Johnny Bench is 65 today ... born Dec. 7, 1947

The best catcher in the history of baseball, Johnny Bench, was born 65 years ago in Oklahoma City, OK. He hit .293/45/148 in 1970. I was a kid, and I just remember thinking, wow, there isn't a better player on the planet ... and he plays for the Reds. That '70 season was great all-around.

His 45 dingers led the NL. Only two other players had 40 homers that year - Billy Williams and Tony Perez. Bench's 148 ribbies led the league ... Williams and Perez tied for second with 129. For you geeks out there, Bench was 7.1 wins above replacement, Perez was 6.8. Three players tied at 6.2 for third ... Willie McCovey and Billy Williams being two of them.

The other? ... The legendary Billy Grabarkewitz, who, frankly, your old uncle PK doesn't even remember. Anyway, here's a cool Johnny Bench Topps 1970 poster.

Roy McMillan Born July 17, 1929

Roy McMillan

Roy McMillan was a 16-year player in the big leagues. He played for the Reds throughout the 1950s. He was what shortstops were before Cal Ripken Jr.: 175-pound fielders who didn't hit much. McMillan was a two-time All-Star for the Redlegs, and he was on the cover of SI in 1957. He had nothing, as far as I understand, to do with Clare Booth Luce.

Sean Casey Day ... The Mayor of Cincinnati

Sean Casey, three-time All-Star first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds in the late 90s and the 00s, turns 38 today. He was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame with Dan Driessen, the Reds first sacker who replaced Tony Perez in the mid-1970s. Casey said, "When I put on that '21' jersey everyday, it was for each and every one of you. I played my heart out because I love this city. When 'Cincinnati' was written across my chest, I never took it lightly . . . You are the greatest fans in major league baseball. Thank you so much!"

Here are the two speeches, from Dan and Casey.

Tony Perez ... The Big Dog ... Turns 70!

My favorite player when I was growing up was Tony Perez of the Big Red Machine. Well, Tony turned 70 yesterday. Here is his rookie card (I think ... he had a few with the word "rookie" in them).

He was a third baseman when he came up to the big leagues. The Reds had a first baseman, though it wasn't Lee May. The Reds first baseman in 1965 was Gordy Coleman, who helped lead Cincy to an NL Pennant in 1961.

Here's the back of The Big Dog's Topps card in 1974:

OldCleat Redrafts the Bengals Draft 2012 - Early Round One Edition

Nick Saban, left, talks Skyline Chili with Dre Kirkpatrick

OldCleat redrafts the Bengals draft 2012 ... early first round edition.

First Round, 17th Overall, Traded from the Raiders for Carson Palmer, the Bengals Select Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Alabama. OldCleat would have taken, I think, Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Alabama. I think that Kirkpatrick will probably be like Leon Hall. I think he is a good player who is a step slow but will make up for that with some good play. The only other player I would have considered was Dont'a Hightower, despite the unfortunate apostrophe. But he is an inside linebacker, and the Bengals are set there. I also liked David DeCastro, guard, but not that high.

First Round, 27th Overall (Bengals traded 21st overall to New England for 27th overall and a third-round pick): Bengals select Kevin Zeitler, G, Wisconsin. OldCleat would have taken Cordy Glenn, G and T, Georgia. I liked that the Bengals traded down. I don't understand why New England was so hot on defensive end Chandler Jones from Syracuse to trade up to get him, but they were. Zeitler is a guard who might also play some center. Glenn is huge (6'5"-plus, 345) who can play tackle and was a guard.

I reserve my right, by the way, to take a second look at this. I am sort of LIVE BLOGGING the draft.

Boomer Esiason - Happy Birthday

Boomer Esiason celebrates a birthday today. He was a darned fine quarterback for the Bengals who was the pilot of a pretty impressive offensive machine. More importantly, he is the leader in the fight against Cystic Fybrosis because of his son Gunnar through the Boomer Esiason Foundation.

Lee May ... Happy Birthday

One of my first baseball heroes, if I may use that word, was Lee May. Today is his birthday. Happy birthday, Lee.

Lee was a big-boppin' first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds in the late 1960s. I started to really follow him in 1969, when he hit .278 with 38 homers and 110 RBI. In 1970, he batted .253-34-98, and in '71, he hit .278-39-98. Then the Reds up and traded him to the Astros. On November 29, 1971, he was traded by the Cincinnati Reds with Tommy Helms and Jimmy Stewart to the Houston Astros for Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo, and Denis Menke.

Oh, and Joe Morgan.

I didn't understand this. Why would they trade a young, great slugger and the steady Tommy Helms for a bunch of players that I was not too familiar with? Of course, it turned out that it was one of the greatest trades in Reds history, if not THE greatest, and I spent the rest of my days as a huge Tony Perez fan, as well as a Joe Morgan fan.

But I'll always remember big Lee.

White Sox Love Them Some QBs

Today's Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting piece on the Chicago White Sox and GM Kenny Williams's love of quarterbacks. He signed Mitch Mustain, the former Arkansas and Southern Cal QB who hasn't played baseball in eight years. Williams went after Joe Borchard, QB at Stanford; Josh Fields, QB at OK State; and Clayton Richard, who was a quarterback at Michigan. And, of course, the Sox have Adam Dunn, who was an All-State QB as a high schooler in Texas. He went to the U of Texas, but when Chris Simms decided to ditch one U of T (Tennessee) for another, Texas, the Longhorns staff wanted Dunn to move to tight end. Dunn saw that tight ends have to block defensive ends, and he decided to take the Cincinnati Reds' millions as a second-round MLB pick.

The Sun-Times also reported that Bill Veeck signed Bobby Douglass after his football-playing days. Douglass pitched in four games in the minors, with a 0-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

I don't remember that Richard played at Michigan. He was a backup to Chad Henne, though I remember Matt Gutierrez being the backup.