Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy took on a wide-ranging batch of Reds questions this week, touching on everything from pizza promotions and oddball bats to Chase Burns, Johnny Bench and a few old-school memories.
The pizza math came first. One reader suggested Reds hitters ought to have to hand cold pizza to fans after 10 strikeouts if pitchers can trigger free slices with 10 strikeouts of their own.
McCoy corrected the premise: the “Strikeout For Slices” deal gives fans at LaRosa’s a free slice when a Reds pitcher strikes out 11. He also pointed out that if the Reds’ hitters fan 11 times, the pizza ought to be hot - though, as he noted, the club strikes out 11 or more so often it might run LaRosa’s out of business.
Chase Burns was the next big topic. Asked whether a pitcher on a sub-.500 team can still win the Cy Young Award, McCoy said a hot run like Burns is on now can’t be ignored.
He added that it’s rare, but not unheard of: among more than 120 Cy Young Awards, only 18 have gone to pitchers on losing teams. He cited Roger Clemens, who won it seven times and twice on losing teams, plus Felix Hernandez in 2010 with Seattle, Zack Greinke in 2009 with Kansas City, and Paul Skenes last season with Pittsburgh.
As of Aug. 2, Burns was 13-1 and had won his last 12 decisions, and McCoy said, “Burns has my vote right now.”
McCoy also addressed the torpedo-shaped bats that drew attention when they were introduced in May of 2025. He said some players still use them, including Elly De La Cruz, Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Adley Rutschman.
He wasn’t sure whether early adopters such as Jazz Chisholm, Paul Goldschmidt, Dansby Swanson, Junior Caminero and Francisco Lindor still do. He closed the answer with a wink: if someone introduced a Polish sausage-shaped bat, players would give it a try.
A question about Johnny Bench and the hinged catcher’s mitt brought a correction. McCoy said Bench did not invent it.
Randy Hundley of the Chicago Cubs did, and Bench quickly adopted it. Before that, catcher’s mitts were flat and made one-handed catches and sweep tags at the plate much harder.
The hinge let catchers squeeze the glove closed more like a first baseman’s mitt and keep the ball in the glove more easily.
McCoy was more guarded when asked about Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson’s leave of absence. He called it a curious situation, noting the team announced Johnson’s decision in late May and that manager Terry Francona said only, “Out of respect to D.J., that’s all we have.” McCoy said that was all that needed to be said, and added there is no indication of when Johnson might return or even whether he will.
Another question looked back to Wayne Simpson and the danger of long-term deals. McCoy said the current organization may not even know who Simpson is.
As a rookie in 1970, Simpson went 13-1, made the All-Star team and drew praise from Pittsburgh’s Al Oliver, who said, “I’d have to rate him right up there with Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton.” Then, on July 31, he tore his rotator cuff and was never the same, winning only 16 games over his next 67 appearances.
McCoy noted that if something like that happened to Burns, the Reds would still be on the hook for the full $105 million in his deal.
McCoy also said he shares Jack McKeon’s preference for contact, movement and putting the ball in play. He said the 95-year-old former Reds manager still talks to him by phone, when he can get him off his riding mower in Elon, N.C.
McKeon, McCoy said, remains sharp and still attends some games with his scout son, Casey. Like McCoy, he misses the days when baseball leaned harder into that style of play, though McCoy added, “Unfortunately, it won’t happen.”
On uniforms, McCoy agreed with a reader who called the Reds’ City Connect look ugly. Through July, the Reds were 3-5 at home on Fridays while wearing black and 5-3 on Saturdays in red, leaving them 8-8 in those outfits. McCoy said that was actually a better percentage than when they wear their traditional home uniforms, though he noted that includes the red tops with “Reds” in script, not just the all-white set with the wishbone ‘C.’
He wrapped up with a memory of Bobby Cox, whom he called one of his all-time favorites and “a legend with his feet planted firmly on the ground.” McCoy recalled the press-box attendance pool, where everyone tossed in a dollar and guessed the crowd size.
When Cox was the Atlanta Braves GM, he joined in every time. McCoy also remembered Cox as a cigar smoker and said that when the Reds were in Atlanta, he would stop by Cox’s office.
On one Sunday morning, Cox sent his coaches out, brought McCoy in and the two lit up together.
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