Building the Machine

The first building block of the 1975 and 1976 Reds teams was laid on March 12, 1960, when the Reds signed Tony Perez as a minor league free agent. From Perez’s acquisition through the 1976 season, the 36 additional players that played for the Machine during those championship seasons were acquired as minor league free agents, amateur draft picks or via trade.

Player How Acquired Date
Tony Perez Amateur Free Agent 3/12/1960
Pete Rose Amateur Free Agent 6/18/1960
Johnny Bench Amateur Draft 6/8/1965
Darrel Chaney Amateur Draft 6/7/1966
Gary Nolan Amateur Draft 6/7/1966
David Concepcion Amateur Free Agent 9/12/1967
Clay Carroll Trade 6/11/1968
Bill Plummer Trade 1/9/1969
Rawly Eastwick Amateur Draft 6/5/1969
Ken Griffey Amateur Draft 6/5/1969
Don Gullett Amateur Draft 6/5/1969
Dan Driessen Amateur Free Agent 8/29/1969
Pedro Borbon Trade 11/25/1969
Joel Youngblood Amateur Draft 1/17/1970
Santo Alcala Amateur Free Agent 1/26/1970
Tom Carroll Amateur Draft 6/4/1970
Will McEnaney Amateur Draft 6/4/1970
Pat Zachry Amateur Draft 6/4/1970
George Foster Trade 5/29/1971
Don Werner Amateur Draft 6/8/1971
Doug Flynn Amateur Free Agent 8/25/1971
Ed Armbrister Trade 11/29/1971
Jack Billingham Trade 11/29/1971
Cesar Geronimo Trade 11/29/1971
Joe Morgan Trade 11/29/1971
Tom Hall Trade 12/3/1971
Manny Sarmiento Amateur Free Agent 3/25/1972
Fred Norman Trade 6/12/1973
Clay Kirby Trade 11/9/1973
Merv Rettenmund Trade 12/4/1973
Pat Darcy Trade 2/18/1974
Terry Crowley Purchase 3/19/1974
John Vukovich Trade 10/22/1974
Joe Henderson Purchase 1/2/1975
Bob Bailey Trade 12/12/1975
Rich Hinton Trade 12/12/1975
Mike Lum Trade 12/12/1975