By
special request, today on the blog we have a 1969 "In-Action" card for
Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench, perhaps the greatest of them all:
Fun picture of the young Bench arguing a call with an umpire at the beginning of his incredible career.
Leading
the Cincinnati Reds to two World Championships, four World Series
appearances, while taking home two MVP Awards, and absolutely rewriting the catching game
in Big League history, the man was already a legend by the time he was
in his early-20's!
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”, and he and the rest of his "Big Red Machine" teammates were
steamrolling through the league towards two straight championships in
1975 & 1976, while appearing in two other series in 1970 and 1972.
L-E-G-E-N-D.
By
the time he retired after the 1983 season, he collected 2048 hits, hit
389 homers, drove in 1376 runs, and scored 1091 runs, all mainly done
during the "dead ball" decade of the 1970s.
Just the best!
