Other catchers may have passed him in career home runs, but Bench is still the gold standard of backstops. You might also say the same for this bat that the Big Red Machine's engine gripped tightly in his hands from 1980-83. The signature model Louisville Slugger B278 owns not only significant game use and sweet-spot ball marks and rack scuffs, but also a classic inscription. On the barrel he has penned, "Catch Ya Later, Johnny Bench" -- an allusion to his 1979 autobiography of the same name -- in black sharpie right below the bat's dark and well defined stampings. Bat is cracked on handle and a chunk of the knob is sheared off. Knob has his written number "5".