Reds Hall of Fame and Museum

As ashamed as I am, I have never visited the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum (RHF&M) until today. It was one of those things that I planned on going, was excited about going, just never got there. Today though I did finally go, and I must say...I feel cheated.

If you ever watch a baseball game on Fox Sports Ohio then you know how great the RHF&M is. Because when it comes time to promote it at the beginning on the inning, not only will the announcers mention it, they brag about it for a good two minuets. They say how it is the best of its kind, how the displays on there are top of the line stuff. Well, from what I saw, it was rather boring and quite frankly disappointing.

After getting to to place, which was not easy as half of Pete Rose Way was closed today, we walked into the museum to find the first floor literary 3/4 empty. If you do not know, they had a full display of the 1990 season. 'HAD' being the optimal word.

Sure they had the 1990 world series trophy still out...but that is just about it. The room was empty, if you screamed I am sure you would find an echo. They had a horrible idea of setting two cases facing each other next to the wall. so basically you could see one side of one case, but the other behind it was blocked by another case that was next to the wall. History so close....yet so far. Really it was a 'piss poor' job. I was pretty upset.

Next you go down a hall and you find giant poster's of player who hold Reds records. I was impressed. Except for the fact it did not give the actual number the player had of the record. For instance, George Foster holds the single season home run record for any Reds player in the history of the franchise. For those of you that don't know how much that is...don't go to the RHF&M to find out. Instead what you will find is a giant poster of Foster, and below it saying something along the lines of "Most Home runs in a single season".

Now remember there are a ton of these, and I don't think it is that much to ask to actually put the record on the poster. By the way, Foster had 52 in 1977.

The second floor I guess was neat. It was a huge tribute to the 2010 Reds. I guess that sounds good, even through it is pretty recent history. I wish they would put something VERY historic in that spot. The Hall of Fame is mostly about the players that played in the 70's, especially Pete Rose. And though I understand why, I feel that they neglected some of the older times, after all Cincinnati was the first team to ever become pro.

The third floor was admittedly pretty cool. It is pretty sad on my part that it took some interactive games to get involved, but that was exactly the case. I did like the play by play booth. It allowed you to have fun and relive some great Reds moments. so I guess i would give a thumbs up for that.

Finally the plaques were poorly displayed. Stacking them one by one is pathetic. That place should be ligten up with players named bold. Give some history of the player and why they were great. Sure the plaque says a little but I think that they should give a more in depth view of the players, and why they deserve the honor.

Overall I would not recommend RHF&M. It was just average. Nothing spectacular, and I could have lived if I did not visit it. When I hear the announcers go on and on about it this season, I will shiver, but that is just my opinion.