Watch: Former Reds manager Lou Piniella on MLB, Hall of Fame chances
Former Cincinnati Reds manager talks about his MLB career, Baseball Hall of Fame chances.
Brandon Phillips, the Gold Glove second baseman and three-time All-Star, heads the Cincinnati Reds’ newest Hall of Fame Class – with 1990 World Series-winning manager Lou Piniella also getting his long-awaited recognition in the four-man class of 2026.
Phillips and former teammate Aaron Harang, the right-hander who led the National League in wins and strikeouts in 2006, were selected by receiving the most votes on the Modern Player Ballot among eight nominees (through a combined vote of fans and media and Reds alumni).
Piniella and outfielder Reggie Sanders were elected through the Reds’ Hall of Fame Veterans Committee (for executives, managers as well as players whose careers ended more than 15 years ago).
Sanders was a dual power-speed threat who hit 305 home runs and stole 304 bases in his career, earning his lone All-Star selection as a Red in 1995, when he finished sixth in MVP voting.
Piniella, a three-time manager of the year, won 90 games twice in his three seasons with the Reds, including the wire-to-wire championship season that culminated with an upset of the “Bash Brothers” Oakland A’s.
Twice Piniella finished one vote shy of earning election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the only one in history to finish that close in voting more than once without getting in. He shared that distinction with Dick Allen, who eventually was elected a year ago.
Piniella gets his next shot next year.
This class will bring to 97 the number of those enshrined in the Reds’ HOF.
The class will be honored April 24-26, when the Detroit Tigers are in town.
The Reds host an April 26, 2026, gala for the inductees at the convention center (tickets available through redsmuseum.org).