“I still respect him to this day as much as I ever have,” Bench said. “I called him the other day, just to check on him, just, ‘How you doing? How you feeling?'”
Bench said when they see each other they always flash an open hand, signifying the No. 5 — their uniform numbers in their playing days. Bench said one of his favorite photos throughout his storied life occurred while three guys were chatting at a table during a gathering in Cooperstown, N.Y.: Bench, Robinson and fellow Hall of Famer George Brett.
“When you get to sit around with Brooks, he is even classier. Him and Connie have been really close friends to me. And we love to hold up our No. 5 when we see each other,” Bench said. “In fact, I have a great picture of Brett, myself and Brooks at the Hall of Fame, before we went out to an induction, and we are sitting at the table and we are all holding up 5.”
From:
‘I still respect him’: More stories of Brooks Robinson and the 1970 World Series. The Athletic.