Johnny Bench made an antisemitic joke while the Reds honored former general manager Gabe Paul on the team Hall of Fame induction news conference on Saturday.
Former MLBer and Cincinnati legend Pete Rose told the story of how Paul signed for $400 per thirty days out of highschool.
Someone within the room exclaimed, “That’s low-cost!” to which Bench, 75, responded, “He was Jewish!”
The comment drew laughter from those in attendance.
The 14-time All-Star and former Reds catcher issued an apology on Sunday for his comments, specifically remorseful to Jennie Paul, who was in attendance representing her late father, who died in 1998.
“I recognize my comment was insensitive. I apologized to Jennie for taking away from her father the complete attention he deserves,” Bench said, in line with Yahoo Sports.
“Gabe Paul earned his place within the Reds Hall of Fame, same because the others who stood on that stage, I’m sorry that a few of the focus is on my inappropriate remark as an alternative of solely on Gabe’s achievement.”
Jennie reportedly said she didn’t hear Bench’s comment, but did mention Paul’s Judaism when speaking about her father on Saturday.
“It did follow him his whole baseball profession because plenty of people didn’t know he was Jewish,” Jennie said, in line with Bleacher Report. “They turned down the commissionership because he was Jewish. Lots of people don’t know that either.”
While Jennie’s mother raised her as an Episcopalian, she said a majority of Paul’s 12 children practiced Judaism and that her father had a powerful faith.
Paul was the Reds’ general manager from 1951-60 and was named the Sporting News’ 1956 Executive of the Yr.
Paul was given credit for being the architect of the 1961 Cincinnati World Series team.
Jennie said that Paul’s religion had an impact on the way in which he did business and the opportunities he gave to specific players.
“He (Gabe Paul) was a minority himself,” Jennie said, in line with The Athletic.
“He was a really big proponent for the underdog because he was an underdog himself. He went into the Latin leagues and the Negro leagues and he signed as many minority players as he could, which strengthened the Reds.”
During his tenure, Paul signed Chuck Harmon and Nino Escalera, the Reds’ first Black players.
Former Cincinnati pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo were also inducted into the team Hall of Fame on Saturday.
