ALBANY— 14-time All-Star Cincinnati Red catcher Johnny Bench will be the featured guest at The Business Council of New York State's Fifth Annual Business Council Member Golf Classic on Tuesday, July 17 at The Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown.
The golf classic will be held on the Leatherstocking Golf Course at The Otesaga. The course is considered by many to be one of the most scenic and challenging courses in the East. Following the event, Johnny will join members for dinner at The Otesaga then head over to the centerpiece of the Hall of Fame, the Plaque Gallery, for an intimate dessert with members. They will be rubbing shoulders with one of the greatest players ever to put on a Cincinnati Red uniform.
Bench, a two-time National League Most Valuable Player, was a key member of The Big Red Machine which won six division titles, four National League pennants, and two World Series championships. He hit 389 home runs and batted in 1,376 runs during his 17-year career. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989.
Following baseball, Johnny started his second career in entertainment, logging thousands of hours in personal appearance on television networks such as ESPN, and Fox Sports in addition to touring with Bob Hope's Christmas Shows, and visiting troops in the Far East during Desert Storm. He has also sung with the Cincinnati Pops, authored books, and was the host of the Emmy-Award-winning instructional show, “The Baseball Bunch.”
Johnny's national broadcasting background includes nine years with CBS Radio broadcasting the National Game of the Week, the All-Star Game, the League Championship Series and the World Series as well as play-by-play on Reds' television.
The famous catcher will be tested on the challenging 72 par Leatherstocking course, which offers beautiful views of Lake Otsego. The holes in the middle part of the round rise and fall with the natural contours of the land, and challenge even the most seasoned duffers.
Johnny Bench follows Dave Winfield, Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers and Jim Rice as featured Hall of Fame members at the annual golf classic.