Monday, June 20, 2011

Player Profile: Benny Agbayani


I have one card of Benny Agbayani, from 2001 Topps.

Playing career: Benny Agbayani played 383 major league games, mostly for the Mets, hitting .274 with 39 HR and 156 RBI. Despite his brief major league tenure, he was a very popular Met, best known for a walk-off home run in the 2000 NLDS. After his major league career ended with brief stops in Colorado and Boston, he went on to reunite with former Mets manager Bobby Valentine in Japan. Agbayani retired after the 2009 season.

My memories: Agbayani made such an impact in New York that I was surprised to see how brief his major league career was. He was a very popular Met, and seemed to get a lot of clutch hits. I guess he didn’t get enough hits overall.

Where he is now: Assistant coach at Hawaii Pacific University. Also established a foundation called MYTH: Motivate Yourself to the Highest and is an educational assistant at Mililani High School.

Interesting facts: Wrote an autobiography called Big League Survivor.

Google Autocomplete results: Benny Agbayani is fourth when you type in Benny A, between Benny and Joon, a 1993 Johnny Depp movie, and Benny and the Jets Chords, referring to the Elton John song often played when Agbayani would bat at Shea Stadium. There do not appear to be any other prominent Benny Agbayanis.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Juan Agosto.

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