Word: catchers
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...enthusiastic leftfield for TIME'S softball team may or may not have helped; the team bears a certain resemblance to the Mets in their earliest days. For a close-up view of the Bench personality these days, Goodman relied on Correspondent Karsten Prager, who traveled with the catcher last week...
LONG before Rocky Marciano proved that under Marquess of Queensbury rules he could beat up anyone in the world, the late heavyweight champion earned a considerable reputation as a catcher. In fact, he claimed the Chicago Cubs offered him a handsome bonus to sign with their National League baseball club. As the Rock told it, he carefully weighed the choice of careers presented him, and finally selected the spaciousness of the prizefighting ring over the confines of home plate. When asked if she was dismayed by his decision, his mother reportedly replied: "I didn't raise...
Apocryphal or not, the story makes a solid point. Beyond working the swing shift down at the jute mill or flaying the catch on a tuna factory boat, there are few jobs around as demanding and punishing as that of major-league catcher. But the thought of their own flesh and blood earning a living in a metal-grille mask, sturdy chest protector and plated shin guards doesn't seem to bother Ted and Katie Bench-or even Grandma Pearl. Nearly every day the Cincinnati Reds are in town, at least one of the three treks out to Riverfront...
...command it he does, with an agility and aplomb that make him, at 24, the outstanding catcher in baseball today-at a time when the game boasts its finest group of receivers since the days of Roy Campanella and Yogi Berra. From the very outset, in his first full season with the Reds in 1968, the husky (6 ft., 209 Ibs.), handsome athlete took charge on the diamond, calling the defensive shots, cutting down base runners like so many cornstalks, and imposing his canny grasp of pitching tactics on temperamental hurlers. Said former Reds Pitcher Jim Maloney, eight years Bench...
Endemic Injuries. Despite that torrid pace, Cincinnati at week's end was still in a close battle with the Houston Astros for first place in the Western Division. Bench, too, had personal competition from baseball's sudden wealth of gifted catchers. His closest rival for pre-eminence is Pittsburgh's Manny Sanguillen, a favorite among fans for his antic enthusiasm. The scourge of opposing pitchers, Sanguillen stands out even among the Pirates' offensive dreadnaughts. Last week he ranked third in National League batting with a .332 average. Sanguillen, like Bench, belongs to that rare species...