no. 250 - johnny bench

Who is the man: Johnny Bench was coming off probably the most bananas season of his entire major league career when this card hit packs. He would never hit more home runs (45), drive in more runs (148), register a better OPS (.932) or accumulate more total bases (355) in a single season than in 1970. And he was named NL MVP.

Can ya dig it: Bench has a wistful, off-camera look to him. It's probably my least favorite Topps Bench card of the '70s.

Right on: The card is so off-center that it's corroding on the right side.

You see this cat Bench is a bad mother: He's widely considered the best catcher to ever play major league baseball. Can't be more bad than that.

Shut your mouth: I wonder how many people come up to Bench in a given week and say "no runs, no drips, no errors" to him? I don't know if Krylon paid him enough to put up with that.

No one understands him but his woman: Bench has been married four times but his latest wife, Lauren, has been married to him longer than any of the others -- nine years. So maybe he's finally found a wife who understands him.

(A word about the back): A future Hall of Famer at 23!!! OK, it's Johnny Bench and he did make the Hall on the first ballot, but really the guy could've gotten run over by a truck at age 24.

no. 66 - 1970 national league home run leaders

Who is the man: Johnny Bench is once again the man. He hit 45 home runs in 1970. He hit 38 of those as a catcher, which at the time was second only to Roy Campanella's 40 hit in 1953.

Can ya dig it: Is that the same structure in the background in both Bench's and Perez's photos? If so, what is it?

Right on: You may be thinking I featured this card already. But actually, it's a different one. It's just that all three players were also featured on the National League RBI leaders card two posts ago. Only this time, Williams and Perez are swapped.

You see these cats are bad mothers: Saving it for later.

Shut your mouth: Sparky Anderson often credited Tony Perez for being the key player in the success of the Big Red Machine. When Perez was traded to the Expos after the 1976 season, many pointed to the trade as the reason why the Reds weren't the same after '76. All of this must've made Dan Driessen feel terrific. Driessen took over at first base for Perez and was Cincinnati's first baseman for the next seven-plus years.

No on understands him but his woman: Bench has been married four times. Most recently in 2006. Maybe this one understands him.

(A word about the back): I know Roberto Clemente wasn't really a home run hitter, but seeing him with just one more home run than Lou Brock and one less home run than John Bateman is a little odd.

no. 64 - 1970 national league rbi leaders

Who is the man: Johnny Bench is the man. His 148 RBIs in 1970 were the most for a player since Tommy Davis had 153 for the Dodgers in 1962.

Can ya dig it: I know the RBI is not the most respected stat among baseball number-crunchers these days, but when the top two RBI producers are each on the same team, that team is really racking up some runs. They didn't call them the Big Red Machine for nothing.

Right on: The Perez photo is a repeat of Perez's 1970 Topps card.

You see these cats are bad mothers: Later. We'll get to the bad mother business with these guys later.

Shut your mouth: I think Johnny Bench has done more commercials than any single living baseball player. He definitely was on more commercials than any baseball player when I was watching as a kid.

No one understand him but his woman: What could be considered Johnny Bench's two "co-stars" on the '80s kid show "The Baseball Bunch" were Tommy Lasorda and The Chicken. I bet the lunch breaks were interesting.

(A word about the back): Once again, please note Wes Parker's 111 RBI season in 1970. Also, it's nice to have a Coco Laboy sighting, even if he hit 30 fewer RBIs than he did in 1969.