[laughlinfan]

A good bit of snow had some of us up here stuck inside for the weekend, so I got a chance to go through some long ignored cabinet drawers. I picked up a decent lot of pictures and paper items (guides, scorecards, newsletters) from a long time baseball fan and collector about 15 years or so ago, and was able to dig them out this weekend. Lots of Cleveland Indian items, but one item I remembered was a Cincinnati Reds scorecard from the late 60s, complete with a few beer stains(?) and a few autographs, including a young Johnny Bench. Had some time today to take a closer look, and remembered that it was from 1967, the year before Bench’s Rookie of the Year season. Looking closer, the Reds were playing the Phillies, and, although the preprinted lineups listed Don Pavletich as starting at catcher, Bench was listed as available for the game. Looking at his stats, he played in 26 games in ’67, so it was clear this was a late season game after his callup. Going through the baseball reference, I was able to see that the Phillies were in Cincy in late August for a three game set. Checking out the lineups, I was able to compare the preprinted lineups with the box scores from each game, and was able to match it perfectly to the first game of the series, with the exception of one player – Johnny Bench with the start over Don Pavletich. The printed lineup dates the game to be August 28, 1967. The scorecard is from his first game in the majors. The gentleman I got it from lived near Buffalo, so I am guessing he probably followed Bench all year with the Bisons, and then drove down to Cincy and joined the other 9500 on hand to watch him play in his first major league game, grabbing an autograph from a few players and a no doubt nervous and excited 19 year old rookie! Bench went 0 for 3 with 2 Ks that game, and got pulled for a pinch hitter in the 9th. He seemed to bounce back from it pretty well! The scorecard was also signed, among others, by Pavletich, who Johnny replaced in the starting lineup, as well as Chico Ruiz, who probably years later talked about how he pinch hit for Johnny Bench in Bench's first game! A neat slice of baseball history!