Baseball legend and Cincinnati Reds icon Johnny Bench was in attendance over the weekend at a Reds news conference announcing that former Reds general manager Gabe Paul, among others, was being inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame. Paul, who died in 1998, was represented by his daughter, Jennie Paul. As part of the event, Pete Rose alluded to his first contract negotiation with Paul when Rose was just out of high school.”Gabe Paul signed me to a contract for 400 bucks a month,” Pete recalled, prompting Jennie Paul to say, “That cheap? Never mind!”
Rose’s long-time team mate Bench then shouted out, “He was Jewish!” (Gabe Paul was, indeed, Jewish.) The next day, Bench apologized, saying “I recognize my comment was insensitive. 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.”
For her part, Paul’s daughter said she hadn’t heard Bench’s gaffe.
I’ve been thinking about when Bench’s comment would have been appropriate, if ever. If he were Jewish it would have been an insider self-mocking joke: would it be acceptible than? If Paul were alive, in the room, and surrounded by nothing but close friends accustomed to “busting each others’ chops,” like Clint Eastwood’s character in “Gran Torino” when he’s trading ethnic insults with his pal the barber, would it be acceptable? Clearly Johnny’s outburst in the actual situation must have been one of those things that pops out of one’s mouth and you immediately want to stuff it back in again.
Should anyone think less of Bench because of this incident?
Ethics Alarms 
In a healthy cultural environment, this would be considered a somewhat off-color quip and quickly forgotten after a quick apology. Unfortunately we don’t live in one.
Totally agree, Alex. I grew up in a sports family playing sports and it was common to banter back and forth about ethnicity, manhood, girls, and more. All are off limits in today’s extra sensitive woke world.
I think no more and no less of Johnny Bench now than I did a year ago…heck, twenty years ago. This is another one of those Golden-Rule moments. I have said plenty of things in my life that I instantly regretted and for which I needed forgiveness. I would want that forgiveness, so I should give it just as freely.
Paul’s daughter could make a very positive impact by coming to Bench’s side and saying something like, “Johnny said something he regretted, he has apologized, and I have forgiven him. It will be forgotten tomorrow. End of story.”
Agree with other comments. This clearly was locker room banter that spilled to a wider audience than it should have, was quickly recognized as such and a high-on-the-scale apology quickly issued.
Johnny’s a ball player. And a terrible spokesperson for various products. Give him a break. And what adult Jew could ever be offended by being called or presumed to be cheap? Come on.
“Your money or your life!” …. “I said, your money or your life!” … “I’m thinking! I’m THINKING!”
But he was great in “The Baseball Bunch.”