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Johnny Bench Misses His Hall of Fame Friends
NY Slimes ^ | Kurt Streeter

Posted on 05/04/2021 5:51:48 AM PDT by nycteacher

Johnny Bench remembers them well.

They were his peers, his idols, his friends.

And now they are gone, 10 greats from the Baseball Hall of Fame, lost in a terrible stretch of just over a year — more death for the game’s hallowed hall than at any similar span in its 85-year history.

Ten greats, who now exist only in memories: at bat, in the field and in the dugout.

During a year of widespread misery, and in a world still struggling against a virus that has killed millions, how do we make sure that these players are not forgotten? There is no one better than Johnny Bench to help us commemorate their lives.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: baseball
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Yes it's the NY Slimes but reading this I had tears in my eyes having watched everyone of these players.
1 posted on 05/04/2021 5:51:48 AM PDT by nycteacher
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To: nycteacher

No runs, no drips, no errors when painting Johnny’s bench.


2 posted on 05/04/2021 5:54:16 AM PDT by Locomotive Breath
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To: nycteacher

>>And now they are gone, 10 greats from the Baseball Hall of Fame, lost in a terrible stretch of just over a year — more death for the game’s hallowed hall than at any similar span in its 85-year history.

there is a quickening as people get older.


3 posted on 05/04/2021 5:56:08 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: nycteacher

None of us are here forever, none of us get out of here alive.


4 posted on 05/04/2021 6:00:24 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: nycteacher

Johnny Bench is 73. Why would he be surprised that people who are his age or older are dying?


5 posted on 05/04/2021 6:01:19 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: nycteacher

I grew up in Cincinnati hanging on every game the Big Red Machine played. Looking back, I was very, very fortunate.

I have met pretty much the entire team and meeting each one was a thrill. I have also been lucky enough to attend the Reds Fantasy Camp and hang out with a few of the Machine players. So much fun!


6 posted on 05/04/2021 6:03:09 AM PDT by day10 (You'll get nothing and like it!)
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To: nycteacher

Johnny Bench was one of my football coach’s cousins from Oklahoma. After he received the MVP for the World Series in 1970 he took time to chill out....he visited his cousin for several days and during that time accompanied him to our football practices. Coach Carpenter let Bench coach the LB on our HS football team. How many people can say that Bench was a LB coach for a HS team? I didn’t have a clue on how special that situation was having Bench as a LB coach (Bench was a good FB player also).


7 posted on 05/04/2021 6:08:57 AM PDT by vetvetdoug (,)
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To: nycteacher

MLB itself has passed away.


8 posted on 05/04/2021 6:10:49 AM PDT by TTFlyer (Vote harder, sucker. Yeah, that's the ticket. ..)
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To: nycteacher

Pete Rose is still.................oh, wait................


9 posted on 05/04/2021 6:15:41 AM PDT by Red Badger (Jesus said there is no marriage in Heaven. That's why they call it Heaven.....................)
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To: day10
I became a huge Reds fan in 1970 because of Johnny Bench.

Because I lived outside their market area, I saw them only a few times a year on NBC's TV Game of the Week, but quite a bit in post-season play.

I could never pick up their radio games except when they played late at night on the west coast. I still remember fondly as a 1970s kid laying in bed with the radio to my ear straining to hear WLW 700 from Cincinnati, cheering my boyhood heroes.

Those were the days. MLB is dead to me now.
10 posted on 05/04/2021 6:22:05 AM PDT by Dan in Wichita
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To: nycteacher

Its much worse that baseball is dying, not elderly men.


11 posted on 05/04/2021 6:27:10 AM PDT by americas.best.days... ( Donald John Trump has pulled the sword from the stone.)
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To: nycteacher

I was at Dodger Stadium on a rare occasion: Johnny Bench committed Catcher’s Interference to lose the game.


12 posted on 05/04/2021 6:28:32 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: Dan in Wichita

My feelings exactly. The woke MLB will not get another dime nor any attention from me.


13 posted on 05/04/2021 6:30:24 AM PDT by day10 (You'll get nothing and like it!)
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To: TTFlyer

Pretty much. I still have a love of MLB history, and I have been in search of a MLB simulator to play all-time greats and past favorites against each other to get my baseball fix. I couldn’t tell you who the stars are from the past 5-10 years.


14 posted on 05/04/2021 6:37:10 AM PDT by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021)
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To: 1Old Pro

“...none of us get out of here alive.”

So true.


15 posted on 05/04/2021 6:41:35 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit..)
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To: CatOwner
I've escaped into the past by buying old Strat-O-Matic seasons rather than attending Pirate games as we used to do before MLB went full leftard.
16 posted on 05/04/2021 6:44:36 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: TTFlyer
MLB itself has passed away.

Yep, as far as I am concerned they are all dead now (to me). Their wokeness was bad enough, but interfering in a state's attempt to ensure honest elections was the last straw.

17 posted on 05/04/2021 6:44:53 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte (11/3-11/4/2020 - The USA became a banana republic.)
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To: Dan in Wichita

The memory of listening to AM radio at night pulling in games from the Midwest just made me smile. As America ages it’s now on the other side of getting better with age. I think the demise of baseball is a good metaphor with the demise of America.


18 posted on 05/04/2021 6:47:52 AM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: shanover

August 26, 1939, the first televised Major League baseball game is broadcast on station W2XBS, the station that was to become WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. At the time, television was still in its infancy.


19 posted on 05/04/2021 6:56:45 AM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: Red Badger
Pete Rose is still.................oh, wait................

My thoughts exactly! Rose belongs in the HOF!

20 posted on 05/04/2021 7:07:51 AM PDT by Road Warrior ‘04 (BOYCOTT The NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR & Faux Snooze! Molon Labe! Oathkeeper! )
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