Relief pitcher<\/b><\/p>\n Seasons with Cincinnati:<\/strong> 1969-1971<\/p>\n 22-17\/2.92 227G, 329.1 IP<\/p>\n Durable relief pitcher helped power the first Big Red Machine<\/em><\/p>\n During the 1960s, the Reds had a series of top relief pitchers: Jim Brosnan, Bill Henry, Bill McCool, Ted Abernathy, Clay Carroll.<\/p>\n For a three-year period (1969-1971) Wayne Granger<\/span> was as good as any of them.<\/p>\n After a 4-2\/2.25\/4SV rookie season with St. Louis, right-handed sinkerballer Granger was acquired by the Reds in October 1968 with Bobby Tolan for outfielder Vada Pinson.<\/p>\n With the Reds in 1969, Granger posted a 9\u20136 record and 2.79 ERA with 27 saves in a then-National League<\/a> record 90 appearances (144 innings), and he won the first of two consecutive Fireman of the Year awards.<\/p>\n In 1970 he set a National League record with 35 saves (since broken) while going 6\u20135 with a 2.66 ERA in 67 games. That season, he ranked eighth in the National League Cy Young Award<\/a> voting.<\/p>\n In June of that year, he threw the final pitch and also earned the last victory at Crosley Field<\/a> before the team moved to Riverfront Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n During Game 3 of the 1970 World Series<\/a> against the Baltimore Orioles<\/a>, Granger surrendered a grand slam to opposing pitcher Dave McNally<\/a>. It is the only time in World Series<\/a> history that a pitcher has hit a grand slam. The Reds lost the best-of-seven series in five games, and Granger never again pitched in the postseason.<\/p>\n In 1971 he again led the league in games pitched with 70, posting a 7\u20136 record with a 3.33 ERA and 11 saves. After the season the Reds traded him to the Minnesota Twins<\/a> for Tom Hall \u2013 another relief pitcher who did well for Cincinnati.<\/u>.<\/p>\n 227 appearances and 329 innings in three years! Makes my arm hurt just thinking about that workload.<\/p>\n And while pitching for Huntington (MA) High School, Granger once struck out 30 <\/strong>in a 14-inning game.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a durable pitcher. And Granger certainly was that during his time in Cincinnati. He was terrific, and he was rightly inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1982.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Appreciation: Wayne Granger Relief pitcher Seasons with Cincinnati: 1969-1971 22-17\/2.92 227G, 329.1 IP Durable relief pitcher helped power the first Big Red Machine During the 1960s, the Reds had a series of top […]<\/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":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-interviews"],"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![\"Granger\"](\"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/granger.png?w=442\")