A complete list of Joe Morgan's records, awards and statistical accomplishments for his 21 years of major league baseball would probably dwarf the player. Though his physical stature (5'7", 150 pounds) earned him the handle "Little Joe," Morgan was in fact the spark plug of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine, as feared an assemblage of baseball talent as any one team ever enjoyed.

Far from being overshadowed by Johnny Bench and Pete Rose, Morgan was the team's offensive and defensive linchpin. He was only the second guy in National League history to receive two consecutive most valuable player awards (1975 and 1976). Blessed with both speed and power, he was the first player to steal 60 bases while hitting more than 25 home runs (1973) and also the first to do so twice (1976).

He was the first second baseman to play 2000 games, hit 200 homers and get 2000 hits. He finished third in career walks behind Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. He was named to ten All-Star teams, won five Gold Gloves and set records for most career homers and consecutive errorless games at his position. He was elected to the Hall of Fame as soon as he was eligible, in 1990, and now sits on its board.

Morgan finished his playing career in 1984 with his hometown team, the Oakland Athletics, and briefly fell into the pattern of a retired ballplayer: He wrote his autobiography (Joe Morgan: A Life in Baseball), ran a beer distributorship (Coors) and tried his hand at sports announcing.

The broadcast booth is where most ex-jocks hit the wall, but Morgan's obsession with detail and strategy earned him a reputation as the most insightful and astute baseball analyst on TV, a status formally recognized with a Sports Emmy in 1997. The ultimate inside baseball guy ("The most intelligent player I ever saw," said Sparky Anderson), Morgan currently works games for both NBC and ESPN.

PLAYBOY Contributor Robert S. Wieder interviewed Morgan in his office in California. "The centerpiece wasn't a trophy case, but a globe the size of a harbor buoy. There were few baseball memorabilia, and other than a life-size photo of his Hall of Fame plaque, there's almost nothing to indicate his impact and stature as a player. All the sports photos were of Morgan in anonymous golf foursomes. From a writer's perspective, his ultimate stroke of self-effacement was that his bookcase didn't hold a copy of his book Baseball for Dummies."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: Will anyone top 70 home runs?

Joe Morgan: Maybe, but 70 is just a number. Put that in the proper context. I've seen Johnny Bench hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the fifth game of the playoffs. What's more important, the 70 home runs or that one? I've seen a lot of great things in this game. I was at second base the day Hank Aaron hit his 714th home run and he trotted by me. I saw Pete Rose get the hit that broke Ty Cobb's hit record. But I've seen guys get to 40-something home runs with a chance to get to 60, and the bottom falls out. I've seen guys get to 50 and then nothing. When McGwire and Sosa got to 55, they just kept going. If Ken Griffey or Albert Belle don't do it this year, then I don't think anyone will approach 70, or 66, for a long time.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: When McGwire broke the record, Sosa hugged him. If this were the Seventies and one of these guys were playing for the Reds, wouldn't you and Pete Rose have kicked his ass for kissing up to the enemy?

Joe Morgan: I said so on the air. I was broadcasting that game. I saw that home run. Sosa came in and hugged him. Mark Grace shook his hand as he went by. I looked at the pitcher, standing there dejected, and I'm thinking, This is your teammate, and you're congratulating somebody for hitting a home run off him? When Hank Aaron hit his 714th home run, I wanted to say something, but I wouldn't. I'm not going to embarrass my teammate, Jack Billingham. I'm old school, I guess. When a guy hits a home run now, he flips the bat, stands there and looks at it. But I can't criticize them, because that's how the game is played today. There's no intimidation anymore. Pitchers don't knock somebody down just for the sake of knocking them down. It's different from the way I was taught the game.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: What rule changes would you like to see?

Joe Morgan: If a pitcher hits a batter, the pitcher shouldn't be allowed to walk off the mound toward the batter. That's inviting something. And things could be more exciting if there were no infield fly rule. Instead of having an automatic out when the ball is popped up, a fielder could let it drop and try to get a double play. Everyone running, helter-skelter, they could throw the ball away. I think it would be interesting.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Would you say that baseball players in general are insanely overpaid, obscenely overpaid or just ridiculously overpaid?

Joe Morgan: In some cases, all three, in terms of value. But I don't agree that baseball players are overpaid in general. Baseball is still the cheapest ticket in sports. Movie stars make $20 million to do a movie. They get more if the movie is successful. The players who are entertaining and who bring the fans to the stadiums deserve as much as they can get. Barry Bonds works out every day in the off-season. McGwire and those guys work their tails off, because they want to stay around longer for the money. Players today are in better shape than ever, because they work at it all year round. But Sparky Anderson said something a long time ago: "Money doesn't really change people. If you were a bad guy before you made all this money, you're still going to be a bad guy. If you were a good guy, you're still going to be a good guy." In most cases, he's correct.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Income divides the majors into have and have-not clubs. Will they ultimately have to split into a two-tier system of big-market teams and small-market teams just to be competitive?

Joe Morgan: If it happens, Americans will pull for the underdogs. Money doesn't mean you're going to win. Everybody talks about how the Marlins spent millions to buy the championship. But they beat three teams with higher payrolls. They spent their money more wisely that year. Last year, the Orioles were next to the Yankees in payroll, but they were never a factor. You can win without having to spend $80 million. You just have to be smarter. If you have $80 million, you can throw things against the wall and see what sticks. If you have $40 million, you have to make sure they're going to stick.