This week's 1970 "In-Game Action" card is none other than the great Johnny Bench, who was just beginning to build on what would become considered the greatest Major League catching career the game has ever scene:
Still
only 22 years old, Bench was a Rookie of the Year in 1968, a two-time
All-Star and Gold Glove winner by the end of 1969, and would go on to
take home the first of his two MVP Awards at the end of the 1970 season.
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”.
As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, this man was a mythic figure, a “god”.