Johnny Bench has racked up impressive MVP standings in three different arenas: Baseball, media, and worthy causes.
Johnny grew up in the small town of Binger, Oklahoma with aspirations of becoming a major league baseball player. His dreams came true right after high school when he signed with the Cincinnati Reds in the 1965 amateur draft. He played two seasons in the minor league, where he earned Minor League Player of the Year in 1967. In 1968, Johnny Bench's name was added to the Cincinnati roster. He went on to become the National League Rookie of the Year in 1968 and National League MVP in 1970 and 1972.
He was named the World Series MVP (when the Reds swept the Yankees) in 1976. Bench was voted an All-Star 14 times, and won ten Golden Gloves as the best fielding catcher. He set a record for home runs for a catcher with 389 and is a Cincinnati career leader in RBIs as well, with 1,376. After retirement from baseball, Johnny Bench continued to enjoy athletic accolades. Not only was he voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (1989) in the first year of his eligibility, he made it by a virtual landslide, garnering the fourth highest percentage of votes ever cast. On October 24, 1999 Johnny received his greatest honor by being one of fifteen players elected to Baseball's All-Century Team.
After baseball, Johnny's career moved him into starring positions as a major media player. He has been successful broadcaster with CBS television for nine and radio years, adding experienced color to the National Game of the Week, the All-star Game, the League Championship Series, and the World Series. He has also worked Reds baseball on television and continues a long-running in-season baseball radio show.
Johnny has made good use of his fame by giving to several charities. Among them are: Heart Association, Franciscan Sisters of the Poor Health System, the American Cancer Society ( as National Chairman of "Athletes vs. Cancer"), Muscular Dystrophy, and the Kidney Foundation. He also founded the Johnny Bench Scholarship Fund, which has funded over 275 students attending college in the city of Cinncinnati.
With a blend of sincerity, credibility, wit and unique sense of balance, Johnny Bench's standard of winning through hard work is truly..."catching."
A few career highlights: