Tuesday, January 25, 2022

IN-GAME ACTION: JOHNNY BENCH

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”.

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