Sanders, Harang, Phillips, Piniella enter Reds Hall of Fame

CINCINNATI -- The Reds Hall of Fame induction class for 2026 featured two stars of the first era of Great American Ball Park and two more from the final era of Riverfront Stadium.

All four inductees -- Brandon Phillips, Aaron Harang, Reggie Sanders and Lou Piniella -- felt the weight of the moment as they joined the ranks of the greats for a franchise with history dating to the 1800s.

"I’m extremely humbled by it," Harang said. "It’s something I never thought about when I was playing. I got to a couple of events and I saw [Barry] Larkin and Eric Davis go in. But it’s not something you really think about while you’re playing. You’re just trying to grind day to day and help the team win. So to now see all of that come to fruition and know that I did something that the fans appreciated … it’s definitely an honor.”

"I don’t take this lightly at all," Sanders said. "I think about this moment. This moment is bigger than me. It’s about the village that has helped me get to this point. My mom is here. My father has passed away. He won’t be here. But it’s pure joy of what they’ve been able to do with what little they had. So that’s what I’m excited about.”

Phillips grateful for fans
Phillips spent 11 seasons with the Reds from 2006-16 and was part of postseason clubs Cincinnati fielded in '10, '12 and '13. As a second baseman who provided electric highlights offensively and especially defensively, he is the franchise record holder at his position with 1,774 hits, 311 doubles and 191 home runs. He was a three-time All-Star (2010, '11, '13), a four-time Gold Glove winner and a Silver Slugger Award recipient.

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In 2007, Phillips joined Larkin and Davis as the Reds' only 30-30 players when he slugged 30 home runs with 32 stolen bases.

“The No. 1 thing that stands out here are the fans more than anything," Phillips said. "They never booed me. They showed me nothing but love every day. I tried to embrace them every day. I tried to sign autographs every day, go to every Redsfest, every Reds Caravan. I try my best to just show love to them more than my success.

"I try to be the 'DatDude' entertainer that I am for the fans, but I also tried to put a show on with my bat and my glove. I tried to give my blood, sweat and tears. I hope my stats and my play, people can just look up to the player that I was and embrace it. I hope I can make their day. The fans are the ones that kept me going to really have success here in Cincinnati.”

Harang showed how to pitch in a smaller ballpark
Harang, who was a fixture in the Reds' rotation from 2003-10, ranks seventh in franchise history with 1,125 strikeouts and led the team in strikeouts each season from 2004-07. He pitched 200 innings three times.

In 2006, Harang led the National League with six complete games and 216 strikeouts and tied for the NL lead with 16 wins and 35 starts. In 2007, he finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting. His arrival in a Trade Deadline deal from the A's in '03 marked the start of better pitching at a ballpark that was unfriendly to pitchers. In '06, Harang and Bronson Arroyo formed a strong top two for the rotation.

“It was fun in '06 and '07," said Harang, Cincinnati’s Opening Day starter for five consecutive years from 2006-10. "Me and Bronson were just back and forth, kind of having fun competitions with each other. Being able to go out and pitch all of those innings and give the bullpen days off and rest so they could be sharp other days.

"Yes, this ballpark is notorious for the long ball, and [it was] learning to pitch through that, around it and help the younger guys coming up understand that, ‘Hey, it’s a part of being here, but just don’t allow baserunners. Don’t walk guys and try to keep guys off base.’ Just give the team a chance to win. That was my mindset every time I went out there.”

Sanders appreciated Eric Davis
Sanders played the first eight of his 17 Major League seasons with Cincinnati from 1991-98. His best season was '95, when he went to his lone All-Star Game and batted .306 with a .975 OPS, 28 home runs, 99 RBIs and 36 steals. He helped lead his team to a NL Central title, and it remains the last Reds club to advance in the playoffs, as it reached the NL Championship Series.

Arriving in August the season after the Reds won the World Series, Sanders remembered his first day in the big leagues fondly because Davis greeted him at the clubhouse door.

"He said, ‘Hey man, I’m waiting on you,'" Sanders recalled. "'Are you waiting on me? Oh my God. I’m here to come take your job, right?' He said, ‘No, don’t worry about that.’ He said, ‘I’ve got your back. I’m going to support you. I’m going to do whatever you need to do.’ That kind of thing kind of relinquished the pressure in that moment. Now, I can go out and do what I need to do because I don’t have to worry about other things that would take me away from thinking about baseball.”

Piniella 'thrilled' with election to Reds Hall
Piniella logged only three seasons as the Reds' manager, from 1990-92, but were they ever memorable. After the club emerged from the 1989 scandal of former manager Pete Rose betting on baseball and being banished from the game, Piniella took over in '90 as the club went wire-to-wire in first place on its way to its first World Series title since 1976.

It is the last World Series Cincinnati has played in.

At Spring Training and looking at the roster, Piniella said he felt that if the pitching held up, the Reds could win it all.

“My message to them was, 'You guys are at the right age with the right experience and the talent to win everything,'" Piniella said. "'So go out and play ball, have fun and good things will happen to us.' Well, we started off 9-0, and we went wire-to-wire."

Piniella, 82, has twice missed election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote, in 2018 and '23. For him, going into the Reds Hall of Fame was extremely meaningful.

“I was thrilled," Piniella said. "I wasn’t looking, necessarily, that I’d be elected or anything. But when I got the call, I was so excited. I told the guy, 'You made my whole year with this induction.' I’m so honored and so proud. Cincinnati has had a great tradition of baseball and great players. I’m honored to be in the same hall with them.”