APRIL 6, 1969:
NL PREVIEW: REDS by Si Burick (Dayton Daily News)
CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Reds will take the field this year with a rare blend of youth and experience - rare because the young players have the experience.
The Reds have six players with a good chance to be named for the National League's All-Star team, based on 1968 form and 1969 hopes. That doesn't include pitchers who might be good enough by election time.
Four Reds made it last year. Outfielder Pete Rose, who will be 27 April 14, drew the largest number of National League votes but didn't get to play after suffering a broken thumb. He moves this year from right field to center.
Third baseman Tony Perez, 26, has made the All-Star squad two years in succession. Tommy Helms, 27, won a starting berth at second base last season. And catcher Johnny Bench, as intelligent as a Rhodes Scholar at a tender 21, also played for the National League.
Bench, the rookie of the year, was generally rated the best young catcher to come into the majors in years. Herman Frank, then manager of the San Francisco Giants, was typical of the old-timers who, watching Bench in action, compared him as a thrower to the great Gabby Hartnett.
Lee May, 26, coming into his own as a first baseman and batter after a .290 year at the plate, also must be rated an All-Star candidate. And left fielder Alex Johnson, 26, who won a regular spot last year after playing part-time in Philadelphia and St. Louis, also will get consideration, based on a .312 average in baseball's Year of the Pitcher.
The other regulars are Woody Woodward, 26, at shortstop, and Bobby Tolan, 23, in right field. Woodward came to the Reds from Atlanta in a midsummer
trade (with pitchers Tony Cloninger and Clay Carroll) for Milt Pappas.
Woodward has inherited, at least for the time being, the job that opened up when Leo Cardenas was traded to Minnesota during the winter for lefthanded pitcher Jim Merritt.
A surprise candidate, switch-hitting Darrel Chaney, who was at Asheville in the Southern League last year, has been pushing Woodward all spring and will be kept. The 21-year-old ex-quarterback from Hammond, Ind., who turned down football scholarship offers from Notre Dame and Michigan State, could work into the regular spot.
Tolan, the young right fielder, came from pennant-winning St. Louis with relief pitcher Wayne Granger in the deal that put Vada Pinson in a Cardinal uniform. Tolan has reacted well to the opportunity. He has speed and can bunt.
Manager Dave Bristol believes his club deserves top consideration for Western Division honors in the National League. He points to the experience factor:
"Bench has that year behind him. Perez has two full years at third base. It's the same for May at first. And Helms, who was a shortstop in the minors, has his third year at second base and the best hitting with a .273 average. Now I think our guys are ready to hit when it counts against the best pitching in the league."
The Reds had a sour pitching year in 1968. Ace Jim Maloney, sophomore Gary Nolan and converted outfielder Mel Queen had sore arms last spring. Merritt, the new man from the Twins, provides an outstanding lefthanded starter.
Tony Cloninger will be in the starting rotation, too. Spot starters are George Culver, who pitched a no-hitter against Philadelphia last year; Gerry Arrigo and Jack Fisher.
Ted Abernathy was traded to the Cubs, but the Reds have an improved bullpen with Carroll and Granger.
If the pitching is as improved as Bristol and new pitching coach Harvey Haddix think it is, this is the youthful club that could be playing in the World Series.
JOHNNY BENCH