#430 Johnny Bench AS - Cincinnati Reds

All-Star cards returned to Topps sets in 1968 under The Sporting News banner for a three-year run between 1968 and 1970.  Topps included 20 All-Star cards in its 1969 set, featuring 10 All-Stars from each league and one player from each position, including both a right-handed and left-handed pitcher.  

Building the Set / Card #639

September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Richie's Sports Cards)

On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show.  The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year.  I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova.  I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.

I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set.  After about 90 minutes of walking and buying, while running low on funds, and even lower on stamina, I found a nice display of vintage Topps star cards at Richie's Sports Cards, from Manalpan, New Jersey.  I quickly and easily picked up six more star cards needed for our set from Richie's, my fourth stop of the show.  This is the fifth of those six cards and it cost around $27 after a discount, making it the most expensive All-Star card I purchased for our set build.

The Card / Reds Team Set / Pete Rose Puzzle

Johnny Bench was a 14-time All-Star, going to the All-Star Game each year between 1968 and 1980, and then again in 1983 to honor the end of his career.  He was the starting catcher for the National League All-Stars in 1969, batting seventh and receiving starting pitcher Steve Carlton (#255).  Bench got the scoring started for the National League, hitting a second inning, two-run home run off Mel Stottlemyre (#470).  He'd single in the third off Blue Mood Odom (#195), draw a walk against Denny McLain (#150) and line out against Dave McNally (#340) in the sixth, before being replaced by back-up Randy Hundley (#347).

The stock photo used in the background behind Bench has yet to be identified, but the article linked below figured out by combining the background photos on this card and Ken Harrelson's All-Star card (#417), a full action scene showing a mystery play emerges.  The backs of these All-Star cards contain a puzzle piece of either Pete Rose (#120) or Carl Yastrzemski (#130).  The back of Bench's card features a patch of dirt behind Rose's photo.

Topps All-Star Card Appearances (9):  1969-70, 1974-79, 1981

1970 Topps #464

1974 Topps #331

1975 Topps #260

1978 Topps #700

1981 Topps #400

Sources:  
Baseball Reference

Sports Collectors Daily - Mistaken Identities

#429 Willie Horton AS - Detroit Tigers / #431 Bill Freehan AS - Detroit Tigers

#95 Johnny Bench - Cincinnati Reds

Johnny Lee Bench
Cincinnati Reds
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  197
Born:  December 7, 1947, Oklahoma City, OK
Drafted:  Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 1965 amateur draft, June 8, 1965
Major League Teams:  Cincinnati Reds 1967-83

World Series Appearances:  Cincinnati Reds 1970, 1972, 1975-76
Hall of Fame Induction:  1989

The de facto leader of the Big Red Machine dynasty that won four National League pennants and a pair of World Championships between 1970 and 1976, Johnny Bench was also one of the best catchers in the history of the game.  Bench was a 14-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove winner, the Rookie of the Year in 1968, and two-time MVP winner in 1970 and 1972.  He led the league in home runs and RBIs in both of his MVP seasons, and topped the league again with 129 RBIs in 1974.  Bench was a force for the Reds throughout the 1970s, averaging 33 home runs and 114 RBIs per 162 games between 1970 and 1979.  While he struggled at the plate in the 1975 World Series, he won World Series MVP honors in 1976, batting .533 (8 for 15) with a pair of home runs and six RBIs against the Yankees.  Bench and his superstar teammates Joe Morgan (#35), Pete Rose (#120), Tony Perez (#295), George Foster and others dominated the baseball landscape in the early to mid-1970s.

For his career, Bench batted .267 with 2,048 hits, 389 home runs and 1,376 RBIs.  He still sits atop or close to the top of every major offensive category on the Reds' all-time leaderboard.  Bench retired as the all-time home run leader among catchers with 327, a mark since surpassed by Carlton Fisk and Mike Piazza.  The Reds retired his #5 in 1984, and he was a first ballot inductee into the Hall of Fame in 1989.  Bench was selected as a catcher, along with Yogi Berra, on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.

Building the Set / Card #444
November 29, 2024 from Tomball, TX (The Battersbox)
Over the past few years, our youngest son Ben has become quite the Taylor Swift fan, joining the ranks of millions of Swifties around the world.  Having missed her Eras Tour dates in Philadelphia in May 2023, and appreciating how much Ben wanted to see the tour live before it ended, my wife and I took the plunge and bought a pair of tickets on the secondary market for Swift's fifth concert in Toronto on November 22, 2024.  Having satisfied my chauffeuring duties between South Jersey and Toronto, with a pitstop at Niagara Falls, and with Ben and my wife off to the show, I found a nearby restaurant on the night of the concert to enjoy a good meal . . . and purchase a baseball card for our 1969 Topps set.

I didn't realize it at the time, but apparently Moxie's is a chain located throughout Canada and the U.S.  Seated comfortably at the bar at Moxie's Vaughan, and having ordered the steak frites with truffle fries, I spent some time browsing eBay on my phone and looking for a star card needed for our set, as one does.  So while my wife and son were settling into their seats for a 3 1/2 hour Taylor Swift concert, I was ordering this Johnny Bench card from The Battersbox in Tromball, Texas.  (And the steak frites was delicious.)  It was a great trip, and it resulted in a lot of happy memories for our family, and this Bench card will be a nice little reminder of everything.  Thank you Taylor Swift!

The Card / Reds Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

This is Bench's first solo card, as he shared his rookie card in the 1968 Topps set with pitcher Ron Tompkins.  Bench would appear again later in the set on an All-Star card (#430).  His Topps 1968 All-Star Rookie trophy is displayed prominently, and this is probably one of my favorite cards from the set.  It looks as if Bench is sporting a double number on the front of his jersey (#55?), perhaps a number he wore during spring training before switching to his more familiar #5.  The cartoon on the back highlights his first home run, hit on September 20, 1967, off the Braves' Jim Britton (#154).

This card has been reprinted a bunch of times by Topps, and Topps has also liberally re-used this photo on a number of its Bench cards throughout the years.  By my unofficial tally, Topps has reprinted the card 11 times between 2005 and 2021.

Accuracy Index:  Bench's card earns a +5, and I'd award it more points on aesthetics alone if I were doing that kind of thing.

1969 Season
Following his Rookie of the Year win in 1968, Bench showed no signs of a sophomore slump, batting .293 with 26 home runs and 90 RBIs over 148 games with the Reds.  He started his first All-Star Game, going 2 for 3 with a two-run home run off the Yankees' Mel Stottlemyre (#470) in the second inning.  Bench was robbed of a second home run by Carl Yastrzemski's (#130) leaping catch over the left field fence at Washington's RFK Stadium.

1968 Topps #247

1972 Topps #433

1976 Topps #300

1979 Topps #200

1983 Topps #60

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1968 Topps #247
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (18):  1968-84, 1990
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2024 Stadium Club #75
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  3,420 in the Beckett online database as of 12/28/24.

I'm impressed by the sheer volume of cards Bench has appeared on, and so far on Reggie Jackson (#260) and Mickey Mantle (#500) have appeared on more cards than Bench among the players I've collected for this set.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

National Baseball Hall of Fame
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#94 Hank Aguirre - Los Angeles Dodgers / #96 Denver Lemaster - Houston Astros