Cardboard Cameos of Bench & Munson: Two Legendary Backstops on One Card
In this story:
In October 1976, the two best catchers in baseball squared off in the World Series. Less than three years later, one of them was gone. The 1977 Topps #412 freezes them both in time—Johnny Bench receiving a throw at home plate, number 15 barreling toward him.
The card itself is nothing special at first glance. It's part of a three-card subset recapping the Fall Classic, labeled World Series Games 3 & 4. Bench is the featured player, which makes sense: he hit .533 with two home runs and won the WS Most Valuable Player Award as his Big Red Machine completed a four-game sweep of the Yankees. Thurman Munson appears almost incidentally, a runner in the frame, not the subject. But collectors know better. That incidental figure is the whole story.
Both backstops had the series of their lives, even as one went home empty. Munson hit .529 and strung together six consecutive hits to tie a World Series record. He just ran into a buzzsaw wearing red.
Return to Prominence
The context matters. This was the Bombers' first Fall Classic since 1964—a twelve-year drought that had transformed the franchise from dynasty to afterthought. Munson had just been named AL MVP and team captain, the first to hold that title since Lou Gehrig. He was supposed to lead them back to the promised land. Instead, he watched Bench hit two home runs in the clinching game and heard Cincinnati skipper Sparky Anderson tell reporters, "Don't embarrass anyone by comparing him with Johnny Bench."
That October humiliation became fuel. The Yankees won the next two World Series, Munson collecting rings in '77 and '78. He was 32 years old, in his prime, with everything ahead of him.
One of Baseball's Darkest Days
On August 2, 1979, Munson died tragically when his Cessna Citation crashed during a practice landing in Canton, Ohio. He'd bought the jet—tail number N15NY—so he could fly home to his family on off days. New York retired his number immediately, his locker sitting empty until the old Stadium closed. Thankfully, Bench is still with us.
You can find this card raw for a few bucks in the occasional vintage bin, while PSA 10s have fetched between $260-$280 in recent sales. It's not overly valuable. It's not rare. But it captures two elite catchers in a single frame, not long before one of them vanished forever. That's worth more than the cardboard it's printed on.
Scott Orgera is a sportswriter and statistician with more than three decades of experience. He has covered thousands of MLB and NFL games, along with most other major sports. A member of the BBWAA, his bylines appear in the Associated Press, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, and Forbes, among others. He also co‑authored 976‑1313: How Sports Phone Launched Careers and Broke New Ground. Having worked card shows with his family in the 1980s, Scott has remained active in the hobby ever since and now owns a card and memorabilia shop just outside New York City.