hen the Cincinnati Reds were unable to contact their manager, Christy Mathewson in January 1919 (Mathewson was serving in France during World War I and had not yet returned home), the team decided to hire the former manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, Pat Moran.

"Pat Moran molded a championship team with a cast of players many of whom had failed with and been cast off by other teams" states Cincinnati Reds historian Jim Sandoval. "His reputation as an excellent developer of pitchers held true as he molded the Major League's best pitching staff" Sandoval added. It was also under the leadership of their new skipper that the Reds finished the

1919 season as the best defensive team in baseball. Their 96-44 record also ranked as best in the Major Leagues.

On April 23,1919 playing in front of their home crowd, the Reds opened their season by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2. The Reds would also win their first seven games of the season.

Throughout the 140 game season, the Reds battled other National League teams for the pennant and never fell lower than third place. Their schedule was particularily difficult as they played 20 doubleheaders during the regular season, including 3 in a row August 13-15. (The Reds would sweep ten, split seven and lose three of their doubleheaders.)