Not wise to poke the bear … or the Bench
John Montefusco comes into the major leagues in 1974 with an repertoire of pitches that include a fastball, slider, changeup and forkball.
He also has lots of attitude.
Oh, not a bad attitude; just one that comes from not being drafted after his high school days in Middletown, N.J.
Montefusco eventually signs with the San Francisco Giants as a non-drafted free agent on Nov. 6, 1972 – and 22 months later finds himself making his major league debut and beating Los Angeles 9-5 at Dodger Stadium.
In that game, Montefusco actually pitches nine innings in relief after starter Ron Bryant fails to retire any of the six batters he faces.
Montefusco works in six more games to finish that summer before formally starting his rookie season in 1975.
And he is just making National League batters look foolish to start the 1975 season, winning 10 of his first 14 decisions before the end of July.
Montefusco wins four straight starts and six of his previous seven before facing the vaunted Reds 48 years ago today at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.
Montefusco is, to say the least, quite confident in himself before facing the Reds. Too much confidence, perhaps, given where he is next pitching and against whom.
No matter to the 25-year-old Montefusco, who boldly predicts before the game that he not only will shut out the Reds but he also will strike out All-Star Johnny Bench not once or twice, but four times in the game.
Big words, not-so-big results.
Turns out Montefusco never gets out of the second inning.
After allowing a run in the bottom of the first inning – oh, well, there goes the shutout – Montefusco gives up six runs in the second with half of those runs coming on a three-run homer by – you guessed it – Johnny Bench to deep left field.
Really, really deep left field.
As Bench is running around the bases and stadium workers begin looking for dents in the façade in front of the upper deck, Montefusco quickly and quietly is replaced by left-hander Mike Caldwell.
The 11-6 loss in Cincinnati is his first of three in as many starts that season against the Reds with a not-so-good ERA of 5.40 against the eventual World Series winner.
Montefusco does quite well, however, against the rest of the National League in 1975, winning 15 of 21 other decisions with a 2.70 ERA in those games on his way to winning the league’s rookie of the year award over Montreal catcher and future Hall of Famer Gary Carter.
“Johnny Bench hit the longest home run every hit off of me,” Montefusco later tells writer Bill Ballew.
“As a matter of fact, he hit the cement façade on the third deck of Riverfront Stadium. When we get back to (San Francisco), my mail was stacked up in front of my locker. As I was going through my mail, I noticed an envelope with Cincinnati Reds’ letterhead. I wondered what the heck it was, so I opened it up and it was a bill for $957. It read, ‘For damage done to the cement façade at Riverfront Stadium from Johnny Bench’s home run.’ ”
Turns out the letter is a fake written by Giants shortstop and resident prankster Chris Speier.