The card, in brief: One of the best players in the set gets one of the best photos in the set, with a nice batting cage photo of Johnny Bench. Bonus points for the guy in the colorful outfit talking to the Met in the background.
Playing career, in brief: Arguably the greatest catcher of all time, Johnny Bench played seventeen seasons for the Cincinnati Reds. A fourteen-time All Star and ten-time Gold Glove winner, Bench hit .267 with 389 HR and 1,376 RBI. He led the NL in home runs in both 1970 and 1972, winning the MVP award each year. He helped the Reds win back-to-back World Series in 1975 and 1976.
Post-playing career, in brief: He is involved in various business and charity ventures. He has also written three books about baseball, played in the Senior PGA Tour, and acted on stage (Joe Hardy in a Cincinnati production of Damn Yankees) and TV (played a military guard in a 1971 episode of Mission: Impossible). The 76-year-old Bench, who has two sons in high school, married his fifth wife earlier this year.
My collection: I have 36 of his cards, from 1969 to 1984. I would be interested in trading for 1968 Topps #247.
Great shot. Good luck on your quest to trade for his rookie, that it'd be quite the coup!
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