The Major League Baseball channel ran a 90-minute feature tonight on Johnny Bench, the Cincinnat Reds Hall of Fame catcher.

I have a cameo. That’s me interviewing the great Joe Morgan. I’m rocking a dapper leisure suit from the mid-70s. I covered the Reds for the Associated Press from 1973 through 1978.

Their lineup became known as The Great Eight. They won 98 games in 1974, 108 in 1975 and 102 in 1976, winning back-to-back World Series in 75 & 76.

The Big Red Machine ranks among the greatest teams of all-time. I had just returned from 2 1/2 months of riding the rails across Europe when I landed in Cincinnati after 5 years with the Billings (MT) Gazette. Talk about hitting the journalism lottery.

Thanks to Scott Wilson for spotting this and to AP colleagues Bill Winter and the late Paul Freeman for the big career break.