Catching Up With Reds Greats Tony Perez, Johnny Bench

Earlier this year, surviving members of the Big Red Machine got
together for a 50th reunion. While several key players have died,
including Rose (at 81 in December 2024), Bench and Perez still fondly
recall that monumental season.

“It was so wonderful to see the guys, talk about it, think about it and
relive it,” said the 77-year-old Bench.

It wasn’t an easy Series for Bench, though. He came down with the flu
prior to Game 6 and it lingered into the Series finale the next day.
“Nobody said anything about it, but I was running a 103-degree
temperature both days,” said Bench.

The Oklahoma country boy, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of
Fame in 1989, experienced several defining moments in his 16-year
career (1967-1983) with the Reds, the only major league team he
played for. But nothing compared to the feeling after winning the ’75
Series.

“That was the biggest one for me and that feeling has been with me all
my life,” said Bench, who turns 78 in December. “I dreamed about that
feeling since I was a kid. But after we won and walked into the
clubhouse, knowing that we were now world champions, I couldn’t have
imagined what it would be like. It truly was the greatest feeling I’ve ever
had.”

During the regular season, Sparky Anderson’s Reds scored an MLB-
high 840 runs and won 108 games, a team record that still stands.

While Bench had the flu, Perez struggled with a cold bat, going 0-for-
15 in the first four games before exploding for two home runs and four RBIs in Game 5. He finished the Series with five hits (including three
home runs), seven RBIs and scored four times, putting the Reds ahead
three games to two.

The Red Sox tied the World Series in Game 6 on Carlton Fisk’s 12th-
inning game-winning home run. The highlight of the Series for Perez, who also attended the 50th reunion, was Game 7. The Reds rallied from
an early 3-0 deficit to tie it in the top of the seventh inning. In the ninth, Joe Morgan hit a Series-winning RBI single.

“The Series was great and it meant so much to the fans, not just us,”
said the 83-year-old Perez. “It was a great day. It may be 50 years, but
we still talk about it like it was yesterday.”

Perez and Bench both attend fan conventions each year to sign
autographs and take photos. While Bench declined to comment on
Rose, whose lifetime ban for gambling on baseball was lifted in May
2025, thus becoming posthumously eligible for Hall of Fame
consideration, Perez was pleased.

“I’m very happy for him,” Perez said of Rose. “I know he would have
wanted to still be alive … but he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and
I hope he makes it.”