"The Machine", Joe Posnanski's book about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, is a fascinating look at one of the most interesting and greatest teams to ever play the game. The book covers the team from the off season through the World Series, and along the way profiles a huge number of baseball legends including Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Sparky Anderson, Dave Concepcion, Ken Griffey, Cesar Geranimo and others.

A lot of baseball books about a team's season or a player's career get bogged down in individual plays, games and statistics. There are so many plays in a given season that the author faces a challenging task in deciding which events are worthy of inclusion in the book and which are not. If the author does not achieve the correct balance the book can really suffer. This is where Posnanski shines. Every game and play that he included in the book either illustrates an important aspect of the player involved or shows something that made the 1975 Reds special. The result is a narrative that flows beautifully.

I would recommend that any baseball fan read this book. It is especially beneficial for fans such as myself, who were too young to see or remember the Big Red Machine but are interested in the history of the game.

I wanted to like this book. Joe Posnanski is a terrific writer. His newspapers columns, magazine articles, and blog posts are among the very best of any sportswriter of this generation. His subject matter is fascinating - perhaps the best baseball team in recent memory, if not ever. It seems like a wonderful combination, but ultimately the book is disappointing.

First, the book presents minimal new information. Posnanski's biggest challenge is that this team, this era of baseball history, and especially the 1975 World Series have all been well documented in literature. He needs to add something to the conversation, but there's very little in the book that hasn't been covered before. Posnanski's new contributions are too often rooted in pop-psychology (Rose had an overbearing father, the team believed they could not lose and so they didn't, etc).

Similarly, the player profiles add minimal depth to what you probably already know about them. One notable exception is Ken Griffey, a quiet underappreciated player who rarely received press coverage while he was playing. Posnanski's interviews with Griffey add quite a bit to the story line.

Next, the writing seems aimed at a junior-high audience (with the exception of some adult language and situations.) Far too many sentences read like something out of a feel-good sports novel for teenage boys. The greatest sportswriters of our generation (Bill James, Roger Angell, Leigh Montville) are able to cover their subjects with sophisticated prose and a willingness to challenge their audience to think and rethink. Posnanski himself does this with most of his writing. Not so here, and the book suffers for it.

Finally, the author omits, or gives minimal treatment to, many of the most interesting questions about this team. For example, the core of this Reds club was together from 1972 (when Morgan left the team) through 1978 (Rose's last year in Cincinnati). Why did the 1975-76 versions suddenly dominate the world? Yes, they had a great lineup, but that was true in many of the surrounding seasons as well. No player, with the exception of Morgan, delivered his peak performance in 1975. The pitching staff, while effective, has nary a Hall of Famer on it. And no one who was particularly close. Gullett may have been brilliant for a brief window of time, but that's it. The rotation and bullpen on these Reds teams does not compare favorably at all when put up against the other great teams in baseball history. Posnanski gives little insight into why this team suddenly gelled into a behemoth, aside from a bit of the pop psychology referenced earlier.

Or he could have gone in a related direction - how well does this club compare to the great teams in history. Posnanski devotes a few paragraphs at the end to providing his thoughts, but those opinions are extremely subjective with little analysis behind them.

Other greenfield topics could have included a look at how the club was put together over time: which players were drafted, which were acquired in trades, etc. How did these players progress through the minor leagues? Morgan was notoriously undervalued in Houston, where the Astrodome severely hampered his statistics; did someone on the Reds see and understand this? If so, that would make Cincinnati well ahead of their time in player evaluation. Or did they just get lucky? Many of the Reds players were foreign born...did Cincinnati have more or better resources scouting talent outside of the US? All of these questions and others would have provided tremendous depth to the story and would have given Posnanski a wealth of new angles to cover. Instead we get too many pages about the publicity stunt that was baseball's 1,000,000th run.

If you are a younger fan, or not all that familiar with this great team, The Machine is a fine read. You'll learn quite a bit about the club and its players. If you have more than a passing knowledge of the '75 Reds, you'll more than likely be disappointed.

The Cincinnati Reds team of 1975 was truly "one" of the great teams of modern baseball history. The author steadfastly says they were "the" greatest... but does not present enough detail about other great teams for the average fan to truly weigh his arguments. But that is one of the true joys of being a baseball fan... the arguments regarding which teams and which players are better. The author very, very, briefly throws out the 1927 Yankees and the "BOYS-OF-SUMMER" the powerful Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950's. (Actually they should be reviewed from 1947-1957.) But leaving that unwinnable argument aside... where this book truly shines for any hardcore fan... regardless of team affiliation... is in the behind the scenes bickering and *BUSTING-OF-CHOPS* between the great members of this team. Pete Rose and Joe Morgan would ridicule each other on a daily basis... and as is the danger of such *CHOP-BUSTING*... when it's between two ultra-competitive athletes... the jokes can become mean spirited quickly. The reader will learn what an arrogant individual Johnny Bench was and how opponents and teammates alike detested him. As an example Ken Griffey Sr. who had to sacrifice much of his most stellar abilities so as not to take any of the luster away from the four main stars... Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony "Doggie" Perez... such as his base stealing capabilities. Griffey was not only the fastest runner on the team... but possibly in the league. He originally batted ahead of Morgan... but Morgan complained to manager Sparky Anderson that he didn't like other players to attempt to steal bases when he was at bat because it threw off his hitting. So Sparky moved Griffey from the top part of the order to the bottom part of the order. Years later Griffey said: "I'M GOING TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, JOHNNY BENCH TO ME, WAS AN ***HOLE... JOE WAS AN ***HOLE TOO. JOE WAS LIKE THAT TOO. HE TALKED DOWN TO CERTAIN PEOPLE. HE DIDN'T TALK AT ALL TO ME OR GEORGE (FOSTER). I GUESS WE WEREN'T ON HIS LIST OF GOOD PEOPLE OR SOMETHING. THAT'S JUST HOW IT WAS, YOU KNOW?"

Perhaps the most in depth investigation of any individual on "THE MACHINE" was not a player at all... but manager Sparky Anderson. The author delves into Sparky's early days as an atomic bomb of temperament... his one-year major league career as a ballplayer... his strained relationship with his son who refused to cut his hair... his fear of failing... his nightly bouts with sleeplessness and ulcers even when the Reds led the league by double digits... and his unique friendship with a Holiday Inn employee.

Nicely interspersed with the 1975 pennant race and World Series with the Boston Red Sox are tidbits of historical facts from the world outside of baseball during the time period depicted which adds to the readers perspective of the team as a whole. As a true baseball fanatic I must point out a couple of mistakes in the book. On page twenty-three the author writes: "THAT HAPPENED IN 1970 WHEN HE (JOHNNY BENCH) HIT 40 HOME RUNS AND DROVE IN 148 RUNS, NUMBERS NO CATCHER HAD EVER REACHED." This is incorrect. Roy Campanella of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit 41 home runs in 1953. On page fifty-one the author wrote: "THE REDS WERE GOOD IN THE 1960S-THEY WON A PENNANT IN 1960..." This is incorrect. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the National League pennant and World Series in 1960. And the following is not a mistake... but just a curious oddity. On the inside title page there is a picture of Joe Morgan sliding into second base as Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers awaits the throw. This is a book all about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds... and yet Maury Wills retired in 1972.