Got Johnny Bench Ball. It's real :-)
 

I couldn't wait till tmmrw to open the box.

Johnny Bench.

My first baseball glove I got when I was about 10 yrs old. That was about 50 years ago. My dad took me to the store and told me to pick out whichever glove I wanted. I wanted to be different than the other guys, so I picked a catchers mitt. Not just any glove. A Johnny Bench mitt!

For years I tried catching balls with that mitt. Tossing baseball with other guys using a catchers mitt was never easy for me. I didn't care - Mine was Johnny Bench! I oil it, flexed it, put a baseball in it, wrapped with a rubber band, and kept it under my mattress at night while I slept.

I never met Johnny, but we had a special glove to bond over. In a way I was his 10 year old "pal". Time went by, my mom probably sold my glove in a garage sale, I went to school, got married, got a job, had kids, and now grandkids.

I always wanted to meet him. Now this dang COVID thing is keeping us all locked up. So, I decided to send him a ball to sign, and sent him an email with this history. I asked him to personalize it to me.

I already had the holder and waited. Here it is. I got it in the mail today - 'To my pal, Casey' - Johnny Bench.

Screw COVID. One day I will meet him. But today I can feel like a 10 yr old boy has gotten closer to his great baseball 'pal' . Means a lot to me...

Awesome ball! Love the inscription! Not an easy name to find personalized

Congratulations! I first started following baseball in 1970, and Johnny Bench quickly became my favorite player — even though I grew up in Southern California. I turned 10 that summer. A half century later, I'm still at it. Just last week, I picked up my latest Johnny Bench piece, a 1971 Topps display box ...

Just came across this a few minutes ago
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/10/0...orabilia-reds/

Did you not read the thread??? He sent it to johnny and he signed it for him:confused:

Great story. Johnny was my favorite player also. He played for the local minor league team, the Peninsula Pilots, the year I was born, before going up to the Reds two years later.

I've met him a couple of times and have always had a good experience.

As could also be said for Blue Emu.... That won't stink! ;)

Great story! Thanks for sharing! Congrats...


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That is such a great story! Love it.

I had a similar-but-not-as-cool experience a couple of years ago. I grew up in Georgia, and Dale Murphy was my favorite player (early 80s). I, like you, got a Dale Murphy model Rawlings glove as my first "real" glove when I was 9 or 10. I'd always wanted to meet him, and in 2010 the local minor league team had Dale coming to the game to sign autographs as a promotion so I was going to have him sign my glove. But I ended up having to fill in as drummer in a friend's band for a two week summer tour... which of course is when Dale was coming.
Fast-forward to about 3 years ago and I was in the GM's office of the local minor league team (I was a season ticket holder and friend) and I told him that story. He reached into his desk and gave me this:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ff345b64_b.jpg


I know it's not a valuable ball, but that's not the point. It's that Dale signed it THAT DAY, the day I should've been there, so this was the next best thing. So nice of the GM to do that, too. It's a lifetime keeper for me. It represents both childhood fascination and adult friendship. Both very important things.

Great story and ball. My father and I were at a Buffalo Bisons game and he got 2 Johnny Bench signed balls for me. He told me to hang on to these he's going to be great. I promptly went out and played with both. The ignorance of youth,

I supercollect Johnny and Hank Greenberg....so that is a beautiful picture you posted...lol...you collect Hank too??

Thank you! I have one Hank item. Signed photo.

I suppose I know the answer, but what does "supercollect" mean?

haha...My entire collection focuses just on those 2 players....I grew up with Bench as my favorite and about 10-12 years ago read about Hank and started collecting him too.....