A generation after Johnny Bench’s last game, he remains the gold standard for baseball catchers of any era. By the age of 20 he had redefined how to play the position, and by 22 he was the biggest star, at any position, in all of baseball. Catching eventually took its toll, moving him to the infield by his early 30s and to retirement by age 35, but his first decade with the Cincinnati Reds was enough to make him most experts’ choice as the greatest catcher who ever played the game. Ten Gold Gloves, two Most Valuable Player Awards, and his central role in two world championships made him an easy choice for the Baseball Hall of Fame at the early age of 41...

Bench was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989, receiving 96 percent of the vote in his first year of eligibility. He had made the Reds’ Hall of Fame in 1986, when the club permanently retired his uniform number 5. He was named to Major League Baseball’s All-Century team as the top-ranking catcher, and many organizations have named him baseball’s best-ever catcher. Since 2000 the Johnny Bench Award has been presented after the conclusion of the College World Series to honor the top Division I Baseball catcher. In 2008 the Reds honored him again, with a bronze statue outside the new Great American Ballpark. Fittingly, the statue shows Bench in full gear throwing out a runner with his powerful right arm. Written by Mark Armour

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Johnny Bench won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1968, batting .275 with 15 home runs and 82 RBIs, the first time the award had been won by a catcher. Manager Herman Franks said after his first full season in The Spokesman Review (07/23/1968, 'Rookie Catcher Praised', Page 6), "With more experience, he could be the best the league ever had." Manager Dave Bristol said in that same article, "One of the finest catchers in the league of all time. He has ability that is not noticed at times. He is strong, he has quick release of the ball, agile, and he has great body balance." Johnny Bench, when those comments were made, had one full season of experience at the time and was five months shy of his 21st birthday.

Johnny Bench was the youngest man (22) to ever win the National League Most Valuable Player Award when he won in 1970. He hit .293, led the National League with 45 home runs (Home Run Champions), set a team-record with 148 RBI (RBI Champions), and helped the Reds win the National League West Division. Two years later, Bench led the National League in home runs again, led the league in RBI again (snapping-up two legs of the Triple Crown each time), and won his second MVP Award - the first player in team history with two MVPs.

Johnny Bench was the second catcher (Roy Campanella was the first, in 1953) in National League history with a 100+ RBI / 100 runs scored season in league history. It was 1974, it was Bench's only 100 runs scored season, it was his third of six 100 RBI season, and his 73 extra base hits were the most in the league as well. Through this date, less than ten backstops have joined this unique hitting club.

Johnny Bench was the first individual baseball player to appear on the front of a Wheaties cereal box (image below). In an AP Wire article, July 6, 1989, Johnny Bench gets his picture on Wheaties box, the press reported, "Retired Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench has become the first baseball player to be chosen to have his picture placed on boxes of Wheaties cereal... 'This is a great honor for me,' said Bench, who retired after the 1983 season and will be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame on July 23 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Bench, now a Reds television broadcaster, said he ate the cereal as a child and recalls seeing a picture of Olympic pole vaulter Bob Richards on the box."

In 1954, Ted Kluszewski set a new team record for Runs Batted In (RBI) when he drove in 141 runs - the first Cincinnati Reds player to reach the 140+ RBI plateau. Sixteen years later, Johnny Bench broke the team record with 148 RBI, a mark that stood for only seven years as George Foster had 149 RBI in 1977, but those three sluggers remain the only Reds - through today - to ever have a 140+ RBI season.

The 1968 National League Gold Glove Award for catchers went to Johnny Bench, who caught 154 games and committed only nine errors, marking the first time the Gold Glove had been won by a rookie. That year was the first of thirteen consecutive years (1968 through 1980) that Bench caught 100+ games, a National League record, and the Gold Glove Award for catchers was his first of ten, all won consecutively as well (1968 through 1977).

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