Aug 4, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A general view of Great American Ballpark prior to the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. (Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports)

Johnny Bench will revive his baseball career…for one game. And not for the Reds. Sorry to get your hopes up!

The Hall of Fame Catcher and arguably the best catcher to ever play the game will be suiting up for the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams Game, which will take place in Rochester, NY. This will be the second Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams game, with last year’s game taking place right in the heartland, in Columbus, OH. This also marks Johnny’s second year playing in the game.

Taking it’s name from my personal favorite baseball movie of all time, the Field of Dreams game is the result of a contest put on by Pepsi to give two lucky winners the opportunity to create a team of all-time baseball greats, and then get a chance to play alongside them for one star-studded baseball game. This year’s winners, Johnny Perotti and Stephen Katchmark, will be taking the field with a team comprised of half Average Joe’s, and half baseball greats. The National League team will be made up of Katchmark and his buddies, as well as Bench, Ozzie Smith, Mike Schmidt, Trevor Hoffman and Fred McGriff. They’ll be taking on the AL team, made up of Perotti, five of his friends, Frank Thomas, Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Pedro Martinez, and Reggie Jackson.

I had the honor to interview Bench this morning, and he gave some great insight on what it’s like for these every day guys to take the field with some of baseball’s greatest names. He also provided his views on the state of the current Cincinnati Reds team, and some additional views on today’s game. Find the audio of the interview below, or if you’re on a phone, click here.

Oct 9, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; General view of Great American Ball Park during game three of the 2012 NLDS between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The recent announcement that the Reds would be hosting the 2015 All-Star game has sent me into ‘sentimental journey’ mode. If you ever get a chance to see an All-Star game in person, do yourself a solid and make whatever effort it takes.

Picture it, 1969 Washington D.C. (starting to sound like Sophia on the Golden Girls).
I lived outside of D.C. in Herndon, Virginia and worked at a concrete mixing company. On Tuesday, July 22 it rained cats and dogs all day. The All-Star game scheduled for that night at RFK Stadium was postponed until the next day. A salesman at the concrete company had free tickets to the game but wasn’t going to be able to make it on Wednesday afternoon. For some strange reason he chose me as the first one to ask about the tickets. After asking me if I wanted them, I replied, “Does a tall dog pee in a rain barrel”?

My older brother Frank and I made the trek into the big city. He wasn’t a baseball fan, per se, but he did like free stuff and loved to drink beer. It was a pretty nice day for a ball game. I was a Reds fan deep down back then, but I had to suffer through terrible seasons as a quasi-Senator fan.

Willie McCovey smacked a pair of homers and our own Johnny Bench hit one as well for the visiting National League squad. The fun part is coming up.

Think of it, being in the same stadium as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bench, McCovey, Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Ernie Banks and all the others. I counted it up and there were 15 players inside that stadium who would eventually become enshrined into the Hall of Fame. Actually 16, counting Red Schoendienst who was managing the NL team.

Bill Freehan

With the NL ahead 8-1 in the bottom of the third inning, Tigers’ catcher Bill Freehan led off the inning. I told Frank that I would bet him a hot dog and a beer that Freehan would go yard on this particular at bat. What are the odds? Of course he took me up on it and the count went 3-0. I tried to negotiate and say that if he walked the bet was off. Frank said no dice. Steve Carlton threw one a little too fat and Freehan hit it into the Mezzanine not far from where we were sitting.

The NL won the game 9-3 and Stretch McCovey was the MVP of the game on the heels of his two monster home runs.

That was a baseball memory of a lifetime. The Senators sucked so obviously I never saw a World Series game live. Now, anytime someone talks All-Star game I go back to that warm day in ’69 only three days after Neil Armstrong allegedly walked on the moon.

Do I ponder about the implications of Armstrong bouncing on the moon? No, I think about a hot dog, too many beers, and Bill Freehan making an 18-year old kid feel like a million bucks.

So, if you get the opportunity, go. Even if you have to sell out on something you hold dear.

Drafting a high school pitcher with your first pick is a risky proposition.  Travieso  is in the process of learning to harness his command and throw his secondary pitches.   In addition to his big fastball, he throws an impressive slider that reaches 86 mph.  Nonetheless, he’s at least a few years away from the big leagues – - if he makes it at all.

With gambling, there are countless games with varying degrees of risk.  The Major League Baseball Draft is more certain than roulette but less certain than cockfighting.  If you think I am overstating the hazards of trying to project the baseball skills and abilities of young men who are 18-22 years of age, take a look at this list of Reds draft busts:

Draft Busts

All of these young men were considered to be among the top 30 amateur talents in the U.S.   The Reds’ scouts and front office personnel felt these players stood the best chance of contributing, eventually, to the Big League club.  In fact, Pacillo was selected before Mark McGwire, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine.  Mottola was selected before Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi.  From this list, only Pacillo and Mottola made it to Major League Baseball.

This list contains just thirteen players.  Since the draft began in 1966, however, the Reds have selected 103 players in the first round.  Fifteen of them didn’t sign  Of those 103 players, only 42 made it to Major League Baseball.  Of those 42 players, thirteen (13) came from high school.  Of those 13 high school draftees that made it, only six were pitchers.  They include Gary Nolan (1966), Don Gullett (1969), Ron Robinson (1980), Scott Scudder (1986), Dustin Moseley (2000), and Homer Bailey (2004).

The 1974 draft and the 1996 draft rank among the worst in Reds history.  In 1974, the Reds drafted 43 players.  Only Jay Howell and Gary Lucas made it to Major League Baseball.  Lucas declined to sign with the Reds.

In 1996, the Reds drafted 41 players.  Only Buddy Carlyle (#38), Mike Vento (#300) and Doug DeVore (#1,050) graduated to the big leagues from the 1996 draft class.  Neither Vento nor DeVore signed.

Sometimes, on the other hand, the sun, moon, and stars align themselves.  These players met or exceeded their draft status:

Draft Boons

Trevor Hoffman is second on MLB’s All-Time Saves List and a likely Hall of Famer.  The Reds drafted Hoffman out of the University of Arizona with the 288th pick in the 1989 draft as a shortstop!  When he failed to hit at Billings (Rk)  in 1989 and Charleston (A) in 1990, he moved from shortstop to the mound.  The Reds lost him to the Florida Marlins in the 1992 expansion draft.  He made his Major League debut in 1993.  After 1,035 games, Hoffman retired with 601 saves.  Only Mariano Rivera has more.

Jeff Montgomery was drafted by the Reds out of Marshall University in the ninth round of the 1983 draft.  Montgomery posted a 6.52 ERA in 14 games for the Reds in 1987.  In 1988, Montgomery was traded to the Royals for Van Snider.  He pitched in thirteen big league seasons and piled up 304 saves in a very solid big league career.

Danny Tartabull was drafted by the Reds with the 71st pick in the 1980 draft.  The Reds lost him to the Mariners in the 1983 player compensation pool draft.  Tartabull went on to hit 262 homeruns over a fourteen year career.

Barry Larkin, Randy Myers, Tom Browning, Eric Davis, and Paul O’Neill were the backbone of the 1990 World Series Champions.

Johnny Bench was the second Reds player selected in the 1965 draft.  Bernie Carbo was selected first.  Bench and Barry Larkin are currently the only Reds draftees to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Perhaps the best draft in Reds history was 1983.  The harvest from that class included Chris Sabo, Kurt Stillwell, Joe Oliver, Lenny Harris, and Jeff Montgomery.  That’s five legitimate major leaguers in one draft class.  Between them, they played 62 years in the big leagues.

The Reds have done extraordinarily well in the last decade.  Joey Votto, Ryan Wagner, Homer Bailey, Travis Wood, Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs, Zack Cozart, Todd Frazier, Devin Mesoraco, Yonder Alonso, Mike Leake, and Yasmani Grandal were all players drafted by the Reds in the first two rounds.

Only time will tell if young Nick Travieso will be a boon or a bust.  The odds, however, are not in his favor.