Reds Vault: Francisco HR leaves the park

March 10th, 2022

MLB.com is digging back into its massive video vault to uncover classic plays that you have loved, forgotten about or, perhaps, are discovering for the very first time. Watch these moments and many, many more on the MLB Vault YouTube page.

Sept. 12, 2011: Francisco slugs home run out of GABP
Young Reds third baseman Juan Francisco showed off his impressive power by slugging a home run over the right-field moon deck and completely out of Great American Ball Park against the Cubs. The projected distance (before the creation of Statcast) was 502 feet. Cincinnati went on to lose the game, 12-8.

Aug. 20, 2009: Stubbs walks it off for first MLB homer
Batting in the bottom of the 10th inning, rookie center fielder Drew Stubbs hit his first Major League home run, and it was a big one. The drive off of the left-field foul pole gave the Reds a 2-1 walk-off win over the Giants.

Oct. 12, 1990: Braggs' leaping catch in '90 NLCS
Before the Reds could clinch the National League pennant vs. the Pirates in the Game 6, their lead was preserved in the top of the ninth inning when Glenn Braggs made a leaping catch at the right-field wall to rob Carmelo Martinez of a two-run home run that would have given the Bucs a 3-2 lead. Instead, Cincinnati closed out the NLCS one batter later for a 2-1 victory and advanced to the World Series.

May 5, 1978: Rose collects 3,000th hit
Well on his way to becoming the all-time hits leader, Pete Rose lined a single to left field against the Expos at Riverfront Stadium for milestone hit No. 3,000. Former Big Red Machine teammate Tony Perez was playing first base for Montreal and asked for the ball to be saved for Rose.

Aug. 15, 1995: Reggie's career game
During an 11-3 rout of the Rockies at Riverfront Stadium, Reggie Sanders delivered the greatest hitting performance of his career with a three-homer game to lift Cincinnati. The homers came in consecutive plate appearances, all before the fifth inning.

June 22, 2011: HR hat trick for Heisey
Getting a start in Game 2 of a doubleheader vs. the Yankees at Great American Ball Park, outfielder Chris Heisey batted leadoff and hit three home runs to support starter Johnny Cueto in a 10-2 thumping.

June 24, 2000: Larkin's 5-for-5 performance
In one of the best games during his Hall of Fame career, Reds shortstop Barry Larkin went 5-for-5 with two home runs, four runs scored and four RBIs to lead Cincinnati to an 11-5 victory over the Padres.

Oct. 11, 1972: Wild pitch wins NL pennant
In a two-run bottom of the ninth that began with Johnny Bench's home run, pinch-runner George Foster scored from third base on Pirates pitcher Bob Moose's wild pitch to Hal McRae, sending the Reds to the World Series with an improbable 4-3 walk-off victory in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series.

July 5, 1989: O'Neill kicks baseball
Frustrated that he couldn't cleanly field a hit by the Phillies' Lenny Dykstra, right fielder Paul O'Neill wound up kicking the ball back to the infield and preventing a run from scoring.

July 31, 1978: Rose extends hit streak to 44 games
Against Phil Niekro of the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Pete Rose rolled a slow single through the right side in the sixth inning to extend his National League record hitting streak to 44 games. The streak would end the next night, but it remains the second-longest streak of all-time behind Joe DiMaggio's 56 games. One oddity: Rose never hit a home run during his hit streak.