Reds legend Johnny Bench marks birthday for 5-year-old hippo Fiona

It was a big day for No. 5 in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati icon Johnny Bench, the superstar No. 5 Cincinnati Reds player, reached out to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden to wish a happy birthday to Fiona, the little hippo who turned 5 on Monday.

"It's Johnny Bench, No. 5, and I just heard that Fiona is having her No. 5 birthday!" Bench said in a video from his home.

"Happy birthday!" the Hall of Fame player said, showing off a plush hippo.

The Cincinnati Zoo boasted of the "most famous #5" Cincinnatian's message to Fiona, sharing Bench's happy birthday video on its Twitter account.

Fiona is the hipo who was born prematurely on Jan. 24, 2017, at the Cincinnati zoo. Her keepers thought she wouldn't survive her first few days.

And Bench – well, who doesn't know this? – spent his 1967-1983 Major League Baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds honored him by retiring his number in 1984 and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Fiona's birthday: Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench marks the day