What years did Johnny Bench play?

Johnny Bench played in Major League Baseball from 1967 to 1983.

Was Johnny Bench a pitcher?

No. Johnny Bench was a position player (Catcher).

How many home runs did Johnny Bench hit?

Johnny Bench hit 389 career home runs with 2048 hits.

What was Johnny Bench's career batting average?

Johnny Bench batted .267 over his career, with 2,048 hits in 7,658 at bats.

How many RBI did Johnny Bench have?

Johnny Bench drove in 1,376 runs in his career.

Johnny Bench

Catcher · Career Stats, Hall of Fame Bio & Records (1967-1983)

Johnny Bench was a catcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1967 to 1983 for the Cincinnati Reds, a span of 17 seasons. In 2,158 career games, he hit .267 with 2,048 hits, 389 home runs, and 1,376 RBI. Johnny Bench was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989 and was a 14-time All-Star, a 2-time MVP, a Rookie of the Year, a World Series MVP, a 10-time Gold Glove, and a Babe Ruth Award. His career PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of offensive impact — is 25,321.

AVG (Batting Average):: Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):: Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):: Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging):: On-base percentage plus slugging percentage, the quickest single summary of offensive value. .900 or better is star-level.

Data updated October 12, 2026

⭐ Hall of Fame 1989

AVG .267

HR 389

RBI 1,376

H 2,048

OPS .817

PIV 25,321

Position: Catcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 197 lb
Born: 12/7/1947 in Oklahoma City, OK, USA
MLB Debut: 1967-08-28
Last Game: 1983-09-29
Hall of Fame: Inducted 1989 (BBWAA)
Awards: 14× All-Star · 2× MVP · Rookie of the Year · World Series MVP · 10× Gold Glove · Babe Ruth Award

Full name: Johnny Lee Bench

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Career Batting Statistics

Johnny Bench — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
2,158	7,658	1,091	2,048	381	24	389	1,376	68	891	1,278	.267	.342	.476	.817	25,321

Career AVG .267 vs. league average .255 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .342 vs. league average .321 across their career seasons — +6.3% above league average.

Career SLG .476 vs. league average .376 across their career seasons — +26.7% above league average.

Career OPS .817 vs. league average .697 across their career seasons — +17.3% above league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Johnny Bench Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1967	CIN	NL	26	86	7	14	3	1	1	6	0	5	19	.163	.242 (-33%)	.306 (-33%)	.357 (-28%)	.663 (-30%)	-411.3
1968	CIN	NL	154	564	67	155	40	2	15	82	1	31	96	.275	.236 (+16%)	.298 (+4%)	.340 (+27%)	.638 (+16%)	1399.6
1969	CIN	NL	148	532	83	156	23	1	26	90	6	49	86	.293	.248 (+18%)	.320 (+10%)	.369 (+32%)	.689 (+22%)	2151.7
1970	CIN	NL	158	605	97	177	35	4	45	148	5	54	102	.293	.253 (+15%)	.325 (+6%)	.385 (+52%)	.711 (+31%)	3401.7
1971	CIN	NL	149	562	80	134	19	2	27	61	2	49	83	.238	.249 (-4%)	.316 (-6%)	.365 (+16%)	.682 (+6%)	490.3
1972	CIN	NL	147	538	87	145	22	2	40	125	6	100	84	.270	.243 (+11%)	.310 (+22%)	.353 (+53%)	.664 (+38%)	4044.8
1973	CIN	NL	152	557	83	141	17	3	25	104	4	83	83	.253	.256 (-1%)	.325 (+6%)	.378 (+13%)	.703 (+10%)	1150.8
1974	CIN	NL	160	621	108	174	38	2	33	129	5	80	90	.280	.256 (+9%)	.324 (+12%)	.369 (+37%)	.693 (+25%)	3138.1
1975	CIN	NL	142	530	83	150	39	1	28	110	11	65	108	.283	.257 (+10%)	.327 (+10%)	.374 (+39%)	.701 (+25%)	2489.8
1976	CIN	NL	135	465	62	109	24	1	16	74	13	81	95	.234	.255 (-8%)	.320 (+9%)	.360 (+9%)	.681 (+9%)	987.2
1977	CIN	NL	142	494	67	136	34	2	31	109	2	58	95	.275	.264 (+4%)	.329 (+6%)	.401 (+35%)	.730 (+22%)	2044.1
1978	CIN	NL	120	393	52	102	17	1	23	73	4	50	83	.260	.257 (+1%)	.323 (+5%)	.378 (+28%)	.702 (+17%)	1252.4
1979	CIN	NL	130	464	73	128	19	0	22	80	4	67	73	.276	.265 (+4%)	.329 (+11%)	.397 (+15%)	.727 (+13%)	1352.6
1980	CIN	NL	114	360	52	90	12	0	24	68	4	41	64	.250	.264 (-6%)	.326 (avg)	.387 (+25%)	.714 (+13%)	887.8
1981	CIN	NL	52	178	14	55	8	0	8	25	0	17	21	.309	.255 (+21%)	.320 (+15%)	.368 (+33%)	.688 (+25%)	737.9
1982	CIN	NL	119	399	44	103	16	0	13	38	1	37	58	.258	.261 (-1%)	.324 (-1%)	.388 (+2%)	.712 (avg)	42.3
1983	CIN	NL	110	310	32	79	15	2	12	54	0	24	38	.255	.260 (-2%)	.324 (-5%)	.389 (+11%)	.714 (+4%)	161.4
Career · 17 seasons			2,158	7,658	1,091	2,048	381	24	389	1,376	68	891	1,278	.267	—	—	—	—	25,321

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Johnny Bench — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
45	169	27	45	8	3	10	20	18	29	.266

Playoff Batting by Year

Johnny Bench — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1979	NLCS	CIN	3	12	1	3	0	1	1	1	2	2	.250
1976	NLCS	CIN	3	12	3	4	1	0	1	1	1	2	.333
1976	WS	CIN	4	15	4	8	1	1	2	6	0	1	.533
1975	NLCS	CIN	3	13	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	.077
1975	WS	CIN	7	29	5	6	2	0	1	4	2	4	.207
1973	NLCS	CIN	5	19	1	5	2	0	1	1	2	3	.263
1972	NLCS	CIN	5	18	3	6	1	1	1	2	1	3	.333
1972	WS	CIN	7	23	4	6	1	0	1	1	5	5	.261
1970	NLCS	CIN	3	9	2	2	0	0	1	1	3	1	.222
1970	WS	CIN	5	19	3	4	0	0	1	3	1	2	.211

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (2158 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Johnny Bench — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	1098	3806	558	1035	195	714	.272
Away	1060	3852	533	1013	194	662	.263

Last 10 Games — Batting

Johnny Bench — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO
1983-09-29	CIN	SFG	L	1	0	1	0	2	0	0
1983-09-27	CIN	LAD	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983-09-26	CIN	LAD	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983-09-24	CIN	SDP	W	1	0	1	0	1	0	0
1983-09-21	CIN	ATL	W	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983-09-17	CIN	HOU	L	3	1	2	1	2	1	0
1983-09-11	CIN	SDP	W	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
1983-09-08	CIN	LAD	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983-09-07	CIN	LAD	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983-09-05	CIN	SFG	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Johnny Bench — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	145	98	966	54	16	94
3B	195	182	107	284	30	17
C	1742	1627	9249	850	97	127
OF	111	96	147	3	8	0

Season-by-Season Fielding

Johnny Bench — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1967	CIN	C	26	26	175	16	1	0
1968	CIN	C	154	139	942	102	9	10
1969	CIN	C	147	135	793	76	7	10
1970	CIN	1B	12	5	74	4	1	7
1970	CIN	3B	1	0	1	0	0	0
1970	CIN	C	139	130	755	73	12	12
1970	CIN	OF	24	17	24	1	2	0
1971	CIN	1B	12	1	34	1	1	7
1971	CIN	3B	3	3	2	6	0	0
1971	CIN	C	141	133	687	59	9	9
1971	CIN	OF	12	10	12	1	0	0
1972	CIN	1B	7	2	24	0	1	1
1972	CIN	3B	4	4	2	7	1	0
1972	CIN	C	129	124	735	56	6	9
1972	CIN	OF	17	17	30	0	2	0
1973	CIN	1B	4	3	29	0	0	3
1973	CIN	3B	1	1	0	2	0	0
1973	CIN	C	134	124	693	61	4	7
1973	CIN	OF	23	22	35	0	2	0
1974	CIN	1B	5	0	15	0	0	0
1974	CIN	3B	36	30	22	55	3	2
1974	CIN	C	137	129	757	68	6	16
1975	CIN	1B	9	3	45	0	1	2
1975	CIN	C	121	115	568	51	7	9
1975	CIN	OF	19	18	33	1	0	0
1976	CIN	1B	1	0	0	0	0	0
1976	CIN	C	128	120	651	60	2	11
1976	CIN	OF	5	3	4	0	2	0
1977	CIN	1B	4	2	21	2	1	3
1977	CIN	3B	1	0	0	1	1	0
1977	CIN	C	135	125	705	66	10	10
1977	CIN	OF	8	7	9	0	0	0
1978	CIN	1B	11	9	75	5	2	7
1978	CIN	C	107	96	605	48	7	6
1978	CIN	OF	2	2	0	0	0	0
1979	CIN	1B	2	2	13	1	0	1
1979	CIN	C	126	123	619	68	10	11
1980	CIN	C	105	98	505	39	5	7
1981	CIN	1B	38	37	334	23	6	35
1981	CIN	C	7	7	41	5	1	0
1982	CIN	1B	8	5	53	4	0	7
1982	CIN	3B	107	103	54	155	19	10
1982	CIN	C	1	0	1	0	0	0
1983	CIN	1B	32	29	249	14	3	21
1983	CIN	3B	42	41	26	58	6	5
1983	CIN	C	5	3	17	2	1	0
1983	CIN	OF	1	0	0	0	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Johnny Bench Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Catcher	1743
First Base	146
Third Base	195
Left Field	55
Center Field	2
Right Field	55

Awards & Honors

Johnny Bench — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
2018	Bob Feller Act of Valor Award - HOF Player
1983	Player of the Week	Week of 1983-04-08
1981	Hutch Award
1977	Gold Glove	C
1976	Babe Ruth Award	C
1976	Gold Glove	C
1976	Player of the Week	Week of 1976-04-30
1976	World Series MVP
1975	Gold Glove	C
1975	Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
1975	TSN All-Star	C
1974	Gold Glove	C
1974	Player of the Week	Week of 1974-07-12
1974	TSN All-Star	C
1973	Gold Glove	C
1973	TSN All-Star	C
1972	Gold Glove	C
1972	Most Valuable Player
1972	TSN All-Star	C
1971	Gold Glove	C
1970	Gold Glove	C
1970	Most Valuable Player
1970	TSN All-Star	C
1970	TSN Major League Player of the Year
1970	TSN Player of the Year
1969	Gold Glove	C
1969	TSN All-Star	C
1968	Gold Glove	C
1968	Rookie of the Year
1968	TSN All-Star	C
1968	TSN Rookie Player of the Year

Award Voting History

Johnny Bench — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1980	Most Valuable Player	NL	17th	7.0	336	0
1979	Most Valuable Player	NL	23th	7.0	336	0
1977	Most Valuable Player	NL	21th	3.0	336	0
1975	Most Valuable Player	NL	4th	117.0	336	0
1974	Most Valuable Player	NL	4th	141.0	336	0
1973	Most Valuable Player	NL	10th	41.0	336	0
1972	Most Valuable Player	NL	1st	263.0	336	11
1970	Most Valuable Player	NL	1st	326.0	336	22
1969	Most Valuable Player	NL	13th	12.0	336	0
1968	Most Valuable Player	NL	16th	11.0	280	0
1968	Rookie of the Year	NL	1st	10.0	20	10

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Johnny Bench (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Compare Johnny Bench

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Johnny Bench: the record in brief

Johnny Bench's major league career runs from a debut on August 28, 1967 to a final game on September 29, 1983. Every season row on the page belongs to the Cincinnati Reds, from 1967 through 1983. The bio lists Bench as a catcher who threw and hit right-handed. Bench is listed at 197 pounds on a 6-foot-1 frame. Bench was born on December 7, 1947, in Oklahoma City, OK, USA. Bench's full given name, per the bio, is Johnny Lee Bench.

Bench collected 2,048 hits in 7,658 at bats across 2,158 games, good for a .267 batting average, adding 389 homers, 1,376 runs batted in, and 68 stolen bases. On-base and slugging figures of .342 and .476 give Bench a career OPS of .817. Bench hit .267 while the league hit .255 over the same span, a figure close to average. The home run peak was 45 in 1970 with the Cincinnati Reds. The hits column peaks at 177, in 1970.

Frequently Asked Questions about Johnny Bench

What years did Johnny Bench play?: Johnny Bench played in Major League Baseball from 1967 to 1983.
Was Johnny Bench a pitcher?: No. Johnny Bench was a position player (Catcher).
How many home runs did Johnny Bench hit?: Johnny Bench hit 389 career home runs with 2048 hits.
Is Johnny Bench in the Hall of Fame?: Yes. Johnny Bench was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989.
What was Johnny Bench's career batting average?: Johnny Bench batted .267 over his career, with 2,048 hits in 7,658 at bats.
How many RBI did Johnny Bench have?: Johnny Bench drove in 1,376 runs in his career.