After a disappointing 1971 season, Johnny Bench came back with a big year and won his second MVP Award. With teammates Pete Rose and the newly acquired Joe Morgan, Bench helped lead the Reds to the World Series, where they lost to Oakland.

         I believe that the top two players of this group were Bench and Morgan. Morgan had a great year as a base stealer, and was third in the league in runs produced. The only question is who should be the MVP, and a key factor is their defense. Johnny Bench was a great defensive catcher, with a throwing arm widely reknowned as the best in the league. He was also an innovator; he caught the ball one-handed to protect his throwing hand while using a hinged catching mitt. These safety measures helped make him one of the most durable catchers ever.
         To be honest, I'm not really sure how good Morgan was defensively. He won five Gold Gloves, but there is some debate about whether he was a great defensive player (unfortunately, Gold Gloves tend to reward good hitters more often than they do good defensive players). When defensive statistics began to be re-evaluated in the 1980's, Joe's defensive reputation took some knocks — his statistics were quite poor. But defensive statistics can be misleading, especially for second basemen; we're still figuring out the best ways to interpret them. Morgan was likely overrated with the glove, but I suspect that he was more than adequate at the position. Morgan played for 22 years, almost exclusively as a second baseman.
        This was Chris Speier's best season, at age 22. He never hit well again, but somehow managed to play 19 years, the last decade spent in a backup role.
         Cesar Cedeno hit .310 as a 19-year-old rookie in 1970. At age 20 he led the National League in doubles. Comparisons to Willie Mays were inevitable, and great expectations followed. Both this year and in 1973, Cedeno met these expectations by hitting .320 each season with power and speed included. His career then went into decline, and he was finished as a star by the age of 23. Cedeno still had a pretty good career, finishing with a .285 lifetime batting average. He amassed over 2000 hits, plus 550 stolen bases and 199 homers. Good numbers, but not enough to meet those great expectations (he was also labeled as a head case, which didn't help his reputation, and had a celebrated incident in 1981 when he attacked a fan in the stands).
        Billy Williams almost won the Triple Crown, and finished runner-up in the MVP vote. The last consistently good Cubs team of the century was the one of the late 1960's and early 1970's; Leo Durocher was the manager, Fergie Jenkins was the best pitcher, and Williams was the best hitter. Williams was one of the most consistent hitters of his era, and routinely combined both average and power. As a hitter, he was helped by Wrigley Field, but he also hit his prime in the late 1960's, when pitchers were taking over the game. When the strike zone was shrunk, Williams exploded with a pair of monster seasons in 1970 and 1972. He finished his career with over 2700 hits, and 426 career homers, and he is in the Hall Of Fame.