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He taught Johnny Cueto to throw a change up. Was a roving pitching instructor for the Reds for years!! Thank you so much for this video! Mario deserves more recognition.
As a family that has always loved the reds my grandfather loved soto my father loved soto and film I saw of soto and the kindness he gave to the game was what got me to play in the first place.
The worst irony of Mario’s career is that he was phenomenal in those 80’s seasons when the Reds were horrible….then, just as the Reds started to win again, he was hurt (and basically finished). He deserved to be on a winning Reds team. I loved Mario. He was a beast and had the best changeup I’ve ever seen.
It’s hard to describe how good he was… the Reds were so bad from 1982-1984…. He had to pitch a complete game if he wanted to win…. Rarely gave up more than two runs…. I believe he was over used in 1985, but also, he started throwing a slider…. which may have contributed to his arm trouble…. Just sayin….
Lots of memories of players from back then. This is when I was growing up and was in my teens. I remember all of those players mentioned. This video had me looking a lot of players mentioned here up on Baseball Reference, to see how their careers panned out. 😀 Great trip down memory lane. Mario Soto was a great pitcher, but unfortunately.....
Man, those are the best Reds home unis ever. Soto was a hothead. Oh, and Jose Rios was also supposed to be the next Juan Marichal. He even married Marichal’s daughter.
Soto’s “out pitch” was his change up. What made it great was the difference in velocity between his fastball and change. When he lost a few mph on the fastball, the change was not as effective.
On the day of that Soto near no-hitter/George Hendrick game, I was walking with my friend. We were on our way to hang out at his aunt's house, which sat adjacent to a convenience store that had a very large window where the clerk sat. My friend and I stopped in to the store to buy snacks. The clerk was all excited because he was listening to the Reds game on WLW radio, and he told us that it was the eighth inning and Mario Soto was throwing a no-hitter. The Reds were really bad during Soto's best years, so a no-hitter would be a real feel-good day for a bad 1984 Reds team and their fans. After we paid for our treats, my friend and I sat on his aunt's front porch, turned on a transistor radio and listened to the rest of the game. We could see the clerk through the big window. When Soto recorded the first out in the ninth inning, the clerk was drumming the countertop and celebrating. Then George Hendrick comes up. After taking a pitch or two, Soto came up and right under Hendrick's chin, causing George to hit the dirt. The whole stadium gasped and the store attendant just kind of froze with confusion. George got up, dusted himself off and got back in the box. A couple of pitches later, there was a loud crack of the bat and Marty Brennaman started calling out that there's a deep fly ball to left field, that ball is out of the park, and there goes the no-hitter with one out in the ninth. My friend and I were immediately lamenting with each other about how awful it was for Soto to get so close to a no-hitter and that nothing ever goes in the Reds favor. Just then, my friend points across the street towards the store and shouts, "LOOK!" That dude running the convenience store was throwing an absolute fit behind the counter. He was throwing products and knocking over the countertop displays. We couldn't hear him, but we know that he was yelling and cursing. Despite our disappointment in Soto losing his no-hitter, my friend and I were doubled over in laughter at watching this guy being so full of hope and happiness to absolutely losing it at work within a five minute time frame. Man it was a sight to see. My friend liked to be a low-key instigator and wanted to go over to the store to ask the clerk if Soto still had a no-hitter going. I didn't let him do that - for his own safety...😂 Such a great memory from a lousy summer of 1984 Reds baseball. I'll never forget it...😅
Great video very imformative! I remember him when he pitched against the Mets in the mid-80s. Juan Marichal also used a bat as a weapon when he was thrown at..they have that in common too! Excellent point about the problems with Rose betting on his own team..never thought about that!
MLB should have allowed the Reds and LA to play a one game playoff for the first half crown! Because I’d scheduling and/rainouts, LA allayed one moe game than the Reds.
The 80’s Reds were horrible except for Soto. I can’t tell you how many games he lost 1-0 or 2-1. I guarantee his career loss total could be cut by a third or even half with even an average Reds team in the 80’s.
Granted, I have no doubt owners help influence the outcomes of games. The issue, is they don't like their employees having their own bets that could affect the outcomes the owners had in mind
Man.What a great video I consider myself in the top 52 ten percent of baseball fans in terms of knowledge and i've never heard of him. His entire career took place before I was born but still I'd like to think I have heard of the greats in the eighties and seventies
I was always taught as a pitcher if you hit batter to make sure catcher knows to get you a ball back asap. Just in case you get rushed by a hitter with a bat in hand, you have a ball to hit him with , again lol.
Wow. Never heard of this guy! He def had a successful career. But it does make you wonder what woulda been? Anyway I appreciate you taking a look at rose’s managerial tenure with how he coached Soto, and really how the old school baseball mindset worked. Rose, whom I don’t think made him pitch anymore than he already did, certainly didn’t help matters by ingnoring Soto’s arm problems. I already head how he stifled the younger players by putting himself in the lineup everyday just so he could keep playing. And perhaps the old age question of the 80s lack of HOF pitchers is solved, pitchers began throwing harder and the workload grew. I mean Dave steib for example is the best pitcher of the 80s yet he suffered bad arm problems because of the workload, yet he eventually came back after taking a break. But admittedly that theory has holes.
Pedro taking down Zimmer is one of the funniest things I witnessed in baseball. Knowing Soto did it too makes it even funnier. Oh, Popeye. You little bald headed scamp.
He works for the Reds. I call for Pedro Martinez to interview him, accompanied by Bill James as to the granular specifics of Rose’s usage of Soto. After that Pedro and Bill can properly offer Pete an opportunity to clarify, which won’t happen haha but if it did d it would be delicious. Pete had a lot of motivation to abuse Soto but the Dodgers were better in the end anyway.
I'm sorry but he bet on baseball.And don't you believe for 2 minutes by looking at some of the moves he made while he was a manager. Are you bet on his team to lose to believe that. And I love Pete Rose as a player. Charlie hustle always have a place in my heart.
True. He showed flashes of greatness from time to time but could never quite do it consistently enough. I got to see him start several games at Busch back in the early eighties.
Pete Rose’s mistake was simply bad timing. Pro sports exist today primarily to drive the gambling industry. I confess the guilt of overstatement. Overstatement, however, throws a bright light upon the truth.
