Posted on 07/17/2023 1:35:48 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench apologized Sunday for an antisemitic comment he had made a day earlier during a team event.
Bench was in attendance Saturday at a news conference to honor former Reds general manager Gabe Paul, who was Jewish, and former pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo. The trio was being inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame.
Paul, who died in 1998, was represented at the event by his daughter, Jennie Paul. Near the end of the news conference, Pete Rose recalled his first contract negotiation with Gabe Paul, saying: "When I got out of high school in 1960, Gabe Paul signed me to a contract for 400 bucks a month."
Jennie Paul quipped, "That cheap, never mind."
Bench then responded, "He was Jewish," which prompted laughter from some in the audience.
Bench said in a statement Sunday that his comment was "insensitive" and that he apologized to Jennie Paul.
"I recognize my comment was insensitive," the Hall of Fame catcher said. "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 told reporters she did not hear Bench's comment.
"I didn't even hear him say that," Jennie Paul said, according to The Athletic. "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."
Gabe Paul was the Reds' GM from 1951 to 1960 and was responsible for the franchise's acquisition of several great players, including Rose and Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Tony Perez. He also oversaw the Reds' integration of Black and Latin American players in the 1950s.
No jokes allowed.
That is nothing that hasn’t been said by comics for decades upon decades. Big Deal!
I forgive Johnny Bench.
Move On!
You think he’s a mensch?
I see nothing antisemitic in that comment.
I have heard 100+ jokes about Scottish people being stingy. But no one ever said those jokes are anti-Scottish.
Man, don’t let Uncle Leo find out.
If he were still playing, he would be Benched.
There is indeed watermelon and fried chicken at black picnics.
Chinese are smart at math but otherwise inscrutible and rude in public.
Indians can’t handle liquor.
Germans are rigid blockheaded rule followers.
Brits can’t cook and have bad teeth and are arrogant.
And....Jews never leave a dime on the table.
Stereotypes are all based in reality.
Apologize fo9r what....it’s their joke...
Whose joke?
Jesus saves, Moses invests.
Jack Benny made a career out this stuff.
People used to laugh.
“The Jews are harried and obstructed in Austria and Germany, and lately in France; but England and America give them an open field and yet survive. Scotland offers them an unembarrassed field too, but there are not many takers. There are a few Jews in Glasgow, and one in Aberdeen; but that is because they can’t earn enough to get away. The Scotch pay themselves that compliment, but it is authentic.”
Mark Twain
Bench then responded, "He was Jewish," which prompted laughter from some in the audience.
Half-Jewish here. Jews live and die by their jokes. If you're Jewish, the question is never, "Was that joke offensive?" (Only a Unitarian would ask that . . .)
It's "Was my joke funny?"
Of course, as everyone knows, among themselves, Jews crack jokes about Jews' many, colorful, infuriating, native traits as a competitive sport.
Context is everything. In this case, especially with the set-up by his daughter, the quip was hilarious and harmless. It didn't connote rejection or dismissal of the man or the Jews at all. It was an example of Paul's grit and focus--and the irony that he was quibbling over pennies while hiring the man who would become one of the greatest hitters of all time.
Can’t say I care about this. It’s a joke.
Much more worried about real antisemites like Ilan Omar.
Or ANTIFA, BLM, or George Soros.
I will sell them at cost plus shipping for preorders.
As an interesting side note, Gabe Paul was hired away from the Reds to be the initial GM of the expansion team the Houston Colt 45s. He was a consummate professional, but quicky collided with the majority owner / autocratic Judge Roy Hofheinz. Gabe Paul resigned before the initial expansion draft, but some of his entourage he brought to Houston with him stayed around, including future Hall of Fame broadcaster Gene Elston and eventual Team President Tal Smith. Tal Smith erected “Tal’s Hill” in center field of Minute Maid mark in honor of a similar terrace in Cincinnati’s Crosley Field.
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