[6][7] Bennett was described while playing for the Neshannocks as a hard hitter who "nearly broke the directors of the club because of the number of balls knocked into the Shenango river.

[8][10] Bennett's first appearance for the Aetnas was on September 21, 1876, against the Boston Red Stockings at the Woodward Avenue grounds in Detroit.

Bennett played third base in the game and, in the first inning, hit a "hot one" that glanced off the pitcher and continued into center field for a triple that drove in a run.

[11] The Aetnas' professional players, including Bennett, remained until the end of the season and were "stranded" in Detroit "without a dollar", until a "benefit was given and enough money realized to pay their way home.

[14] In 1879, after the Milwaukee club disbanded,[4] Bennett joined the Worcester Ruby Legs, a team organized and managed by Frank Bancroft.

[13] During the winter of 1879–1880, Bancroft took his team, including Bennett, on a baseball tour of Cuba and the Southern United States.

With his strong performance on both offense and defense, Bennett helped lead the Wolverines to a respectable 41–43 record in the first season of the franchise's existence.

"[19] In 1882, Bennett had another strong season, batting .301 and compiling a 4.1 WAR rating that ranked sixth in the league among position players.

[20] In 1883, Bennett hit for a career high .305 batting average, and his 4.9 WAR rating was the third highest among the National League's position players, trailing only Dan Brouthers and Jack Farrell.

"[24] In June 1885, the Wolverines added another slugger in Sam Thompson, and the team improved incrementally to sixth place with a 41–67 record.

[1] Defensively, he led the league's catchers with a 7.00 range factor and ranked second in double plays (10), fielding percentage (.919) and putouts (347).

Even though he was limited by injury to 46 games during the regular season, Bennett still finished with the sixth highest Defensive WAR rating among all players in the league and compiled a .363 on-base percentage.

On October 16, 1888, the Wolverines sold Bennett, Dan Brouthers, Charlie Ganzel, Hardy Richardson and Deacon White to the Boston Beaneaters for a price estimated at $30,000.

[29] According to Bennett, his wife worried about his safety as "a target for the speed merchants" and saw a need for a form of body armor to protect her husband from broken ribs.

Bennett and his wife designed a homemade shield by sewing thick strips of cork between layers of "heavy bedticking material".

In his book, Catcher: The Evolution of an American Folk Hero, Peter Morris cited one such account:Bennett 'declared that only a sissy would use a padded glove with the fingers and thumb cut off.

During one of the games in which he figured a foul ball split the left thumb of Bennett's hand from the tip right down to the palm.

By the sixth inning, second baseman Hardy Richardson told the manager, Jim Hart, that the ball was coming to him in a bloody state due to the condition of Bennett's hands.

Mrs. Bennett was strongly opposed to my going into it and before the season opened I told my friends that I could not join them, so I remained with the Boston Club.

He led the league's catchers with a .959 fielding percentage and ranked fourth in putouts and double plays and fifth in assists and runners caught stealing.

[48] Bennett compiled a .209 batting average and .352 on-base percentage and appeared in what proved to be his final baseball game on September 30, 1893.

[1] While playing for Boston, Bennett returned each year to his home in Detroit for the off-season, and also traveled with his dog to Williamsburg, Kansas, for extended hunting trips.

[50] The boxing champion Gentleman Jim Corbett attended and briefly played in left field with the Boston team.

Bennett walked to home plate during the event, aided by crutches and artificial limbs, and bowed to the crowd "until the grounds fairly shook with cheers.

[Kid] Nichols always insisted on having him do his catching, saying that Bennett knew every batsman's weak points, and made easy work for the pitcher.

"[24] Bennett later took lessons in china painting and became quite proficient at the decorative art, first as a hobby and then as a supplemental source of income.

[29][58][63] One writer wrote that the art of china painting was "the last thing one would expect in the world from a man whose hands have been battered out of shape and whose every finger has been broken.

"[58] The Sporting News wrote: "It was with characteristic patience that Bennett trained his distorted fingers in the delicate art of china painting.

In November 1926, Bennett underwent surgery at Grace Hospital in Detroit to remove "a superorbital abscess of the face.

"[62] He had been ill for several months before the surgery and never fully recovered afterward, as the poison from the abscess reportedly spread through Bennett's system.