Johnny Bench apologizes after antisemitic joke at Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame induction
Johnny Bench has issued an apology after the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame catcher made an antisemitic joke during the team’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday for former general manager Gabe Paul and former pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo, as first reported by WCPO.
After Paul’s induction, Pete Rose said the former general manager signed him for $400 per month out of high school, to which Paul’s daughter Jennie responded “that’s cheap.”
Bench then said “He was Jewish,” in the WCPO video.
Jennie Paul said she hadn't heard the comments.
“I recognize my comment was insensitive," Bench said in a statement on Sunday afternoon. "I apologized to Jennie for taking away from her father the full attention he deserves. Gabe Paul earned his place in the Reds Hall of Fame, same as the others who stood on that stage, I am sorry that some of the focus is on my inappropriate remark instead of solely on Gabe’s achievement.”
Jennie Paul, while talking with reporters after the ceremony, including Enquirer reporter Charlie Goldsmith, responded saying she hadn't heard Bench's comments. C. Trent Rosecrans, Reds reporter for The Athletic, told Jennie Paul about Bench's comments, to which she responded with the following:
"I didn't even hear him say that," Jennie Paul said. "Johnny came up and said 'Were you offended?' and I said for what? I didn't even hear him say that. I suppose if I would've heard him say that, I would've said something, but I didn't even hear him say that."
When asked if she was Jewish, Jennie Paul responded saying she was not.
"No, no," Jennie Paul said. "My mother was Episcopal. When they got married in 1939, on Opening Day, April 17, he made a pact with my mother to not interfere, and he did not interfere. I never saw him walk into a temple. I never heard him talk about his faith. But, you know, his parents were from the Ukraine."
Jennie Paul went on to explain Gabe Paul had 12 children and most practiced Judaism, and that he had a very strong faith, but her mother was left to raise Jennie as Episcopalian.
Being Jewish also cost Gabe Paul the commissionership, according to Jennie Paul.
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"It did follow him his whole baseball career because a lot of people didn't know he was Jewish," Jennie Paul said. "They turned down the commissionership because he was Jewish. A lot of people don't know that either. They wanted him to run for the commissioner when (General William D.) Eckert was elected. And he didn't want to because he didn't think he'd get the vote because he was Jewish. And then he thought if he did get the vote, he'd be discriminated against because he was Jewish."
Jennie Paul went on to say her father had a soft spot for other minorities because of his own experiences.
"He felt that there was no discrimination allowed in his world," Jennie Paul said. "He pulled a whole team out of Little Rock, Arkansas, because they wouldn't let the Blacks room with the whites."
Gabe Paul signed Chuck Harmon, the first Black Reds player, in 1954.
The Enquirer reached out to both the Reds and the team's Hall of Fame for comment and will update this story when they respond.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Johnny Bench apologizes for antisemitic joke at Reds Hall of Fame
