This weekend at Great American Ball Park was Joe Morgan Weekend. Once this was announced earlier this season, I decided that I was going to make the trip to Cincinnati from my home in Louisville, Kentucky. A part of Joe Morgan Weekend was Morgan getting his “Sculpture” out in front of the stadium. As a huge Reds fan and a historian of the Reds this was a great moment for me and my dad. The best thing about the weekend, the entire Big Red Machine made the trip, including the hit king Pete Rose.

Ryan Ritchey (Featured Baseball Columnist): Follow @baseballaddicts

It was finally here, Joe Morgan Weekend.

As a life long Reds fan and a huge fan of Reds history, this was a huge weekend for me. I had it circled on my calendar since the day they announced it.

Joe Morgan was to become the sixth player in Cincinnati Reds history to have a statue put out in front of Great American Ball Park.

The other five were very good players as well, Ted Kluszewski, Ernie Lombardi, Frank Robinson, Joe Nuxhall, and Johnny Bench. Morgan would be joining great company to say the least. 

The festivities were on Friday and Saturday, but Morgan would remain for the third game on Sunday, which happened to be the Sunday Night Baseball game.

I was lucky enough to be there both Friday and Saturday for both sets of festivities and here is my perspective on each day.

Joe Morgan Speech, Unveiling of Sculpture:

Read the rest of this entry →