07-16-2018, 10:41 AM
My grandfather was a catcher who never got past amature status because of his family as a young player. He was drafted when he was underage, but they wouldn't let him sign to actually play out of town so he ended up playing amature ball in Dayton and never got any further. Amateur ball was still pretty big back then though ,but it wasn't the big leagues .. Anyway, I was just a little kid when Bench came up to the Reds and my grandfather was a die hard Reds fan..Whenever Bench came up to bat there had to be absolute silence in the house.. lol
He would go on and on about Bench's game as a catcher as if no other Reds player even existed..
Man, my grandfather had LOTS of stories about baseball and back when he still played and coached big league players often played with Amateur teams between games for the extra money so he got to play with some big time names even as an amateur .
The stories told by family and friends of my grandparents my grandfather was a great ball player . Too bad his parents owned a candy store in Dayton and made my grandfather little more than a paid slave (if he was ever even paid.. I'm not sure he ever was.) I never heard anything good about my great grandparents . There was one old uncle who was well liked but from everything else I heard the rest of the family was extremely envious of my grandfather's talents so they thwarted him every chance they got .
I still remember the game my folks took my brother and myself to. Reds were losing in the 8th and they wanted to leave early to beat the traffic home, but my brother and myself talked them into staying. They loaded the bases and Johnny Bench hit a grand slam to win the game. Naturally my dad had to listen to me go on and on the whole way back to Dayton asking, "Aren't you glad we stayed? Aren't you glad we stayed? Aren't you glad we stayed? " I'm pretty sure the answer went something like YES, now shut the hell up! LOL
To this day my dad denies that ever happened and would never leave early to beat traffic despite the fact that he gets antsy just waiting for a short red light in traffic..lol
He would go on and on about Bench's game as a catcher as if no other Reds player even existed..
Man, my grandfather had LOTS of stories about baseball and back when he still played and coached big league players often played with Amateur teams between games for the extra money so he got to play with some big time names even as an amateur .
The stories told by family and friends of my grandparents my grandfather was a great ball player . Too bad his parents owned a candy store in Dayton and made my grandfather little more than a paid slave (if he was ever even paid.. I'm not sure he ever was.) I never heard anything good about my great grandparents . There was one old uncle who was well liked but from everything else I heard the rest of the family was extremely envious of my grandfather's talents so they thwarted him every chance they got .
I still remember the game my folks took my brother and myself to. Reds were losing in the 8th and they wanted to leave early to beat the traffic home, but my brother and myself talked them into staying. They loaded the bases and Johnny Bench hit a grand slam to win the game. Naturally my dad had to listen to me go on and on the whole way back to Dayton asking, "Aren't you glad we stayed? Aren't you glad we stayed? Aren't you glad we stayed? " I'm pretty sure the answer went something like YES, now shut the hell up! LOL
To this day my dad denies that ever happened and would never leave early to beat traffic despite the fact that he gets antsy just waiting for a short red light in traffic..lol
In the immortal words of my old man, "Wait'll you get to be my age!"
Chicago sounds rough to the maker of verse, but the one comfort we have is Cincinnati sounds worse. ~Oliver Wendal Holmes Sr.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
Chicago sounds rough to the maker of verse, but the one comfort we have is Cincinnati sounds worse. ~Oliver Wendal Holmes Sr.
