MLB / Players

Johnny Bench

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 197 lb

BornDecember 7, 1947 · Oklahoma City, OK, USA

MLB debutAugust 28, 1967

Final gameSeptember 29, 1983

Seasons17 (1967–1983)

Cincinnati Reds 1967–1983

Percentile snapshot

1979 season — qualified batters

130

538

16.5

464

10.1

43.9

128

19.4

17.3

74.8

RBI

67.6

73.4

43.9

35.3

.276

46.8

OBP

.364

71.2

SLG

.459

69.8

OPS

.824

70.5

wRC+

125.3

73.4

OPS+

123.8

71.9

wOBA

.372

72.7

sWAR

4.6

81.3

of 140 qualified 1979 batters (min 499 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

125.8

86.4

OPS+

127.0

87.7

sWAR

70.4

99.7

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1967	26	93	86	7	14	3	1	1	6	5	19	0	1	.163	.207	.256	.462	16.3	25.7	.217	-0.4
1968	154	607	564	67	155	40	2	15	82	31	96	1	5	.275	.311	.433	.743	115.3	116.1	.337	4.7
1969	148	592	532	83	156	23	1	26	90	49	86	6	6	.293	.353	.487	.840	129.2	129.2	.378	5.5
1970	158	671	605	97	177	35	4	45	148	54	102	5	2	.293	.345	.587	.932	141.1	145.8	.402	6.6
1971	149	613	562	80	134	19	2	27	61	49	83	2	1	.238	.299	.423	.722	103.1	105.7	.327	3.5
1972	147	652	538	87	145	22	2	40	125	100	84	6	6	.270	.379	.541	.920	161.0	167.0	.402	7.9
1973	152	651	557	83	141	17	3	25	104	83	83	4	1	.253	.345	.429	.774	117.1	119.6	.349	4.6
1974	160	708	621	108	174	38	2	33	129	80	90	5	4	.280	.363	.507	.870	142.8	145.4	.394	7.3
1975	142	605	530	83	150	39	1	28	110	65	108	11	0	.283	.359	.519	.878	138.8	141.6	.393	5.7
1976	135	552	465	62	109	24	1	16	74	81	95	13	2	.234	.348	.394	.741	113.3	109.7	.350	3.9
1977	142	560	494	67	136	34	2	31	109	58	95	2	4	.275	.348	.540	.889	131.7	133.7	.386	5.2
1978	120	451	393	52	102	17	1	23	73	50	83	4	2	.260	.340	.483	.823	125.8	128.9	.366	3.8
1979	130	538	464	73	128	19	0	22	80	67	73	4	2	.276	.364	.459	.824	125.3	123.8	.372	4.6
1980	114	407	360	52	90	12	0	24	68	41	64	4	2	.250	.327	.483	.810	125.7	124.6	.365	3.6
1981	52	196	178	14	55	8	0	8	25	17	21	0	2	.309	.369	.489	.858	143.8	140.9	.392	1.4
1982	119	439	399	44	103	16	0	13	38	37	58	1	2	.258	.320	.396	.716	99.6	98.0	.331	1.6
1983	110	334	310	32	79	15	2	12	54	24	38	0	1	.255	.308	.432	.741	100.9	100.3	.338	1.0

Career totals

2,158

170th-most career G

8,669

193rd-most career PA

7,658

191st-most career AB

1,091

276th-most career R

2,048

271st-most career H

381

247th-most career 2B

389

66th-most career HR

RBI

1,376

85th-most career RBI

891

189th-most career BB

1,278

181st-most career SO

.2674

OBP

.3416

SLG

.4758

255th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8174

369th-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1970-07-26	STL @ CIN Gameday	5	3	4	0	3	7	0	13
1973-05-09	CIN @ PHI Gameday	4	3	3	0	3	7	1	12
1980-05-29	CIN @ SD Gameday	4	3	3	0	3	4	0	12
1977-06-25	LAD @ CIN Gameday	4	2	3	1	2	3	0	10
1970-06-21	LAD @ CIN Gameday	5	2	4	2	1	4	0	9

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1989 (BBWAA)

10× Gold Glove2× Most Valuable Player1× Rookie of the Year1× World Series MVP14× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.