Johnny Bench Career

Lore & Background

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, Yogi Berra held the major league record for most home runs hit by a catcher (358). Bench 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 are the most in Cincinnati Reds history, while his 1,376 RBIs rank first in franchise 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 seasons, though he fell short in 1974 (95 games) and 1981 (94 games). 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.

Reader's Guide

Born and raised in Oklahoma, Bench is 1⁄8 Choctaw. He played baseball and basketball and was class valedictorian at Binger-Oney High School in Binger. 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.

The Cincinnati Reds selected Bench as a 17-year-old in the second round, with the 36th overall selection of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft. In 1965, Bench 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 Bisons' 1967 season, he hit a grand slam against fellow future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, then playing for the Orioles' Triple-A farm team, the Rochester Red Wings.

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!' In 1968, the 20-year-old Bench 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. 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 (NLCS) 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 (40) and RBI (125) 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.

Did You Know?

• Bench won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1968, becoming the first NL catcher to do so; Earl Williams had won it in the AL in 1971.
• He was named World Series MVP in 1976.