Catcher and manager Bill Plummer died Tuesday. He backed up Johnny Bench on the Reds:
Plummer appeared in 324 games for the Reds between 1970 and 1977, including the teams that won back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and ’76.
“Loved Bill for the person he was and the competitor he showed us on the field. He was always ready to play,” Bench said in a post Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
ESPN.com
My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Plummer did not hit well, with a career .188/.267/.274 slash line. He struck out 19% of the time in an era where batters struck out much less than today. Given his defensive WARs, he didn’t particularly shine there, either. His best season came in 1976 when he hit .248/.311/.379 and posted a 0.0 rWAR.
He also went 64-98 in his one season managing the Mariners.
Bench would catch about 150 games every year, which didn’t leave a lot of playing time for his backup. In ten seasons, Plummer caught in 343 games. I assume he eventually came to accept his role, but when he was young I would think it must have been really frustrating for him.