Friday, January 31, 2014

Player Profile: Andy Benes

I have 92 cards of Andy Benes. This one is from 1995 Zenith.

Playing career: Andy Benes was the number one overall pick in the 1988 draft. There is always a lot of pressure from being drafted in that spot, and Benes did well to have a very solid major league career, avoiding being considered a draft “bust”. In fourteen major league seasons with San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis and Arizona, he went 155-139 with a 3.97 ERA, striking out exactly 200 batters. His W-L record might have been even better if he wasn’t stuck pitching for some bad Padres teams in the early 1990s; in 1994 he led the National League in both strikeouts and losses.

Where he is now: The varsity baseball and softball coach at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, he is involved in a variety of community and charity endeavors.

My memories: I remember when I first got his card I thought his name was pronounced "Beans". It's actually pronounced "Ben-Ess".

Interesting facts: Brother of former Cardinals Alan Benes and Adam Benes, his son Drew Benes pitched for three seasons in the Cardinals organization.

Google Autocomplete results: He is first when you type Andy Ben, ahead of Andy Benoit, an NFL analyst for Sports Illustrated. Another prominent Andy Benes was a 23-year-old cancer victim in Florida.

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

4 comments:

  1. I always enjoyed watching him pitch for my Padres.

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  2. Love me some Andy Benes. He wasn't the pitcher for the first Padre game I went to, but he was the pitcher for the first game I actually remember. 92 cards is impressive. My count is up to about 76, but those are just Padre cards. I was too bummed when he left to keep collecting his Mariners/Cardinals cards, and I wasn't still collecting during his D-Back days.

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  3. Yeah, Andy was a fine pitcher.
    Wasn't Elaine's last name on Seinfeld pronounced the same way?

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    1. Yep! What is this, some kind of Padre fan/blogger roll call?

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