By Ken Alltucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Johnny Bench

Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench is the new spokesman for the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau. He will be paid $35,000 a year.

The Hall-of-Fame catcher's first assignment comes this week at the Washington, D.C., Springtime Expo convention, which will attract thousands of meeting planners across the U.S. In addition to pitching Cincinnati at conventions and trade shows, Bench will be asked to send letters to meeting planners and personally welcome convention executives visiting Cincinnati.

Even though the hiring of Bench comes as the bureau has been forced to scale back tourism promotion because of a declining budget, some downtown hoteliers say Bench's hiring is a wise investment.

"His name should certainly have enough star power to overshadow any cost," said Greg Kaylor, general manager of the Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown. "His name, his reputation ... are tremendous assets."

Bureau president Lisa Haller was attending a Harley Davidson convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday and could not be reached. In a prepared statement, she hailed Bench's "sincerity, wit and star power" as key attributes that will help Cincinnati stand out in the competitive convention industry.

Last year, the bureau paid to send Glendale resident Don Mueller to Hawaii to promote Cincinnati at the American Society of Association Executives' 3,200-delegate convention. At the time, Mueller was concluding his brief stint as star of NBC's reality show, Who Wants to Marry My Dad?

Bench is best known as one of the key players of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine during the mid-1970s. He has also been a television commentator and broadcaster, hosted a kids television baseball show and filmed ads for various companies.

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com