Catching Up: Red Reporter Interviews Johnny Bench

There are stars, then there are legends. As all of you know, Johnny Bench qualifies as the latter. Bench is in Columbus to take part in the Pepsi Max Field of Dreams game.. He is joined by several other legends, including Ozzie Smith, Rickie Henderson and Wade Boggs (to name a few). The game will be payed at Huntington Park on Saturday May 12. Gates open to the Public at 4:30 p.m. ET with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.

Bench was kind enough to give Red Reporter an interview back in October. Johnny checked in with us again this morning to update us on the "Field of Dreams" project and talk a little Reds baseball. Audio after the jump.

Johnny and I discussed the Reds season to this point, Devin Mesoraco & Ryan Hanigan, the impact a catcher has on a pitcher's performance, Joey Votto, and other Reds-related topics.

The one thing that really struck me is how obvious it is that Johnny Bench is a true Reds fan. In many cases, former players are uninspired when talking about their former team. Not Johnny. This guy knows the team. He even mentioned a text message he had just received from Joey Votto while talking to me on the phone.

It was a true honor to speak with the Hall of Fame catcher. We can't thank Johnny Bench enough for giving us the opportunity to catch up with him.

Enjoy.

Direct link to MP3 for those that don't see the player