Terrible Card Tuesday: 1967 Johnny Bench

It almost seems a sin to post a card like this. Pastor Rich, please forgive me.  :)

The Cincinnati Reds brought rookie Johnny Bench up in the month of August of 1967.  They didn’t just try him out here and there.  They gave him a full tryout.  He started all 26 games that he appeared that year.  They must have known he was something special. 

Alas, he didn’t show much of his talent in that first year.  He batted a paltry .163 in 86 at-bats with just one homer and 6 rbis. 

Bench only got two 0s for his 1967 card with seven second column 1s.  It’s not a bad second column though as the 2s extend out to 61.  His hit numbers beyond that consist of just three 8s and two 9s. 

Bench did manage to hit into four double plays so he gets four 24s on his card. 

Other ugly numbers on his card:  13-13, 25-36, 51-38, and the ugliest number, Catcher-6.

Actually for a first timer, Bench actually didn’t do badly in the field in ‘67 at least as far as the stats can tell.  He had a .995 fielding percentage (one error in 192 chances).  He allowed two passed balls and threw out five of ten base runners.  Seems APBA has been more lenient to rookies with fielding ratings recently.

It didn’t take long before JB got on board, though.  In 1968, his first full year in the bigs, he provided the Reds with 15 homers and 82 rbis and a solid .275 batting average. 

Thanks to Mel M for the suggestion!  Mel is currently doing a 1967 replay and couldn’t resist passing on this gem.