Talk:Johnny Bench

Last Game At Crosley Field

It's unnecessary to have all the extraneous information on Hall of Famers, their sons and their sons-in-law and their former and future clubs and so on and so forth, in the section describing the last game in Crosely Field. All that info is irrelevant and distracting -- appropriate maybe to an entry for Crosley field proper, but not for a page on Bench. It's also confusing as to whether we're talking about the last game in Crosley or the first game in Riverfront.

POV

"In a not too subtle article printed in the New York Post during Bench's playing days, a New York sportswriter made thinly veiled accusations about Bench's sexuality. In a nutshell, the article implied that Bench was a homosexual, but in a way as to be derogatory to Bench's character (the writer's style indicated a homophobic mindset).

Bench has refused to ever address the issue, as he views it as beneath him to answer such callous and snide remarks. Most mentions of Bench's career do not touch upon the article, but, if they do, often do not discuss the homosexual references and merely say that the writer was throwing cheap shots at Bench. For example, the sportswriter's actions were demonized in Bench's SportsCentury biography for ESPN, but the content of the accusations/insults (homosexuality) was never broached."

This is way too biassed to stay in the article. It might not be untrue (although a reference would be nice) but it's written from one person's own perspective. I'll remodel this paragraph when I get the chance. Mglovesfun 17:37, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

First Name

Every Bench biography that I have read states his full birth name as Johnny Lee Bench, not John Lee Bench. Anyone privy to a source that states it is John? Otherwise, I'll change it in time. Sir Rhosis 09:02, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

He is listed as Johnny Lee Bench on his Hall of Fame page, so I have made the change on the article.--JayJasper 21:36, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Clarity of his importance

After reading this article it could be clearer the reason that he is considered one of the greatest catchers. Was he an outstanding batter, an outstanding fielder, did he revolutionise the game or the way the position was played? There's lots of text about some single events or games but these don't add up to what made him great. Maybe this is assumed knowledge but as a newish baseball fan (not American) looking for information on great players past I take from this that he won a bunch of awards and played well in some important games... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.248.110.242 (talk) 04:23, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Bare-handed catch of not-so-fast fastball

The anecdote about the bare-handed catch of Jim Maloney conflicts with Bench's own telling of the story. According to Bench, quoted in a January 14, 2012 Los Angeles Times piece, it was a regular season game, not a preseason game, and the pitcher was Gerry Arrigo, not Jim Maloney. The consensus in a Cincinnati Reds fan discussion page regarding the story is that it couldn't have been Maloney, whose fastball was still very fast at the time of Bench's rookie season. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonball52 (talk • contribs) 22:14, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Also, there seems to be a typo in this paragraph: "Bench called for." Is this meant to read "Bench called for time out"? The tamale (talk) 23:27, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

When the catcher signals with his fingers, he's "calling for" a certain pitch; in this case, they were breaking balls that he called for. I guess we could make it so that the sentence doesn't end with a preposition, but I think that would make it more awkward. EricEnfermero (Talk) 02:06, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 17:57, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

His birth name is Johnny Lee Bench. Not John. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.199.167.2 (talk) 05:00, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

I'll see

what I can do about that, and give this page a good revising. Bench was important because he was the greatest defensive catcher of all time, whacked the hell out of the ball as well, and was a key player on one of baseball's greatest dynasties.

And, yes, the rumor that Bench is gay has been floating around for years. Who cares? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.33.158.121 (talk) 20:57, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Popular Culture?

Should we mention that he was referenced in Archer season 1? —Preceding unsigned comment added by JulezNossy (talk • contribs) 18:19, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

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Hee Haw?

How could this be missed on his page? Against Wikipedia's living person's rule? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6oH-QRnWyk (starts at 9:54) Joel S Bateman (talk) 03:30, 4 June 2018 (UTC)