Johnny Bench is a hero to many, but perhaps his number one fan is Rodney Hamilton of Florence.

        Why? Because Mr. Hamilton, 35, the owner of A-Rod Plumbing Service, owns over 5,000 pieces of Johnny Bench memorabilia.

        “I've been a Johnny Bench fanatic for as far back as I can remember,” Mr. Hamilton says. “I grew up in Falmouth, and there wasn't a lot for us to do besides play ball. On the field, all the other kids wanted to be Pete Rose or Joe Morgan. But I wanted to be Johnny Bench.”

        “I just idolized him,” he says with a grin. “I still do.”

        “Besides baseball, I was interested in comic books,” he says. “I loved super heroes, and when Johnny dressed up in his catcher's outfit he reminded me of a warrior. Just the sight of him put fear into the other team.”

        “When Bench played, he had no flaws,” Mr. Hamilton declares. “You never saw him make a mistake under pressure. He always came through in the clutch.”

        “My only regret,” he frowns, “Is I wasn't old enough to know how good he was in 1971-72 before his surgery. But, I did appreciate what I did see. Now that I'm older, I understand how good he and the people he played with were compared to today's athletes.”

        Mr. Hamilton pilfered his first piece of Bench memorabilia. “I stole it from my sister, Cheri, when I was eight years old,” he admits. “It was a 1973 Johnny Bench RBI Topps baseball card.”

        “It was the first baseball card I had ever seen,” he says. “It was like gold to me. Really unbelievable. I finally got to see a picture of him.”

        Cheri wasn't quite so thrilled.

        “She beat me up when she found out,” he laughs. “It meant nothing to her. She was just mad that I took it from her.”

        Nearly 28 years later, Mr. Hamilton is still unapologetic. But he never stole anything again.

        Since then, he has amassed more than 500 more Johnny Bench baseball cards as well as autographed bats, balls, badges and an assortment of Starting Lineup by Hasbro figurines.

        One of the rarest pieces in his collection is a collector's marble made in 1969. It is clear and has a picture of Bench on one side and his autograph on the other.

        “As far as I know, there are only 10 others in existence,” Mr. Hamilton says.

        “The prize of my collection is a LeRoy Neiman lithograph that commemorates Bench's retirement,” he says. “It's also the most expensive.”

        Every collector has a Holy Grail and Mr. Hamilton's is a 1978 statue of Johnny Bench called “The Catcher.”

        “My father and some friends have tried to get one for me,” he sighs. “But they were sold out. They were mostly purchased by corporations.”

        He knows of two in the area, and is planning to write the owners to make an offer.

        Mr. Hamilton was living in Falmouth during the flood of 1997. Though his home was flooded, he lost only a small part of his collection. Now that he lives in Florence, his collection is divided between his home, his mother's house in Falmouth and bank safety deposit boxes.

        “My goal is to eventually display everything in glass cases in the family room,” he says.

        Mr. Hamilton is a bit superstitious when it comes to the numbers. “Johnny Bench's first number in the minor leagues was 18,” he says. “Both my wife, Micki, and I were born on Oct. 18. We got married on Oct. 18 and when our son Zach was born, she had her first labor pains on Oct. 18.”

        “What's more,” he says reverently, “Zach was born on Dec. 7, which is Johnny Bench's birthday.”

        Even Zach, who is now 19 months old, owns a piece of Bench memorabilia.

        “I had Johnny Bench sign my son's birth certificate.” Mr. Hamilton chortles. “He wrote his birth date underneath. As far as we can find out, it is the only time Bench has signed his birthday autograph.”

        “Wow,” he continues, “to have my son born on Johnny's birthday was just phenomenal. And for me to be such a Bench nut — what do you think were the odds of it happening?”

        Mr. Hamilton, an avid softball player who has been ranked as one of the top 100 players in Northern Kentucky, has met his hero three times at Cincinnati Reds-sponsored events.

        He describes those times as “totally awesome experiences.”

        “You know when you're in high school, and you're asked what your future plans in life are?” Mr. Hamilton says. “Everyone else said, "I want to go to college' or "I want to get married.' I always said that I wanted to go to Cooperstown to see Johnny get inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

        “Well, I did that,” he says. “It was a feeling I can't describe. I just can't wait for my son to be old enough so I can take him.”

        “These are just priceless memories,” he sighs. “You can't replace them.”

        Share your prize possessions with Marsie Hall Newbold by mail; c/o The Cincinnati Enquirer; e-mail: marsolete@aol.com.

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