'90 Series leads Rijo, Davis to Hall

By John Erardi
Enquirer staff writer

The luster of the '90 world champions from Cincinnati has only increased over the years.

Nobody in baseball since has come up with a bullpen as deep and dominant as the three Nasty Boys.

Although the '90 Reds never got their national due for sweeping the Oakland A's of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire in the World Series - only a repeat in subsequent years could have brought that - the team is well-loved here. Former '90s stars Eric Davis and Jose Rijo - and Red Stockings pioneers Harry and George Wright - were inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame to warm applause before Saturday's Reds-Orioles game at Great American Ball Park.

It turns out the '90 Reds were convinced all along they would beat the A's.

"We knew it - we had talked about it going into the Series - even though nobody outside our locker room gave us a chance," Davis said. "We had faced some of their (pitchers) before. They were ... (former) National League guys. We weren't intimidated by them.

"We (the Reds) had All-Stars, 100-RBI guys, 40-homer guys. Just because we weren't 6-5, 250 pounds (like Canseco and McGwire) doesn't mean we didn't think we could win."

Davis said he continues to marvel how often fans mention the two-out, two-run home run he hit off Oakland's Dave Stewart in the first inning of Game 1 of the '90 World Series in Cincinnati.

"I had faced Dave the previous year in the All-Star Game in Anaheim, and he had started me out with a fastball for a strike and then threw me four 'splits' (split-fingered fastballs) and walked me," Davis said. "I had that in the back of my mind when I went up there in the first inning. I felt like he was going to try to get a fastball by me, and I wasn't going to take this one."

As soon as Davis hit the home run, Rijo said, he felt it would be enough runs for him.

Rijo won not only Game 1 in Cincinnati, but Game 4 in Oakland, to wrap up the World Series and win its Most Valuable Player Award.

Rijo said he felt the Reds needed to win Game 4 or the A's would come back to win the Series.
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