Johnny Bench, The Big Red Machine's Magnificent Catcher, Pirates at Reds, 13 August, 1974

Johnny Bench was the acknowledged leader of the Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds’ era-defining team that won six divisional titles, four pennants, and two World Series. A master of both offence and defence, Bench held the record for home runs by a catcher for over thirty years, along with two years leading the National League for home runs and three years leading with RBIs. Alongside those awards sit ten Golden Gloves, 100 games or more behind the plate for 13 straight years Bench is arguably Baseball's greatest catcher. Let's celebrate that with a trip to 1974, with Bench posting 108 runs, 33 homers, 129 RBIs, and 315 total bases. As always, the Reds are chasing the Dodgers. Behind 7.5 games at the start of Augst, the Reds are just two games behind as the Pittsburgh Pirates visit Riverfront Stadium Nellie King and Bob Prince are your guides behind the microphone. You can find the boxscore here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197408130.shtml This game was played on August 13, 1974.