This is a year of anniversaries for the Cincinnati Reds.
It's the 150th anniversary of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first all-professional team… The 100th anniversary of the Reds winning the 1919 World Series… The 75th anniversary of Joe Nuxhall's historic debut as the youngest Major League Baseball player, at age 15.
And it's the 55th anniversary of theRosie Reds.
Recent past president Dale Silver and Brian Powers from the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County will talk with me about the organization's history on WVXU's Around Cincinnati at 7 p.m. this Sunday.
It was founded in 1964 when Reds owner Bill DeWitt was talking about moving the team to San Diego. One of several efforts to boost attendance, to keep the team here, was forming a "women's only" group called "Rooters Organized to Stimulate Interest and Enthusiasm in the Cincinnati Reds. Or the ROSIE Reds.
Incorporation papers were signed July 31, 1964. By the first of 1965, membership was at 445, and grew to 865 charter members by May 1965. The Reds helped boost the group by putting Rosie Red with Mr. Redlegs on the cover of the 1965 scorecard sold at Crosley Field for 10 cents.
Membership jumped to 3,000 when the Big Red Machine was rolling to the World Series in 1970. It's now less than that.
Silver talks about the current membership; the group's involvement with the Rosie Red mascot; the baseball endowments to nine area universities; and other philanthropic efforts.
Powers describes the exhibit at the main public library downtown called "A Cincinnati Sesquicentennial: Celebrating 150 Years of the Cincinnati Reds." It will be on display through July 28.
The library's Reds celebration includes a Rosie Reds panel discussion with President Valerie Guthrie and Silver at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 22, at the main public library, 800 Vine St.
Hear about the Rosie Reds 7 p.m. Sunday, June 16 on Around Cincinnati on WVXU, WMUB and wvxu.org.
