This is a cool snapshot of the Hall of Fame catcher.
Once again, let me show you the full photo before I get into this one, which turned out to be pretty easy:
This, of course, is Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench. One thing that stood out immediately in this photo is that there are only five games on each side of the board. That limits this photo to 1967 or 1968, because when the leagues expanded in 1969, the Wrigley Field scoreboard did as well, so it could show all the games.
The matchups shown on the board are as follows, top to bottom:
NL: PITTSBURGH/SAN FRANCISCO, PHILADELPHIA/LOS ANGELES, CINCINNATI/CUBS, ATLANTA/ST. LOUIS, HOUSTON/NEW YORK
AL: BOSTON/BALTIMORE, CALIFORNIA/KANSAS CITY, SOX/CLEVELAND, DETROIT/WASHINGTON, NEW YORK/MINNESOTA
Just looking at the number of day games there, you might think this was a Saturday, but it’s not. This photo was taken Friday, Sept. 22, 1967. Why are there several day games being played that day (in addition to the one at Wrigley)? Because three of the matchups (Boston/Baltimore, Houston/New York and Detroit/Washington) were doubleheaders necessitated by previous rainouts and all three of them had late-afternoon starts, thus for the purposes of the board, were left open for possible scores to be posted.
As it turns out, this is a significant photo. This was Bench’s very first game at Wrigley Field. He started behind the plate and went 0-for-4. The Cubs won the game 3-2 in a walkoff. The Cubs had loaded the bases on an error and single, followed by a wild pitch and intentional walk. Former Cub Ted Abernathy then came into the game and wild-pitched Billy Williams home with the winning run. Tribune writer Richard Dozer reported:
… Abernathy, summed to replace Billy McCool with the bases full and none out, served the game’s last pitch low and outside to Lee Thomas. John Bench, a rookie catcher, couldn’t spear the submarine delivery in his first bout with the deceptive shadows of Wrigley Field.
That didn’t stop Bench on his way to the Hall of Fame, though. Just 2,057 paid to see that game, and the win was the Cubs’ 83rd of the season. That was the most they’d won in a season since 1945. The Cubs followed with four wins in their last six games to overtake the Reds for a third-place finish in the NL, their highest finish since 1946.
It was a different time. But this is an interesting look at a future Hall of Famer when he was a 19-year-old rookie. While there was no credit on the photo where I found it (Facebook), this was likely part of the George Brace collection. Brace was a Chicago photographer who took photos of MLB players when they came through Chicago. You’ve probably seen them featured elsewhere, even if you didn’t know who took them. Here’s more on Brace from SABR.