There was no defense against the Big Red Machine
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Red_Machine
"
Believe me, after beating Detroit in the playoffs, playing
Cincinnati, the "Big Red Machine," couldn't be any tougher.
Sure they had Rose, Tolan, Morgan, Perez, and Bench. But we
were loose, confident. The night before the first game, Bando,
Tenace, myself, and a couple of other guys went out to dinner.
Whom do we see but Bench, the great Reds catcher, surrounded
by one of those-what do you call them?-entourages. He
musta thought he was a god. Talking real loud at his table about
how they better not throw me this way, that way.
I walked right over to him. "I'll throw it right under your nose
if I want to," I said. Bench just stared at me, like you're not
supposed to talk to a superstar like that. Horseshit. We had some
pretty big superstars on our club. "
From Catfish: My Life in Baseball