I couldn’t get the full experience of visiting Great American Ball Park without stopping at the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.
How else would I know what the inside of a baseball feels like or what players wore to stay warm in 1904? (I’m not being sarcastic. I found all of it fascinating.) As professional baseball’s first franchise, the Reds are not short on history.
The Reds haven’t had a winning record since 2013 and are on pace for one of the worst seasons in MLB history, but they’ve been around in some form since 1869 and have their share of World Series championships with five (1919, 1940, 1975, 1976 and 1990).
(In fact, they won a World Series in my lifetime before my beloved Cardinals did, not that my 2-year-old self bothered to notice back in 1990. I’m sure I was more concerned with how Arial was going to escape Ursula or what Michelle Tanner was going to do next.)
The Hall of Fame and Museum sits right in front of Great American Ball Park, so my brother and I decided to explore the museum before entering the stadium. Adult admission is $10, and my experience there was worth at least that much.
My first stop at the museum was getting a pic with this guy.
I’m glad I did because although the Reds apparently have FOUR mascots (Mr. Red, Mr. Redlegs, Gapper and Rosie Red), I got a picture with zero of them. This statue of Mr. Redlegs is the closest I came. (Why four mascots? And how in the world did I miss all of them???)
After saying hi to the Mr. Redlegs statue, we walked into the lobby area, purchased our tickets and got our first view of the actual museum.
A big chunk of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated to uniforms, which I loved because throwback uniforms are some of the most iconic visual representations of what baseball looked and felt like throughout the years.
The first room takes guests back all the way to 1869 with a Red Stockings replica jersey and also features a collection of jerseys from other decades and other teams from around the league.
From there, fans can step into the Palace of the Fans Theater. (Unfortunately, we did not because the next video wasn’t showing for a while, and we were slightly crunched for time. I regret missing out.)
After bypassing the theater, we made our way to one of the most intriguing areas of the museum, a stairwell with a wall covered in baseballs, each representing one of Pete Rose’s MLB record 4,256 career hits.
From what I have read online since going, this section also features a rose garden outside the window, showing where Rose’s record-breaking 4,192nd hit landed, but I don’t remember seeing it. (Maybe it was too early in the year for roses??? Or maybe I’m just not very observant … probably the latter.)
I was interested to see how the Reds treat their disgraced legend, but it looks like he holds a special place in their Hall of Fame, which I guess is deserved considering his accomplishments on the field.
The upper floor offers a look at Cincinnati’s past ballparks, including this cool light from Crosley Field (home of the Reds from 1912 to 1970).
After checking out the old ballparks, I got the chance to step inside the dugout with Reds Hall of Fame managers Sparky Anderson (1970-78) and Bill McKechnie (1938-46) in statue form.
And from that experience, I realized I would make one heck of a manager.
Me in the Hall of Fame dugout
Fans can also see how fast they throw, find out what the materials inside baseballs throughout history feel like (pretty stringy) and see how Reds players have stayed warm throughout the years. (I especially enjoyed this part because as someone who is always cold, I’m a big fan of bundling up.)
Speaking of bundling up, the second floor also features a Kids Clubhouse where kids can literally slide into home (down an actual slide) and try on kid-sized baseball jerseys. I took advantage of my height (or lack thereof) and threw on the Jason LaRue jersey in honor of his time as a Cardinal, which I discussed in my Reds preview. It fit.
This next room doesn’t necessarily have as much historical significance as some of the other exhibits, but what it lacks in history, it more than makes up in charm.
The museum also dedicates an area to broadcasting, and this is where I made my most interesting discovery of the visit. (It may be worth mentioning that I once worked in media relations in college athletics, which probably has something to do with how fascinating I found this.)
Apparently, prior to the late 1940s, most away team radio broadcasters were not actually at the games they were announcing. Instead, they relied on someone to send shorthand messages in Morse code via telegraph, while someone at the radio station typed the description of the play-by-play to be read on air. (Simply fascinating.)
There’s also a radio booth where fans can record their own calls of special moments in Reds history. (Unlike the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum, you can’t listen to the original calls first … so it was pretty much a fail on our end.)
The final room before the Hall of Fame is the Great Teams Room. There, you can celebrate with the “Great Eight” members of the Big Red Machine. (I didn’t … because I felt weird doing it in my Cardinals sweatshirt. I wasn’t there to start any fights.)
The Big Red Machine (the 1970s Reds) basically owned the ’70s with two World Series titles, four National League pennants and six division titles during the decade. The “Great Eight” were the starting position players from the World Series championship team (Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey Sr., Tony Perez, Dave Concepcion, George Foster and Cesar Geronimo).
After taking in all the history and learning just how much the Reds dominated in the 1970s, we finally stepped into the Reds Hall of Fame, home to Reds greats, like Bench, Griffey (Jr. and Sr.), Morgan and Rose.
One of my absolute favorite parts of the experience was watching Reds fans soak in the history of their team. Now I know how I must look when I’m at the Cardinals or Illini Hall of Fame.
I’m not trying to be dramatic, but seeing the looks on Reds fans’ faces, old and young, maybe visiting for the first time, was kind of inspiring. I actually got a little teary-eyed at one point. (Disclaimer: I’m a crier. I cry for pretty much every emotion … joy, sadness, anger, shock, nervousness, you get the idea.)
But try telling me this doesn’t make you feel something.
I love history, and I love baseball. If you love either of those, make sure to put the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum on your to-do list next time you’re in Cincinnati.
There’s still more to come from Cincinnati, but first, take a look at the Hall of Fame and Museum photo gallery below. And if you missed Part 1, check it out now for a recap of my rainy day at Great American Ball Park.
Reds Hall of Fame and Museum Photo Gallery
