From The Vault: Injury ends Cincinnati Reds basketball team in 1971

For baseball players, Pete Rose and Johnny Bench were pretty good at basketball, too, in their day. Thousands of Tri-State fans crowded into gyms to watch them dribble, shoot and rebound in person. For two offseasons, that is, until a serious injury put a stop to all the fun. If center fielder Bobby Tolan hadn’t ruptured his Achilles tendon in a game in Frankfort, Kentucky, in January, 1971, you might be able to watch Joey Votto and Billy Hamilton run the court today. Following the 1969 baseball season, Rose got the idea to put together a Reds basketball team to play charity games during the winter. He recruited Bench, Tolan, Lee May, Jim Maloney, Jimmy Stewart and others. They drove or bussed to high school and college gyms as far as 100 miles away to play teams of former high school and college players, local celebrities, even teachers, and to raise money for good causes.