Behney is a 1965 graduate of Verona High School in Verona, New Jersey, where he was a two-time all-state selection in baseball and also starred in basketball. He received a four-year baseball scholarship to Michigan State University, where he studied chemistry and business. He played on the Spartans\' baseball teams in 1967 and 1968 and was named all-Big Ten during the latter season. He was later named one of the top 100 MSU athletes of the 20th century. He later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.\n', '

The Cincinnati Reds chose him with their first selection in the June secondary phase of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft, and Behney began his professional career at the Short Season-A level. In 1969, he won 14 games for the Asheville Tourists, to finish one game behind the Southern League\'s leader in victories, Bill Zepp.\n', '

The following season, 1970, Behney made his debut in the Major Leagues with the first incarnation of the Reds\' "Big Red Machine" team that dominated the National League West Division race, winning by 14​1⁄2 games, then swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1970 National League Championship Series. In his debut on August 14 at Riverfront Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies, he relieved starter Wayne Simpson in the fourth inning of a scoreless contest, but gave up five hits and five runs (three of them earned), and was pinned with the defeat in a 5–4 Philadelphia win.\n', '

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