Johnny Bench
Johnny Lee Bench is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire Major League Baseball career, which lasted from to, with the Cincinnati Reds, primarily as a catcher. Bench led the Reds team known as the Big Red Machine that dominated the National League in the mid-1970s, winning six division titles, four National League pennants, and two World Series championships.
A fourteen-time All-Star and a two-time National League Most Valuable Player, Bench excelled on offense and defense, twice leading the majors in home runs and three times in runs batted in. At the time of his retirement in 1983, he held the major league record for most home runs hit by a catcher. He was also the first catcher to lead the league in home runs. He hit 45 home runs in 1970, the single-season record for catchers until Salvador Perez hit 48 in 2021; Bench still holds the National League record. His 389 home runs and 1,376 runs batted in are the most in Cincinnati Reds history.
On defense, Bench was a ten-time Gold Glove Award winner who skillfully handled pitching staffs and possessed a strong, accurate throwing arm. He caught 100 or more games for 13 consecutive seasons. In 1986, Bench was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989 in his first year of eligibility. He was named to MLB's All-Time Team in 1997 and All-Century Team in 1999, and ESPN has called him the greatest catcher in baseball history.
Early life
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Bench is Choctaw. He played baseball and basketball and was class valedictorian at Binger-Oney High School He survived a bus crash that killed two of his baseball teammates in 1965. His father, a truck driver, told him that the fastest route to becoming a major leaguer was as a catcher.Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
As a 17-year-old, the Cincinnati Reds selected Bench in the second round, with the 36th overall selection of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft. In 1965, he played for the Tampa Tarpons and Reds' Florida Instructional League team. He played for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons in 1966 and 1967. During the 1967 season, he hit a grand slam against fellow future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who would go on to never allow another grand slam his major league career.1967–1969: debut and Rookie of the Year
Bench was called up to the Reds in August 1967. He hit only.163, but impressed many people with his defense and strong throwing arm, among them Hall of Famer Ted Williams. Williams signed a baseball for him and predicted that the young catcher would be a "Hall of Famer for sure!" Williams' prophecy became fact 22 years later in 1989 when Bench was elected to Cooperstown.During a 1968 spring training game, Bench was catching right-hander Jim Maloney, an eight-year veteran. Maloney was once a hard thrower, but injuries had dramatically slowed down his fastball. Maloney nevertheless insisted on repeatedly "shaking off" his younger catcher by throwing fastballs instead of the breaking balls that Bench had called for. When an exasperated Bench bluntly told Maloney, "Your fastball's not popping," Maloney replied with an epithet. To prove to Maloney that his fastball was no longer effective, Bench called for a fastball, and after Maloney released the ball, Bench dropped his catcher's mitt and caught the fastball barehanded. Bench was the Reds' catcher on April 30, 1969, when Maloney pitched a no hitter against the
In 1968, the 20-year-old Bench impressed many in his first he won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, batting.275 with 15 home runs and 82 RBIs. This marked the first time that the award had been won by a catcher. He also won the 1968 National League Gold Glove Award for catchers, the first time a rookie had won that award. He made 102 assists in 1968, which was the first time in 23 years that a catcher had more than 100 assists in a season. During the Vietnam War, Bench served in the United States Army Reserve as a member of the 478th Engineer Battalion, which was based across the Ohio River from Cincinnati at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. This unit included several of his teammates, including Pete Rose, Bobby Tolan, and Darrel Chaney. In the winter of 1970–1971, Bench was part of Bob Hope's USO Tour of Vietnam.
1970s: MVPs, World Series
In 1970, Bench had his finest statistical season. At age 22, he became the youngest player to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award. He hit.293, led the majors with 45 home runs and a franchise-record 148 runs batted in as the Reds won the NL West Division. The Reds swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Championship Series but lost to the Baltimore Orioles in five games in the World Series.Bench had another strong year in 1972, winning the MVP Award for a second time. He once again led the majors in home runs and RBI to help propel the Reds to another NL West Division title and won the NL pennant in the deciding fifth game over the Pittsburgh Pirates. One of his more dramatic home runs was likely his ninth-inning, lead off, opposite field home run in that fifth NLCS game. The solo shot tied the game at three; the Reds won later in the inning on a wild pitch, 4–3. The Cincinnati Enquirer later called that game one of the best in franchise history. However, the Reds lost the World Series to the Oakland Athletics in seven games.
After the 1972 season, Bench underwent surgery to remove a lesion from his lung, out of concern that it might be cancerous. The lesion was benign, but Bench stated in an interview that he was never the same player after the surgery. “They cut the ribs, they cut the bones, they cut the nerves, and so I never was the same player afterwards.” He remained productive but never again hit 40 home runs in a season.
In 1973, Bench hit 25 home runs and 104 RBI and helped the Reds rally from a 10-game deficit to the Los Angeles Dodgers in early July to lead the majors with 99 wins and claim another NL West crown. In the NLCS, Cincinnati met a New York Mets team that won the NL East with an unimpressive record, 16 games behind the Reds. The Mets boasted three of the better starting pitchers in the NL, future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack. Bench's bottom of the ninth-inning home run off Seaver in the first game propelled the Reds to victory, but Seaver would get the best of the Reds and Bench in the deciding Game 5, winning to put the Mets into the World Series.
In 1974, Bench led the league with 129 RBI and scored 108 runs, becoming only the fourth catcher in major league history with 100 or more runs and RBI in the same season. The Reds won the second-most games in the majors but lost the West Division to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1975, the Reds finally broke through in the postseason. Bench had 28 home runs and 110 RBI during the regular season. Cincinnati swept the Pirates in three games to win the NLCS, and defeated the Boston Red Sox in a memorable seven-game World Series.
Bench struggled with ailing shoulders in 1976 and had one of his least productive years, with only 16 home runs and 74 RBI. He finished with an excellent postseason, starting with a 4-for-12 performance in the NLCS sweep over the Philadelphia Phillies. The World Series provided a head-to-head match-up with Yankees' All-Star catcher Thurman Munson. Bench rose to the occasion, hitting.533 with two home runs, while Munson also hit well, with a.529 average. The Reds won in a four-game sweep, and Bench was named the Series MVP. At the post-World Series press conference, Reds manager Sparky Anderson was asked to compare Munson with his catcher. Anderson replied, "I don't want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench." Bench bounced back in 1977 to hit 31 home runs and 109 RBI but the Dodgers won two straight NL pennants. The Reds reached the postseason just once more in his career, in 1979, but were swept in three straight in the NLCS by Pittsburgh.
1980s: move to infield and retirement
For the last three seasons of his career, Bench moved out from behind the plate, catching only 13 games, while primarily becoming a corner infielder. The Reds proclaimed September 17, 1983, "Johnny Bench Night" at Riverfront Stadium, in which he hit his 389th and final home run, a line drive to left in the third inning, before a record crowd. He retired at the end of the season at age 35.MLB career statistics
Bench had 2,048 hits for a.267 career batting average with 389 home runs and 1,376 RBI during his 17-year Major League career, all spent with the Reds. He retired as the career home run leader for catchers, a record which stood until surpassed by Carlton Fisk and the current record holder, Mike Piazza. In his career, Bench won 10 Gold Gloves, was named to the National League All-Star team 14 times, and won two Most Valuable Player awards. He led the National League three times in caught stealing percentage and ended his career with a.990 fielding percentage at catcher and an overall.987 fielding percentage. He caught 118 shutouts during his career, ranking him 12th all-time among major league catchers as of 2010. Bench also won the Lou Gehrig Award in 1975 for his philanthropic efforts, the Babe Ruth Award for his postseason performance in 1976, and the Hutch Award in 1981.Bench popularized the hinged catcher's mitt, first introduced by Randy Hundley of the Chicago Cubs. He began using the mitt after a stint on the disabled list in 1966 for a thumb injury on his throwing hand. The mitt allowed Bench to tuck his throwing arm safely to the side when receiving the pitch. By the turn of the decade, the hinged mitt became standard catchers' equipment. Having huge hands, Bench also tended to block breaking balls in the dirt by scooping them with one hand instead of the more common way: dropping to both knees and blocking the ball using the chest protector to keep the ball in front.