Johnny Lee Bench was born on the 7th December 1947, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA,and is best known as a former American professional baseball player, a catcher in American Major League Baseball (MLB), who played for the Cincinnati Reds. His career was active from 1967 to 1983, and is considered to be the greatest catcher in the history of baseball. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
Have you ever wondered how rich is Johnny Bench as of early 2016?Sources estimate that Bench’s net worth is over $10 million, with the main source of this amount of money originating from his career as a professional baseball player. Additional to this, he has appeared in several TV shows and series, increasing his net worth further. One more source of his wealth has come from selling his books.
Johnny Bench Worth $10 Million
Johnny Bench was raised with three siblings in the small town of Binger, near Oklahoma City. He started playing baseball while he was at Binger High School, and also played basketball, and was offered scholarships to play both sports in college. In 1965 he was a part of the MLB amateur draft, and was selected the 36th overall pick by the Cincinnati Reds. He stayed for two seasons in the lower league, playing for the Buffalo Bisons, before he was brought up to the Cincinnati Reds squad. Thus his professional career began when he signed a rookie contract, which started his net worth, and he subsequently played for the Reds until his retirement in 1983.
During that time, the contracts he signed with the team were the sources of his net worth. During his time at the Reds, Johnny won and received numerous titles and awards, as a part of the team but also individually. He was 14 times a part of the All-Star game, consecutively from 1968 until 1980, and then again in 1983. In his first season, he won the NL Rookie Of The Year award, batting .275 and having 15 home runs. Johnny was a NL MVP twice, in 1970, and 1972, and the NL Home run leader in the same seasons. To speak further of his accomplishments, he received 10 times Golden Glove award, from 1968 to 1977, and was three times the RBI leader in 1970, 1972 and 1974.
Other than that, Johnny twice won the World Series with the Reds, in 1975 against the Boston Red Sox, and in 1976 defeating the New York Yankees – he was the MVP of the World Series in 1976. Thanks to his successful career, Johnny’s jersey number was retired by the Reds, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. He now serves on the Board of Directors for the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
After retirement, Johnny featured in several TV series, and shows, which also added to his net worth, such as “The Baseball Bunch” (1982-1985), “Easy Rider 2: The Ride Home” (2012), among several others. He has also published two books – “Catch Every Ball: How to Handle Life’s Pitches” (2008); he had co-authored an autobiographical book “Catch You Later” (1979), which sales also increased Johnny`s net worth.
Speaking about his personal life, Johnny Bench has been married to Luren Baiocchi since 2004, but previously he was in marriage with Vickie Chesser (1975-1976) and Laura Cwikowski (1987-1995). He has three sons, and currently resides near Cincinnati, Ohio. In free time Bench enjoys playing golf.
