Skip to main content

Johnny Bench-2/3


200 National Baseball Hall of Fame Johnny Bench postcard.

Rookie of the Year winner, two MVP Awards, one World Series MVP Award, 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards, two home run titles, and three RBI titles. Anchor of the Big Red Machine. Elected to the Hall of Fame with 96.4% of the votes in his first year of eligibility (no. 3 at the time if I recall). Arguably, the greatest catcher of all time. I am so so so glad he was a Red!

A recently purchased 1969 Topps card #430.
1971 Topps card #250. This is such a classic baseball card. This is a recently purchased card. My original is pretty worn; even worse than the two 1971 National League Leaders cards shown below.

The 1971 cards recap the incredible stats from Bench's 1970 season. 45 home runs, 148 RBIs, .293 batting average... those numbers I don't even have to look up they're so embedded in my childhood memory.
1972 Topps card #434.
1973 Topps card #380.
1974 Topps card #10. Another classic baseball card.
1976 Topps card #300. ...and another classic...
1977 Topps card #70. ...and another...
1978 Topps card #700. ...and another...
1979 Topps card #200.
1978 SSPC card #5.
1980 Topps card #100.
1981 Donruss card #62.
1981 Donruss card #182.
1981 Fleer card #196.
1981 Topps card #600.
1981 Topps card #201.
1982 Donruss card #400.This is the first card front I have that reflects Bench's transition to the infield late in his career where he shifted between first and third base.
1982 Donruss Diamond King card #22.
1982 Fleer card #57.
1982 Fleer card #634.
1992 Sports Cards News card #145.
1982 Topps card #400.
1982 Topps card #401. Stupid scanner missed his name and the words "In Action."
1983 Donruss card #500.
1983 Fleer card #584. Third base!
1983 Topps card #60.
1984 Donruss card #B with Carl Yastrzemski.
1984 Fleer card #462.
1984 Fleer card #640.
1983 Donruss Action All-Stars card #14.
Man, Johnny Bench has some really good looking cards! Plus Topps and Donruss give his numbers a lot of love. Seriously, his expressions and the way he holds himself just exude confidence and MLB royalty. This guy was elite.

I clearly have several key gaps in my Bench card collection, but I'm only three cards away from having at least one card of every Hall of Famer, so once I fulfill that goal I'll move on to tightening up my Bench (and other Big Red Machine teammates) collection.

Thanks for stopping by,

CinciCuse Bill

Labels:

Comments

  1. FujiMay 12, 2020 at 12:00 AM

    I'm pretty sure the Bench/Yaz card is the first insert card I ever pulled from a pack. It's such a cool card. But the 73T and 76T cards would be my favorites in this post. Classic action shots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CinciCuse BillMay 12, 2020 at 8:41 AM

    That insert IS a great card. I just wish that Donruss put the date on the back of the card. I always struggle trying to remember so I end up having to look it up.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ballplayers Turned Announcers, Actors, Writers, Etc.

  We all know of ballplayers that become announcers, actors, or writers. This post shows cards for a few notable examples, as well as a few other players with occupations that you may not be aware of. Announcers 1952 Topps card #227. Not only was Joe Garagiola a catcher for parts of nine season with four clubs, but he was also an announcer, writer, and host of numerous television shows. Joe was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding broadcasting accomplishments and he was named as the 2014 recipient of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, presented once every three years by the Baseball Hall of Fame for positive contributions to Major League Baseball.     1965 Topps card #65. Tony Kubek played for the Yankees for nine seasons, winning the 1957 Rookie of the Year award and selected to three All-Star games. Kubek played in six World Series in the late 1950s and early 1960s, starting in 37 World Series games. U...
6 comments
Read more

Welcome to my first post!

Original, well-loved, cards from my youth. Rose: "I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." My Story: I started collecting sports cards back in 1970 when I was about 9-yrs old. If I recall correctly, the first packs I opened in 70 and 71 contained a card of Pete Rose. Rose became my favorite player because of his hustle and desire to win, and he was one of the main cogs of the Cincinnati Reds Big Red Machine, my favorite team. (I still consider Rose to be one of the best players ever, but I have no respect for what he has done outside of the white lines) I collected a lot of cards up until mid 1975 which is when my interests changed, but I never got rid of those cards (nor were they thrown away by mom or dad, thankfully). I got back into collecting, on and off, from the mid 80's up to this day, but only baseball cards. Over the years, I realized I had a fairly decent collection of player cards from those days and started to organize my co...
9 comments
Read more

Retired Numbers - Oakland Athletics

  Continuing with my posts on retired numbers, below are card scans of former MLBers whose numbers have been retired by the Oakland Athletics to forever be revered. No. 9 Reggie Jackson 2013 Topps Commemorative Patch Card #RCP-7 No. 24 Rickey Henderson 1991 Bowman #692. There are so many great, great Henderson cards that I had a hard time picking out just one for this post. Well the '91 Bowman really stood out to me. No. 27 Catfish Hunter 1976 Laughlin #7. As noted here , Hunter is one of only 6 players ever that went directly from HIGH SCHOOL to the major leagues and NEVER played in the minor leagues. No. 34 Rollie Fingers 1976 Hostess #104. No. 42     Jackie Robinson 1980-1987 SSPC HoF #89. I love how Oakland's green and gold colors stand out in the border of this card. No. 43 Dennis Eckersley 2014 Panini HoF Induction Class of 2004 Autograph #78. Who do you think will be the next former Oakland A to have their uniform number to be retired? Vida Blue? Dave Ste...
8 comments
Read more