Big Red Machine

The first thing people notice about Atanasio Rigal Perez is his distinctive build. The second is the way he hits a baseball. His teammates insist there is a connection between the two. "See that rear end on him," says Johnny Bench. "That's what generates his power." Not long ago the callipygous Cuban was leading both major leagues in home runs, runs batted in and batting average. Now it looks as if he might not lead his own team in anything. Not that Tony Perez is slumping--he hammered out four homers and drove in 14 runs in his last six games. It is simply that he plays for a fearsome aggregation known this year as the "Big Red Machine."

Warmup for the 1970s. Cincinnati is a river city of long hot summers and long-suffering fans, whose loyalty has been rewarded by only four pennants and two World Series victories in the 94 years since they joined the National League. But everyone in town agrees that the long lackluster century was just a warmup for the 1970s. By playing .700 ball into the last of July, the Cincinnati Reds have made a farce out of the league's western division race. Last week they led second-place Los Angeles by 11 1/2 games. Third-place Atlanta is 20 1/2 games back, and Cincinnati is already looking to October, when the Reds are expected to bring home their first world championship in 30 years. Says General Manager Bob How-sam: "I see no reason why we can't stay up there if we don't get too fat. We have to stay hungry to do it."

Young players are hungry players, and the team has no fat old men. Rookie Manager Sparky Anderson, himself the majors' youngest pilot at 36, starts his line-up card with five .300 hitters. They have a mid-August total of 118 home runs, and the oldest man among them is 28. The first batter an opposing pitcher has to face is Outfielder Pete Rose, who is pursuing his third straight batting title with a .328 average. Next comes Bobby Tolan, a .317-hitting centerfielder who has learned to add insult to injury by becoming baseball's most accomplished base thief. He has stolen 43 so far this season. Tony Perez bats No. 3. He still leads the Reds in batting average with .334, but in the power categories he has fallen behind Cincy's Catcher and Cleanup Man Johnny Bench, who leads the majors in home runs (40) and RBIs (115), and sets new criteria for excellence at his position No. 5, Rookie Outfielder Bernie Carbo, has the face of a matinee idol, and 19 home runs in only 263 at bats. They are all backed up by Lee May, the quiet first baseman who is called "Mechanical Man" because of his stiff bearing. May led last year's Reds with 38 homers and has 25 this season.

Wide Open Spaces. Students of the game will recall that long-ball hitters are something of a tradition in Cincinnati. The trouble has always been pitching--except for this year. A couple of trades brought in two American League veterans: Jim Merritt from the Minnesota Twins and Jim McGlothlin from the California Angels. Together they have won 28 games. A pair of home-grown youngsters, Gary Nolan, 22, and Wayne Simpson, 21, have added another 29 victories.

In the early part of the season, the Reds' bedeviled rivals could hardly wait for the opening of Cincinnati's $44 million Riverfront Stadium--not only because of the 50,000 seats. The new park's wide open spaces were expected to cut into the Reds' homer parade. Nothing doing. Since Riverfront opened on June 30, Bench and Perez have reached the distant bleachers on 17 occasions.

One night last week, while the Machine was beating a team from New York, Tony Perez came up to bat with the bases loaded and got all his weight into one. Way, way up in the left-field grandstand's third deck were two ingrates who thought they were safe. Tony's 500-ft. blast just cleared them and their sign, which read "Jimmy and Tobi Love the Mets." The Mets?

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