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Thread: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

  1. #1
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    TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    Just saw this coming Thursday the 6th of Feb on MLB Network. "My Most Memorable Game" its About game 5 of the 1972 Playoff game against the Pirates..

    As a little kid and only 10 years old and a huge Johnny Bench fan starting in 1972, I went outside and imitated Johnny Hitting a homerun to tie the same game swinging a wiffle ball bat. I was trying to give him some karma and pretended hitting it and acting like any normal kid then..lol.. wouldnt you know it, my friend at that time saw me outside and ran out yelling "Johnny did it!! he hit a homerun"!!!i missed it on TV, but that is one huge memory i will always remember all my life.. i am anxious to see it. I keep hoping FOX Sports Ohio would replay that game..like they do playing games from the past..

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    Beer is good!! George Anderson's Avatar
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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    In one of Bench's books he mentioned his mom before the AB told him to hit a HR for her.

    Between you and Kate Bench, I would say JB got all the good karma he needed.
    "Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it." Cal Hubbard

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    Member cumberlandreds's Avatar
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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    Thanks! I will set my DVR. That's one of my best memories of being a Reds fan was that HR. A truly dramatic HR. It was also Roberto Clemente's last game as he was killed in that off season.
    Reds Fan Since 1971

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    Playoffs ?? !! goreds2's Avatar
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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    Thursday April 6 Johnny Bench episode to be on at 9pm est.

    Tom Glavine to be on at 9:30pm est.
    * Attended the 1990 and 2010 Reds Division clinchers *

    Go 76ers, Go Steelers and Go Bucks

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    I was likely already hooked, but that swing....that swing of the bat made sure I was a fan for life.
    "Even a bad day at the ballpark beats the snot out of most other good days. I'll take my scorecard and pencil and beer and hot dog and rage at the dips and cheer at the highs, but I'm not ever going to stop loving this game and this team and nobody will ever take that away from me." Roy Tucker October 2010

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    I listened on and off - I was an Embassy Marine in Saigon and during this game I was on duty. During brief breaks from my post, patrolling the perimeter wall along Thong Nhut Boulevard, I tried to follow. I missed the home run but got the news the Reds had won. I made it home in time for the second half of the '73 year and their defeat by the Mets. I was too young and too busy to really appreciate what I was witnessing, in baseball or the world at large.
    99% of all numbers only tell 33% of the story so when looking at the numbers remember that numbers is plural...

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    Big Red Machine RedsBaron's Avatar
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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    I just finished watching it. Terrific!
    "Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."

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  11. #8
    We Need Our Myths reds1869's Avatar
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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    The show was very good. It is hard to grasp just how great Bench was.

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    Cracked me up to hear Johnny do the Al Michaels call of his HR. I was young when this game was played. However, I have always said that one of my earliest remembrances was my Mom and Dad jumping up-n-down and yelling when Bench hit that HR. I had no idea WTH was going on, although I knew they were watching baseball, and found it amusing that my folks were acting crazy. I can remember asking my father what happened and him telling me Johnny Bench just hit a HR. I do not remember their reaction to Foster scoring the winning run lol.

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    The most memorable moment I've had as a Reds fan was Bench's 1972 homer.

    What I remember is that the Reds were fighting uphill every step of the way in that series. The Pirates won the first and third games to take series leads. The Pirates were leading in the ninth inning of the last game.

    My recollection is also that the Reds pitching rotation was messed up by that playoff series and the Reds really didn't seem sharp in the first couple of Series games coming off the dramatic playoff. I have no doubt that if the playoff had been easier, the Reds would have beaten the A's in 1972. I believed it then and believe it now forty one years later.

    Bench says in the show that he wasn't the same player after the post-season surgery and he certainly never had the same great numbers as 1970 and 1972. It's hard to imagine that he might have been an even greater player with better health.

    I remember reading about Johnny Bench when he was in the minor leagues. The note I read in some magazine said that he was the best prospect some scouts had seen in many years. He was one of a kind.
    Last edited by Kc61; 02-07-2014 at 10:57 AM.

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    Beer is good!! George Anderson's Avatar
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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    It was before my time but I still get chills when I hear the Al Michaels call.
    "Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it." Cal Hubbard

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    Was watching it with my parents in the living room. My Dad had just about given up and then Bench connected. Still remember jumping straight up in the air when the ball cleared the right field wall.

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    Quote Originally Posted by Kc61 View Post

    My recollection is also that the Reds pitching rotation was messed up by that playoff series and the Reds really didn't seem sharp in the first couple of Series games coming off the dramatic playoff. I have no doubt that if the playoff had been easier, the Reds would have beaten the A's in 1972. I believed it then and believe it now forty one years later.
    The Reds loss in the 1972 World Series remains the most terrible and bittter loss during my nearly 40 years as a Reds fan. After the Reds won the NLCS I was certain that winning the Series would be a mere formality. I have rooted against the A's ever since.
    In fairness though, I cannot blame the NLCS for the Reds Series loss. The A's had a five game, very difficult ALCS against the Tigers, and the ALCS ended on October 12, 1972, one day after the NLCS, so the A's starting rotation was as messed up as much as the Reds. The A's also were without Reggie Jackson in the World Series because of an injury.
    The Reds primarily lost the 1972 World Series because the A's shut down the Reds bats. The Reds pitching was magnificent in the Series, giving up only 16 runs in seven games, but the Reds only scored 21 runs themselves.
    I can recall reports after game six, the only runaway game in the Series, won by the Reds 8-1. When Campaneris came to bat late in the game he said to Bench "we never lose three in a row." Bench growled back: "You've never played the Cincinnati Reds before." Sadly, the Reds lost game seven by one run.
    "Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    We sound old As a kid Al Micheals call was repeated 100 times --it was the call that everyone imitated when playing catch -when at school- when imitating an announcer. That call was just a part of who it was to be a Reds fan at that time.

    Johnny's surgery was big news at the time -there were newspapers dedicated to it's success "Johnny A-ok" was one headline i remember --in fact, there was a big section of the yearbook that was dedicated to it.

    As a fan back in those days --they televised 35-40 games a year- most of those were away games -so when the playoffs came and they showed Riverfront, there was an added sense of excitement about something you rarely got to see- a Reds home game and because it was the playoffs, every game was on. This was a huge deal in 1972.

    Around this time was the first time when baseball stadiums really began to erupt- you look at the films from the 68 series and everyone in the stadium wore a hat and a white shirt and black tie. Very formal -72 was the first time when people that i knew started going to games in relaxed wear. It was, as if the 60's finally came to Cincinnati. By 76 -people were wearing bell bottoms and tank tops. That did not happen 5 years prior.

    1 question - i remember they did not allow fans to sit in the blue seats in the outfield but by 83 or 84 they allowed it -does anyone remember why that was the case? What's the story? It never made any sense to me as a kid --there would be a sell out -with SRO and 200 empty seats in right field -i seem to remember it being related to the Bengals, that may not be the case.

    Lastly, as a kid - i remember there being a lot of drinking at the games- this would be 1976. And there would be fights in the stands where 2 guys that had too much would fight in the aisles - of course now those guys would not even have a chance to square up- but back then there was a more relaxed view on social drinking. You'd be watching a game and you'd hear certain sections yelling -you'd see 2 guys wildly swinging at each other. This was not rare. Baseball had a problem and it took them 10-15 years to work out the kinks and get control of the alcohol problems in the the stands.

    My best day evey - i attended game 3 in the 76 playoffs -Bench hit a homer in that game too. Good lord he was good.

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    Re: TV Alert Thursday 9PM MLB NETWORK--Johnny Bench

    I missed the broadcast of it. Is it listed anywhere else?
    Last edited by Gallen5862; 02-08-2014 at 02:41 PM.


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