who did johnny bench play for?
Cincinnati Reds
neutral
 Several players left in free agency , including Terry Porter ( 1995 ) , Buck Williams ( 1996 ) , and Cliff Robinson ( 1997 ) , which left Jerome Kersey unprotected in the 1995 expansion draft . 

entailment
 Both Motley and Willis made the team and became two of the first African @-@ Americans to play professional football in the modern era . The Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League had signed the only other black players in pro football earlier that year : Kenny Washington and Woody Strode . The four men broke football 's color barrier a full year before Jackie Robinson was promoted from the Class AAA Montreal Royals to join the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 . Motley felt the Browns would likely be his only opportunity to make a career of football . " I knew this was the one big chance in my life to rise above the steel mill existence , and I really wanted to take it , " he said . 

entailment
 In early 1946 , Jorge Pasquel and his four brothers , owners of the Mexican baseball league , siphoned campaign funds from the upcoming Mexican presidential election and used them to offer large salaries and signing bonuses to American baseball players . In some cases , the offers were triple the salaries being paid in the Major Leagues . Chandler deterred players from considering Mexican League offers by imposing a five @-@ year ban from Major League Baseball to anyone who played in the Mexican League and did not return by April 1 , 1946 . In all , eighteen players played for the Mexican league despite the ban , including Mickey Owen , Max Lanier , and Sal Maglie . Vern Stephens initially agreed to play in Mexico as well , but returned before Chandler 's April 1 deadline . Ted Williams , Stan Musial , and Phil Rizzuto were also offered lucrative contracts and incentives , but all eventually declined to play in Mexico . 

contradiction
 Chambers ' American football career was brought to a standstill when a stress fracture injury on his right foot ruled him out for the season . The situation worsened further when the NFL closed the European league on 29 June 2007 leaving Chambers jobless . He returned as a TV personality on reality television show Cirque de Celebrité in October but was unpopular with the public and subsequently voted off . 

neutral
 The NBA relocation committee gave its approval for the move to Memphis in late June , and on July 3 the Board of Governors unanimously approved the relocation . This also permitted Hyde to purchase a minority share of the franchise . By then the team administration had already relocated , and the day before the final decision , the team set up its rookie camp at Rhodes College . A relocation party was held on July 7 . A week before the move , the Grizzlies traded away two of the top players , Shareef Abdur @-@ Rahim and guard Mike Bibby , who therefore never played for the Memphis Grizzlies . 
