Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench: 'Not a better athlete and person than Don Gullett'

GOODYEAR, Arizona — A few years ago, Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench reached out to an old teammate who had just lost his wife of many years.

“I said, ‘I’m so sorry,’ “ Bench recalled. “He said, ‘Don’t be.’ He said, ‘Do you realize how lucky I was to have her in my life for so long?’

“That’s the way we were. To know Don Gullett was such an honor and pleasure. We’re so grateful that he was with us.”

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Gullett, the ace of the Big Red Machine teams, died Wednesday after recent health issues. He was 73.

Those Reds teams were known for a Hall of Fame lineup with an All-Star or Gold Glove winner at almost every position, but Bench said “there wasn’t a better athlete and a better person than Don Gullett. He was as good an athlete as I’ve ever seen and the biggest competitor I’ve known.”

Gullett debuted during the Reds’ 1970 pennant-winning season, less than a year after the Reds drafted him 14th overall out of McKell High School in northeastern Kentucky.

The 19-year-old left-hander faced the Giants that day, coming out of the bullpen in the fifth inning and retiring four of the six batters he faced in a scoreless outing that he finished off with a strikeout of Willie Mays.

Bench was his 22-year-old catcher.

By 1975 he was the Reds’ Opening Day starter and Game 1 starter in both the National League Championship Series and World Series.

“We had guys like Joe (Morgan), Tony (Perez) and Pete (Rose) and myself,” said Bench, who includes Gullett alongside those elite stars of those teams. “He was there all the time with the best effort that you could put out there. And he was a total athlete: He could hit and run like the wind and the nicest, nicest person. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad word ever said about Don.”

Gullett, who was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2002, was a three-sport legend at McKell — once striking out 20 of 21 in a perfect game and another time scoring 72 points in a football game by running for 11 touchdowns and kicking six PATs.

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“His coach was mad at the coach on the other team and turned Donnie loose,” Bench said. “Of course, we razzed him about missing the other five kicks.”

Gullett left the Reds after back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976, part of baseball’s first free agent class after the reserve clause was abolished, and signed a six-year, $2 million deal with the Yankees.

“He had to take it,” Bench said. “It was the hardest decision I think Don Gullett ever made in his life, but for his family it was the only decision he could make.”

Gullett pitched well in 1977 and won two more rings his first two years with the Yankees, but injuries cut his career short, and he didn’t pitch after 1978.

He returned to the Reds organization, spending 16 seasons as a coach from 1990 through 2005 — including the last 13 on the big-league staff as a bullpen and pitching coach.

Reds CEO Bob Castellini said in a statement Wednesday: "Don dedicated 24 years to this franchise as a player, coach and minor league instructor. An anchor on the pitching staff of one of the greatest baseball teams in history, his contributions to our rich tradition, our city and his community will never be forgotten.”

That was part of the Bench’s message during the phone conversation on Wednesday: As much as people might remember the Big Red Machine as an all-time great lineup, don’t forget Don Gullett, who might have been the most important — the best — of an underrated, unheralded pitching staff.

How important?

“Game 1,” Bench said. “Game 1 starter.

“And it was just fastball, slider, fastball, slider, challenge, challenge — there wasn’t a lot of tricks to us,” Bench added. “He had a quick delivery, and everything was right at you. He never gave the manager a bit of lip. There were times he’d be quietly upset. He’d mention it to me, and he’d get it out, and that was it.”

That’s how Bench remembers Gullett, “just the gentleman, the competitor.” The friend.

Even their dads were pals.

“I could always tell when his dad would come to the ballgame,” Bench said, “because I could hear my dad whooping it up. Because Don’s dad had brought the moonshine.”

Bench laughed.

Like he'd just recovered a long-cherished memory. Like it was yesterday.

“It’s just tough,” he said. “It’s a really sad day.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Johnny Bench remembers 'the gentleman, the competitor' Don Gullett was