Saturday, July 3, 2021

1978 SPECIAL SUB-SET- "1977 30 HOME RUN CLUB" JOHNNY BENCH

On the blog today, let's go ahead and add the great Johnny Bench to my on-going 1978 sub-set celebrating the sluggers of 1977, "30 Home Run Club":

 
Bench was part of the gang with his 31 homers, the last time he'd reach that mark in his illustrious career.
Along with those 31 home runs he drove in 109 runs while hitting .275, making his tenth All-Star team and taking home his tenth straight Gold Glove.
All-time best at his position? I'd be hard-pressed to argue this.
Of course as we all know, he would go on to put together a career rarely seen by ANY player, let alone a catcher: TWO N.L. MVP Awards, 14 all-star games, 10 Gold Gloves, two home run titles and three RBI titles, all while donning the “tools of ignorance” for 17 seasons, all with the Reds.
As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, this man was a mythic figure, a “god”.