Benched

He was the greatest catcher of all time. He was better than Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, Bill Dickey, Mickey Cochrane, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Mike Piazza, and Ivan Rodriguez. He was Johnny Bench and he had a .267 lifetime batting average, which is only twenty points lower than the average for Hall of Fame catchers.

In his first full season with the Cincinnati Reds, Johnny Bench batted .275, hit 15 home runs, and drove home 82 runs. The year was 1968, which is known in some circles as "the year of the pitcher," and for good reason. In 1968, National League teams averaged 3.43 runs a game. The league earned run average was 2.98. In contrast, in 1999, National League teams averaged 5.00 runs a game. The league earned run average was 4.56.

After the 1968 season, the height of the mound was lowered from fifteen inches to ten inches. Pitchers would no longer tower over batters. They would be throwing off a hill whose height was decreased by thirty three percent. The rules were changed to favor the batter because pitching was dominating hitting. When the mound was lowered, the playing field was leveled, literally. For the rest of his career, Johnny Bench would face pitchers throwing off a ten inch high mound.

The next two seasons were Bench's best and compare favorably with the greatest seasons of any catcher. He batted .293 both years and hit 26 home runs with 90 RBIs in 1969 and then hit 45 home runs with an amazing 148 RBIs in 1970. In his first three seasons, Bench hit .286, averaging 29 home runs and 107 RBIs a season. For the remainder of his career, he hit .263 and averaged 23 home runs and 81 RBIs a season.

In 1971, Johnny Bench batted .238 with 27 home runs. He has had seasons in which he hit .253 (1973), .234 (1976), .250 (1980), .258 (1982) and .255 (1983). Johnny Bench played in the major leagues for sixteen complete seasons. He hit .255 or less in six of them. These were not the averages of a part time player. They were the batting averages of baseball's greatest catcher.

Okay, so Bench didn't always hit .300 but he was a power hitter who had a .476 lifetime slugging average. Wait a second. Yogi Berra (.482), Roy Campanella (.500), and Mickey Cochrane (.478) had higher slugging averages than Bench. Isn't that interesting?

How about Bench averaging 96 strike outs a season? Berra averaged 32 strikeouts a season, Dickey averaged 26 strikeouts a season, and Cochrane averaged 24 strikeouts a season. Of course, a strikeout is merely another out---unless the tying run is on third base with one out. Don't we just love statistics?

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