said second-baseman Tommy Helms.<\/p>\n

At the Hall of Fame Induction Gala, Johnny Bench related how Dave would take him to the outfield wall and bounce balls at him \u2013 enjoying it, Bench said with a laugh \u2013 so Bench could learn to block balls correctly, and be a better player.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave was one of the guys, but he could be tough on you when he needed to,\u201d Culver said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave was going to give you the opportunity to be ready for the big leagues,\u201d Helms said. \u201cI felt like a big-leaguer when I got here [to Cincinnati].\u201d<\/p>\n

Bristol worked relentlessly on fundamentals, so when and if players were called to the big leagues, they knew how to play and would be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Dave,\u201d said infielder Darrel Chaney. \u201cHe had the guts to bring me to the big leagues in 1969.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bristol is a baseball lifer, in the best sense of the expression. He still evaluates players and works with them from his home in Andrews, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to be the first one to the ballpark, so they wouldn\u2019t take my uniform,\u201d he said at the Induction Gala.<\/p>\n

He shouldn\u2019t have to worry about that anymore.<\/p>\n

Why not take #4 out of circulation, and display it permanently at Great American Ball Park?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baseball lifer gave many years of dedicated service to the Reds as a player, coach, and manager. And he won. Dave Bristol was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame July 21, 2018. It […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-haughts-thoughts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t