#331- All Star Catchers

The second half of the '74 set kicks off with a special sub-set. Anyone viewing the checklist post for this group of cards many moons ago saw this coming. This will be the last All-Star sub-set for Topps in a long time. For the next bunch of sets Topps would designate All-Star status on each player's regular card, except for '75 when they put the distinction on Hank Aaron's special card. We begin this group with the starting AL and NL catchers, represented by a pugnacious-seeming Carlton Fisk and a smiling Johnny Bench. Those are two pretty good representations for these guys back then: Carlton had been in the big brawl with the Yankees and Johnny was already doing commercials and appearing on variety shows. Neither of them was a stranger to All-Star play during his career as Fisk got 11 selections and Bench 14. And they're both in the Hall of Fame.

There's not too much to do with these cards commentary-wise since most of that is with their regular cards. So let's go with the stats that got these guys on the team. I will also add the alternates and their stats just to make things complete. I am not doing a deep dive because that takes too long. For position guys I am just going with average, homers, and RBI's. For the pitchers, just the record and ERA. All these stats are as of the All-Star break which means they do not perfectly represent the stats that warranted selection since they'd have been from a few weeks earlier, but they should be pretty close. First for the AL guys:

Carlton Fisk - .275 with 18 homers and 47 RBI's
Thurman Munson - .297 with 13 homers and 45 RBI's (that must have been a fun clubhouse)
Bill Freehan - .254 with 2 homers and 17 RBI's

Bill didn't get in the game and by then was sort of a legacy guy. Now for the NL:

Johnny Bench - .248 with 18 homers and 71 RBI's
Ted Simmons - .284 with 7 homers and 52 RBI's

Just on power alone I think the edge there went to the second bunch.


On the back of this card Topps gives the box score of the game which is I think a nice touch. It wasn't much of a game. The NL basically wiped up the floor with the AL team which only managed five hits. There was an injury: Catfish Hunter nearly lost his hand trying to field a come-backer and all the non-Oakland pitchers with the exception of Sparky Lyle got bombed. Back then the NL was on a pretty good run. From 1950 to 1985 the AL only won five times and one game ended in a tie. That's a pretty nasty record. But over that time the AL had the edge in the Series. That was compensation if you were an AL guy like me.

There are a few music items to mention. In '73 on February 11th there was a variety show tribute to Duke Ellington which included appearances by Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and the group Chicago. On the 13th the soundtrack to Elvis' big satellite show in January went gold and on the same day Elvis got sick performing in his resident home in Vegas. The doctor that treated him off-stage was given a Lincoln Continental. Nice fee. In '74 on this date a new club in NYC opened called The Bottom Line. Stevie Wonder, Johnny Winter, and Dr. John all performed at the unveiling. The club would raise its profile later that year in August and moreso in August of '75 when Bruce Springsteen performs a bunch of legendary shows there. It closed down a few years ago when landlord NYU took over the space. It was a great club.

No hook-ups this time. They'll be resumed on the regular cards. So to return to baseball, let's do the recap thing since the last post memorialized half the set.

Post-Seasons: as in the last rundown, all post-season play from 1957 to 1989 is represented by at least one participant with the exception of 1960. All years from '72 to '74 are represented by 48 participants.

Awards: not to put anyone down, but the last ten per cent of this year's cards have been a pretty pedestrian bunch and most of these numbers barely move. We are up to 18 MVP's, 12 Cy Young winners, 16 Rookie of the Year winners, and 17 Comeback Players of the Year. There are now seven winners of The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year, 15 Manager of the Year winners (although two of them won multiple times), and 10 Firemen of the Year.

Milestones: another slowdown here. We have 28 rookie cards, 31 Hall of Famers, 35 cards of people who were traded prior to the season, 19 cards representing that player's final Topps entry, and 34 cards of players who have since passed. While that last category has sadly spiked a bit, it still is hovering around eleven per cent of the cards which I think is pretty good.

Rookies: only the '62 Topps rookie set is now not represented in this set. The years and their representative totals are as follows:

'59-3, '60-1; '61-2; '63-2; '64-4; '65-3; '66-5; '67-4; '68-4; '69-3;
'70-4; '71-4; '72-7; '73-6.

If this percentage keeps up - I don't think it will - then this is not too bad. From a very cursory run-through Topps' ability to pick rookies who would go on to substantial MLB careers was much better on the position guys than on the pitcher side.

Random: there are now 78 action shots, 107 cards of players in home uniforms, and 185 of guys in away uniforms. There have been 25 cards with players that have the parenthetical name thing, and ugly cards (thankfully) and cards of guys who served in Viet Nam (surprisingly) are still stuck at five and four, respectively. There have been 12 Washington Nat'l cards so far but that number will soon hit a wall.

#10 - Johnny Bench

This is the first "honor" card of the set and its subject is already the third Hall of Famer of the set, an All-Star catcher who was at the top of his game when this shot was taken. This is part of the opening trend of action shots; including the Aaron card, three of the first ten shots qualify. Johnny Bench was cranking then but entered the '73 season as a question mark since he'd just had off-season lung surgery to remove a tumor that was happily benign. But he was able to then produce a typically excellent season during which he threw out 49% of base runners who tried to steal on him (vs a league average of 36%); did a great job pulling an ailing pitching staff together; and had a fifth consecutive year of 25 or more homers while also going over the century mark for the third time in RBI's. He was a guiding force in getting Cincinnati to its third post-season in four years. A lot of people seem interested in the geography of the shots: which stadium and who else resides in the shot, etc. That is not really my bag, but given the Mets uniforms in the dugout in the back, it is definitely Shea. That may be Tom Seaver to the right. I do not know if the shot was taken during the '73 playoffs, but it would add to the drama if it was.

Johnny Bench grew up in Oklahoma, where of course Mickey Mantle was his idol. He played the big three sports - football, basketball, and baseball - and was widely recruited by schools in all three while at Binder HS. But Cincinnati made him a second round pick in the '65 draft so Johnny went that way and right off the bat that summer in A ball showed his skill behind the plate and in working with pitchers while hitting not too badly for a 17 year old. In '66 at that level he improved his offense substantially to hit .294 with 22 homers and 68 RBI's in only 98 games when he was pushed up to Triple A. But there he got hit by a foul tip, breaking his hand, and missed the rest of the season. To top that off, on his way home after the season he was in a bad car accident. He came back strong in '67 though, when he started at the higher level and put up a line of .259/23/68 again in 98 games before he was called up to Cincy at the end of August. For his work that year he won The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year.

Bench's month up top didn't produce great offense in '67 but he sure did impress people with his work behind the plate, challenging veteran pitchers on pitch selection and even realigning the infield defense. In '68 the Reds traded incumbent starting catcher Johnny Edwards to St. Louis and this Johnny was made a starter out of the gate. He didn't disappoint, winning a Gold Glove, being named an All-Star, and winning the NL Rookie of the Year award. Most impressive was his stat line which was exceptional in a year everyone else's was challenged. A founding member of the Big Red Machine, Johnny's power numbers were pretty awesome his first few seasons. He picked things up in '69 and then sandwiched two huge MVP seasons around the very discounted '71 when the team couldn't get anyone on base ahead of him. While '72 went very well, he may have experienced his pro ball nadir in the Series that year when he struck out on an intentional walk (to be fair Gene Tenace snuck his mitt back over the plate after having Johnny pitched way outside for the prior three pitches and Johnny was caught looking). His Reds would tear up the NL in '73 and then lose in a huge upset to the Mets in the playoffs.

In '74 Bench upped his offense again to a .283/33/129 line, leading the NL in RBI's for his third and final time, though Cincinnati lost the division to LA. But in '75 and '76 the Reds came back strong, winning that dramatic Series over Boston in '75 and crushing everyone in the post-season by going 7-0 in '76. That first year Johnny put up a typical line of .283/28/110 but in '76 he would have his worst season since '71 due to a bad back. But he atoned by having a monster post-season, hitting .333 against the Phillies and a sick .533 with two homers and six RBI's in the four-game sweep of the Yankees. Johnny would follow that up with his a very nice '77 during which he had a .275/31/109 line and then over the next three seasons average 23 homers and 74 RBI's as he missed time each year to knee and other injuries, though catching was still his primary position. In '81 Johnny hit .309 in an abbreviated season and that year began playing mostly at the infield corners. He stuck around through '83 and then retired. Johnny finished with a .267 average with 389 homers, 1,376 RBI's, and a .342 OBA. When he retired he set the record for most homers by a catcher. He may have been even better defensively, finishing in the top 20 all-time for putouts and double plays for catchers and in the top 70 for assists. He caught 43% of attempted base stealers against an NL-average 35%. He was an All-Star 14 times and won ten Gold Gloves. In the post-season he hit .266 with ten homers and 20 RBI's in 45 games. He made the Hall on his first shot in '89.

Bench kept an active profile while playing, making frequent television appearances. He continued that when he retired, doing sportscasting, hosting theme-based shows, and making commercials. He has been an avid golfer and is an active speaker, many times on behalf of baseball.

The back of the card has a lot of stars, which is appropriate. As mentioned above, the homer mentioned in the last star was his only RBI of that series. He would make up for that in spades in '76 in another Series against a New York team. As far as the cartoon goes, it highlights Bench's wide range of skills. I remember seeing him on a variety show when I was a kid. He was also a very good bowler, which I believe was mentioned in a cartoon on another one of his cards. Johnny has a SABR page.

For the degrees of separation, this one gets a little trickier:

1. Bench and Bobby Tolan, '70 to '73 Reds;
2. Tolan and Nate Colbert, '74 San Diego Padres;
3. Colbert and Mickey Lolich, '75 Detroit Tigers.

That ties for the longest list so far.