Joe Leonard Morgan was born in Bonham, Texas on September 19th, 1943. He would move to Oakland, California when he was around 5 years old. While he only stood around 5’6 and weighed around 150 pounds while attending school, Morgan was a prolific baseball player at Castlemount High School and Oakland City College. He was the unanimous pick for the Big Eight conference baseball team. A scout for the Houston Colt 45’s at the time by the name of Bob Murray discovered Morgan and the rest is history.

Murray’s original plan was to have Joe Morgan play on the Fitzpatrick Chevrolet amateur baseball team, but Joe’s talent would play bigger than his stature. Joe wanted to play in Major League Baseball, but the scouts would shy away from him because of his size, as they worried his frame would not be durable enough for MLB.

Houston

Joe Morgan would sign with the Houston Colt 45’s at the age of 19 years old and join the California League’s Modesto Colts later that year. He would struggle with his swing, having trouble keeping his elbow up while in his stance. Teammate Nellie Fox made a comment to Morgan to “flap his elbow like a chicken” to help keep his elbow up. It would become a signature throughout Morgan’s career. In 9 seasons with Houston, Joe Morgan would have a slash line of .263/.375/.396 with an OPS+ of 121. He would finish 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting and would earn 2 All-Star selections while in Houston.

Traded to Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Reds would make a huge trade on November 29th 1971. The Reds would trade Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Jimmy Stewart to Houston for Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, César Gerónimo, Denis Menke, and Joe Morgan. This would be one of the most important trades in the history of the Cincinnati Reds, even up to present day. In his first season in the Queen City, Joe Morgan would put up impressive numbers to say the least. Joe would lead all of baseball with a 9.3 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), he would lead all of baseball in walks with 115, and would also lead the National League in On Base Percentage at .417. He would become an All-Star and finish fourth in MVP voting. He would put up impressive stats. He would slash .293/.417/.435 while hitting 16 home runs along with 58 stolen bases. The Reds would win 95 games and would win the National League West Division. They would beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3 games to 2 to win the pennant and would face the Oakland Athletics in the World Series.

Morgan would struggle in the World Series, only accounting for 3 hits in 7 games, the A’s would go on to win in Game 7. 1973 would be another monster year for “Little Joe Morgan.” He would be named to the All-Star game again, finish 4th in MVP voting, and would win his first Gold Glove award. He would lead baseball in WAR again at 9.3. His slash line in ’73 would be .290/.406/.493. He would hit a career-high 26 home runs and steal 67 bases. The Reds would build on their previous season, amassing 99 wins, but would ultimately lose to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Game.

1974 would be more of the same for Joe, he would slash .293/.427/.494. One thing to note about Joe, he rarely would strike out. He would walk more than he would strike out in every season in his career except for one—in 1964, where he would only play in 10 games in Houston. The Reds would miss the playoffs in 1974, although win 98 games. The LA Dodgers would win 102 games in the two-division league, keeping Cincinnati out of the playoffs.

Big Red Machine

The 1975 Cincinnati Reds are regarded as one of, if not the greatest baseball team of all time, contending with the 1927 New York Yankees. Yet somehow, Joe Morgan would improve off of his previous seasons. He would slash .327/.466/.508. He would lead baseball in walks with 132 and only strike out 52 times. He would lead again in WAR at 11.0. He would make his 4th straight All-Star team, his third straight Gold Glove and would go on to win his first Most Valuable Player award.

His advanced stats are off the charts. He would post an OPS+ of 169, rOBA of .479 and Rbat+ of 182. The Reds would go on to win 108 games in 1975, sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Championship game. The Reds would face the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. The Reds would lose Game One 6-0. Joe would go 2-4, but it wasn’t enough to get past the Sox. The Reds would win Game Two, Joe would go 0-3 with a walk. The Reds beat Boston 3-2. In Game Three, the Reds would win again 6-5. The Red Sox would win 2 of the next 3 games, taking it to a Game 7. In Game 7, Joe Morgan would go 2-4 with an RBI with a walk.

With the score tied at 3, Joe Morgan would hit a bloop single that would score Ken Griffey, giving the Reds a 4-3 lead, and ultimately the win. The Cincinnati Reds would go on to win the World Series.

In 1976 Joe would keep his high level play going. Joe would make his 5th straight All-Star game, his 4th straight Gold Glove and his 2nd consecutive MVP. His ’76 slash line was .320/.444/.576. He would lead all of baseball in OBP, Slugging, OPS, OPS+, WAR, rOBA, and Rbat+. He would hit 27 home runs and have a career high in RBIs with 111. Morgan would walk 114 times and only strike out 41 times, an incredible season that would see the Reds win their second consecutive World Series, sweeping the New York Yankees.

In 8 seasons with the Reds, Joe Morgan would slash .288/.415/.470 with 152 home runs, 612 RBIs, a 147 OPS+, 406 stolen bases while only being caught 84 times. In what may be the most impressive stat, he had 881 walks with only 410 strikeouts. Joe had an impressive eye for the zone. His time on the Queen City diamond would sparkle into an All-Star appearance in all 8 seasons, 5 Gold Gloves and 2 MVPs. Joe Morgan cemented himself as a Reds legend in his 8 seasons with the team.

Twilight Years

Joe Morgan would play 4 more seasons after leaving Cincinnati—2 in San Francisco, 1 more season in Houston, and his final stop was the town where he grew up, Oakland. Over his last 4 seasons, Joe would slash .251/.374/.391 with 55 home runs, 88 stolen bases, 243 RBIs, an OPS+ of 118. Joe would not win any more awards or see an All-Star game for the remainder of his career. Joe Morgan would retire at the age of 40 after the 1984 season. At the time of his retirement, Morgan was third on the all-time walks list behind Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. He is now fifth, with Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson currently at numbers 1 and 2. He would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1990.

Post-Career/TV

Joe Morgan began a broadcasting career in 1985 with the Reds. He was on the call with Ken Wilson when Pete Rose broke the all-time hit record on September 11, 1985. He would join the San Francisco Giants broadcast team in 1986 and call games for the Giants for 9 seasons. ESPN hired Joe in 1986 to broadcast College World Series games and Monday Night Baseball. Most notably in his broadcast career, Joe would join Jon Miller and Orel Horshiser for the inaugural season of Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN in 1999. He would also call two weekday games a year with his former NBC teammate Bob Costas in the 1999 season on ESPN.

He would be part of the team that would call the Little League World Series in 2006. During the 2006 MLB playoffs, ESPN would have Morgan pull double duty by calling the first half of the Mets versus the Dodgers playoff game at Shea Stadium before traveling across town to call the Yankees versus Tigers night game at Yankee Stadium. In 2010 it was announced Joe would not be returning to ESPN alongside Jon Miller. He would sign with the Cincinnati Reds front office to become an advisor and a part of their outreach program.

Joe Morgan was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome in 2015 that would develop into Leukemia. Joe Morgan would pass away 5 years later in his home on October 11, 2020 at the age of 77 years old. He suffered from a nerve condition, a form of polyneuropathy.

Legacy

“Little Joe” played the game of baseball with a big passion. The Reds retired his number 8 during the 1998 season. They added a statue of Joe outside of Great American Ballpark in 2013. Joe Morgan will be remembered as the greatest 2nd baseman to play the game of baseball, one of the greatest Reds of all time, and a terrific broadcaster that had a major impact on sports television. In my opinion, ESPN’s baseball broadcasts have not been the same since Joe and Jon were not resigned.

Photo credits: The New York Times, This Day in Baseball.com, Baseball Hall of Fame, Athletics Nation.com, ESPN Front Row.com, NBCnews.com

Stats from Baseball Reference. Information from RIPBaseball.com

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