Why Cincinnati Reds might be on brink of ending MLB-longest drought of hitting for cycle
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — David Bell didn’t see it, but the Cincinnati Reds manager heard all about it by Tuesday morning when some friends reached out.
With J.T. Realmuto’s cycle for the Philadelphia Phillies Monday night, Bell no longer is the last Phillie to pull off one of baseball’s rarest feats, having done his single-double-triple-homer thing almost two decades ago (June 28, 2004).
“It’s about time somebody else hit for the cycle [for the Phillies],” Bell said.
About time?
Bell, who retired as a player in 2006, still has hit for the cycle more recently than a Red has. More recently by a lot.
The Reds have the longest such drought in the majors, the team’s last cycle coming at Riverfront Stadium when Eric Davis teed off on San Diego Padres pitching June 2, 1989.
Before that, you have to go back to Frank Robinson in 1959 to find another in Reds history.
If anything, the Reds might have a team with more legitimate cycle candidates than ever.
One grizzled Reds staffer on Tuesday even predicted the team will have its next two before this year is over.
When asked the most likely players on the team to do it, Bell listed two guys who never played a game in the majors before May 15: Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz.
“But there’s a lot of them,” he quickly added, “because they can all run.”
Look what you made me do: Reds move game time due to Taylor Swift show
'Wild Thing': You can't make up some of the ways the Cincinnati Reds are winning games
Only three teams have more triples this season than the Reds’ 14 through Monday, and that’s only two off the Kansas City Royals’ major-league leading total.
So maybe somebody from this group will eventually put the Reds on the board for their first cycle since their 50-year-old manager had one in the first season of Citizens Bank Park.
As for that Phillies game against the Expos 19 years ago, “I really have a distinct memory of that night,” said Bell, whose only triple of that season was the last of his four hits that night.
“I had a couple tough years there, and I needed the hits really bad,” he said, adding: [Phillies manager] Larry Bowa didn’t believe me when I said this, but I didn’t know I hit for the cycle. Because I slid into third and [third base coach] John Vuckovich had to tell me. I had no idea.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell cycle record broken by JT Realmuto
