Andy Benes

“I was a biology and chemistry major at Evansville. I thought I’d go to medical school. Then, in the second or third game in my junior year, I struck out 21 batters (in a game). My velocity had gone up eight miles per hour in one season. It (the hype) was all thrust upon me at once.” – Andy Benes speaking in 2009 about his path to becoming the number-one overall draft pick in 1988.1

“As great as an athlete he was, he is even a more outstanding individual. He had such great values and such faith and a belief in family and shows by the example he sets. That, to me, is the first thing I think of when I think of Andy Benes – the person that he is.” – Paul Gries, Evansville Central High School baseball coach (1981-2001), in 2010.2

This is the story of a pretty good pitcher who became an even better man.

Andrew Charles Benes was born in Evansville, Indiana, on August 20, 1967. He was the first son born to Charles and Karen Benes. Andy’s sister Amy had come along the prior year. His brother Alan Benes, with whom he played on the St. Louis Cardinals, followed on January 21, 1972. A third brother, Adam, came along on March 12, 1973. Adam signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1995 and made it as far as Double A in six seasons.

Andy’s father, a biochemist, worked in the pharmaceutical industry and his mother was a homemaker. Evansville is about 170 miles from St. Louis and Andy grew up a Cardinals fan. He first gained attention in Little League. As a 12-year-old he was named the MVP in a local tournament.3 He spent his elementary-school years at Evansville Lutheran School, then starred in football, basketball, and baseball at Evansville Central High School. In his senior year, he passed for more than 1,400 yards on the gridiron and led the city in scoring in basketball with 19.7 points per game.4 In baseball, he split his time between shortstop, where he was an all-city selection, and the mound, where he was 7-0 with a 0.84 ERA in his senior year.

Benes attended the University of Evansville as a pre-med student and was recruited to play varsity football and baseball. In the fall of his sophomore year, he quarterbacked the football team, and played some at tight end. By the time the baseball season rolled around, he was still recovering from the football season and did not have a good season.

Benes married Jennifer Byers, whom he had started dating in high school, on March 21. 1987. Their first child, Andrew Charles Benes II, was born on November 4, 1988. Drew, as he was known, pitched at Arkansas State University and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals after being selected in the 35th round of the 2010 amateur draft. He played three seasons in the Cardinals organization and then a year of independent ball in 2013. In 2017 he joined the Pittsburgh organization as a minor-league pitching coast and spent 2017 and 2018 with Bradenton in the Florida State League. He and his wife have three children.

Andy and Jennifer’s daughter, Brynn Nicole, was born on November 1, 1993. She became a nurse. She and he husband have one child and when Andy was interviewed for this story, he was babysitting for his nine-month-old grandchild. Two other children, Bailey and Shane, followed during the next two years. In 2018 Bailey was pursuing a career as a speech pathologist and Shane was playing ball in college, hoping to play professionally. The family was not yet complete. In 2009 Andy and Jennifer adopted a 3-year-old boy from Siberia and named him Brock. They adopted a girl in January 2011 and named her Bliss. In 2010 Benes said, “Jennifer and I feel like we’re blessed with so much. The Bible talks about taking care of the less fortunate. We know we can’t give a home to everybody, but we can start with one or two.”5

In his junior year at Evansville, Andy did not play football and decided to concentrate on baseball. The results were spectacular. In what was to be his final collegiate season, he was 15-3 before the NCAA tournament. He struck out 180 batters in 137 innings and his season was highlighted by a 21-strikeout performance against UNC-Wilmington. 

On the eve of the 1988 draft, Benes pitched Evansville to a 1-0 win over Arizona State in the NCAA West Regional, scattering eight hits and striking out nine batters. The performance prompted ASU coach Jim Brock to say, “In all my years of college coaching, he’s the best I’ve seen. He could be in the majors by the end of the summer.”6 The game was his 13th complete game and eighth shutout of the season.

The San Diego Padres chose Benes as the first overall pick in the draft in 1988. After the draft, Benes had a decision to make. Would he sign with the Padres or participate in the Olympic Games? Benes agreed to terms with the Padres, which included a bonus of $230,000. By not actually signing at the time, he kept his amateur status and remained eligible to participate in the 1988 Olympic Games.7

He was grateful to those at Evansville who helped him grow as a player, especially coach Jim Brownlee. He donated a portion of his signing bonus to the university and in 1997 established the Andy Benes Fund to help the university’s athletic program.8

Before the Olympics Team USA played a seven-game exhibition series against Cuba. Although the USA lost four of the games, Benes performed well. In the seventh game, he pitched a complete game, allowed seven hits, and struck out seven batters in a 5-2 win.9

Amateur competition continued for Benes in September at the World Baseball Championships, where the United States lost to Cuba in the final round.

In the preliminary round of the 1988 Olympics, Benes pitched 6⅔ innings in a 12-2 win over Australia, allowing three hits and one earned run. In the medal round, he was put in the bullpen. He was a spectator as Jim Abbott won the game that clinched the Gold Medal for the United States, defeating Japan 5-3.

In 1989, after spring training with the Padres, Benes was assigned to Wichita of the Double-A Texas League. His first few games with Wichita were the stuff of dreams. His record through April 29 was 4-0 with 55 strikeouts in 41 innings. His two-hit shutout of Midland on April 29 lowered his ERA to 0.41.10 He was promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas after going 8-4 with five complete games, three shutouts, and a 2.16 ERA in 16 starts. After five starts at Las Vegas, the 21-year-old was called up to the Padres.

In his Padres debut, at home against the Atlanta Braves on August 11, 1989, Benes pitched the first six innings, striking out seven. A four-run Braves fifth inning, highlighted by a three-run homer by Dale Murphy, was his undoing. Atlanta won the game, 6-5.

After losing his first two big-league starts, Benes rebounded to win his next six decisions, and finished the season with a 6-3 record and a 3.51 ERA. His first win came on August 23 at Philadelphia, when he pitched seven innings, allowing two earned runs in a 7-3 win.

The Padres’ record at that point was 63-64. Including the win on August 23, the they won 27 of their last 36 games and finished second in the AL West, three games behind San Francisco. During those early games with San Diego, Benes displayed a potent bat. On September 3, in a 9-5 win over the Phillies, his two-run homer off Dennis Cook in the bottom of the second inning put San Diego ahead 3-0. He batted .250 (6-for-24) in 10 games.

In 1990 Benes spent the entire season with the Padres, going 10-11 with a 3.60 ERA. He had his first complete-game victory on May 14 at home against the Phillies. In a 5-1 win, he allowed two hits and struck out five. In 1991 Benes improved his record to 15-11 and finished sixth in the Cy Young Award balloting. His ERA, the lowest of his career, was 3.03. He logged a career-high 231⅓ innings in 1992 and finished with a 13-14 record.

On May 17, 1993, Benes pitched his fourth career shutout, a 4-0 three-hitter over the Colorado Rockies at San Diego. At the All-Star break, Benes had a 9-6 record and was named to his only All-Star team. In his last outing before the All-Star Game, on July 7, he pitched the first eight innings as the Padres limited the Mets to one hit in a win at Shea Stadium. He pitched the third and fourth innings of the All-Star Game on July 13 at Baltimore. After yielding a leadoff game-tying homer to Roberto Alomar in the third inning, he pitched scoreless ball, leaving the game with the score tied 2-2 in the middle of the fifth inning of a game the American League went on to win, 9-3. Benes pitched his second shutout of the 1993 season against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on July 27. He had a 13-7 record with a 2.62 ERA on August 6 but tailed off in the remaining weeks of the season. He lost eight of his last 10 decisions to finish at 15-15 with an ERA of 3.78.

In 1994 Benes’s 6-14 record was not indicative of his performance during the season. In 10 of his 14 losses, the Padres scored two runs or less, and he was totally ineffective in only two games, a 15-1 loss on April 9 and a 14-0 loss on July 8. He had one good stretch from May 31 through July 3, going 4-0 with an ERA of 2.52 in seven starts. He topped off this stretch with a 7-0, one-hit shutout of the Mets at San Diego on July 3, striking out 13. He provided all the offense he would need with a three-run double. The no-hitter was broken up by the Mets’ Rico Brogna, who hit an eighth-inning double. On the eve of the game, Padres GM Randy Smith had been quoted in Baseball America as saying that Benes, the Padres ace, despite his recent successes was only the third best starting pitcher on the squad. The remark annoyed the outspoken Benes, who said that “the comment really angered me. It really took the fun out of this (one-hitter). I felt that I had something to prove.”11

Benes led the league in strikeouts with 189 in the strike-shortened 1994 season. But when he signed for the 1995 season after an angry arbitration, his days as a Padre were numbered. Matters were compounded when he started the year going 4-7 with a 4.17 ERA. 

With free agency looming at the end of the 1995 season, the Padres, at the July 31 trading deadline, traded Benes to the Seattle Mariners for Marc Newfield and Ron Villone. Greg Keagle later went from the Padres to the Mariners to complete the deal. Benes left the Padres with a 69-75 record over six years. His ERA was 3.57. On 15 occasions, he struck out 10 or more batters in a single game.

The Mariners needed additional pitching as they sought to reach the postseason for the first time. In the final two months of the season, Benes was 7-2 with Seattle, although his ERA with them was 5.86. The ERA was of little consequence as the Mariners scored 10 or more runs in three of his wins. They finished first in the AL West, and in the Division Series against the Yankees, Benes started Game Two and pitched four shutout innings before yielding a game-tying run with two out in the fifth inning when Bernie Williams doubled in Wade Boggs. After the Mariners regained the lead in the top of the sixth inning, Benes surrendered back-to-back homers to Ruben Sierra and Don Mattingly and was removed from the game. The contest ended at 1:12 A.M. when the Yankees won in the bottom of the 15th inning on a Jim Leyritz homer to take a 2-0 series lead.

The series headed back to Seattle. The Mariners evened the series at two games apiece and Benes started the decisive fifth game. Benes and David Cone of the Yankees traded zeros in the early innings until Joey Cora homered for the Mariners in the third inning, then Paul O’Neill put the Yankees ahead with a two-run homer off Benes in the top of the fourth. In the top of the sixth, Benes walked the bases full and yielded a two-run double to Mattingly. It was the last hit of Mattingly’s career. When Benes left the game with two out in the seventh inning, the Mariners trailed 4-2. Benes was a spectator when the Mariners won the game in the bottom of the 11th inning and advanced to the ALCS.

Benes made only one appearance as the Mariners lost the best-of-seven ALCS to the Indians. He started the fourth game and was knocked out in the third inning after allowing six runs. The Indians’ attack was highlight by a pair of two-run homers by future Hall of Famers. Eddie Murray’s blast in the first inning made the score 3-0 and Jim Thome’s homer in the third inning put the Mariners behind 6-0. Cleveland won, 7-0, to even up the series at two games apiece and won the next two games to eliminate the Mariners.

Benes opted for free agency after the season and joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 1996. He was with them for two years. In 1996 he finished third in the Cy Young Award balloting when he recorded 18 wins against 10 losses, after starting the season 1-7. The Cardinals finished first in the NL Central and went on to sweep the Padres in the best-of-five Division Series. Benes started the second game and pitched into the eighth inning, The Cardinals went into the inning leading 4-3, but Benes allowed a single to Scott Livingstone and a walk to Rickey Henderson. Rick Honeycutt replaced Benes and allowed one of the inherited runners to score, tying the game. The Cardinals won the game, 5-4, and advanced to the NLCS when they won Game Three, 7-5.

The NLCS between the Cardinals and Atlanta was not decided until the seventh game. Benes started Game One and left the game for a pinch-hitter with the score tied 2-2 in the top of the seventh inning. The Braves won the game 4-2 with two runs in the eighth inning. Benes next appeared in Game Four. The Cardinals trailed 1-0 going into the Braves’ sixth inning, when Mark Lemke led off with a homer and Chipper Jones doubled, knocking Benes out of the game. But the Cardinals were able to come from behind and win the game 4-3 and take a three-games-to-one series lead.

The Cardinals’ bats then went cold. In Game Five, the Braves took no prisoners in a 14-0 rout. Andy’s younger brother, Alan, started Game Six for the Cardinals and was tagged with the loss as the Braves won 3-1 to even the series. Game Seven was pretty much a repeat of Game Five. Donovan Osborne started for St. Louis and didn’t make it out of the first inning, allowing six runs, topped off by a Tom Glavine triple. After the triple, Andy Benes stopped the bleeding by getting Marquis Grissom on a comebacker. Benes pitched scoreless ball in the second and third innings but yielded a two-run single to Fred McGriff and a two-run homer to Javy Lopez in the fourth inning. By the time Benes left the game for a pinch-hitter in the top of the sixth inning, the Cardinals trailed 10-0. The rest was academic, and the Braves advanced to the World Series with a 15-0 win.  

In 1997 Benes went 10-7 for the Cardinals with a 3.10 ERA. After the  season, he was once again a free agent and signed a five-year, $32 million contract with the Cardinals. However, the contract was voided due to its being filed approximately two hours past the deadline. He wanted to stay with the Cardinals but, under the rules in place at the time, he could not re-sign with them until May 1, 1998. He would have missed spring training and the first month of the season.12 He elected to seek other offers and signed a three-year contract, valued at $18 million, with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Benes was the Opening Day pitcher for the Diamondbacks in their first-ever game, at Phoenix, on March 31, 1998. He left the game trailing 4-1 with one on and one out in the seventh inning. By the time Benes next took to the mound, the Diamondbacks were winless in five games. On April 5, against San Francisco, he pitched the first seven innings, scattering six hits. When he was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh, Arizona led, 3-2. There was no further scoring and the Diamondbacks had their first franchise win. For the season, Benes was 14-13, leading the staff in wins. He also led the staff in innings pitched, equaling the 231⅓ innings he had pitched in 1992.

The highlight of Benes’ first season with the Diamondbacks came on September 13. Arizona was playing the Reds at Cincinnati. Jay Bell’s two-run homer in the fourth inning gave Benes all the support he would need. He took a no-hitter into the ninth inning. By then, the Diamondbacks had a 4-0 lead. With one out, Benes walked Reggie Sanders, and Sean Casey lined a single to right field, breaking up the no-hitter and putting runners on first and second. After Benes walked Barry Larkin to load the bases, Gregg Olson came in and induced Dmitri Young to hit a game-ending double-play groundball.

The following season, Benes was 13-12 as the Diamondbacks, in only their second season, won the NL West. He did not pitch in the postseason. He was left out of the rotation as Arizona was eliminated in four games by the Mets in the best-of-five Division Series. A provision in his contract with the Diamondbacks allowed him to leave the team after two years, and he returned to the Cardinals in 2000, signing a three-year deal worth $18 million.

In 2000 with the Cardinals, Benes was 12-9 with a 4.88 ERA for the NL Central champions and pitched in the postseason for the third time. Although he did not appear in the three-game Division Series sweep over Atlanta, he got his only career postseason win in the NLCS when he was the winning pitcher in Game Three against the Mets. He pitched eight innings and scattered six hits as the Cardinals defeated the Mets, 8-2. A career .143 hitter, who had three hits in his first nine postseason at-bats, Benes singled in the fourth inning and scored his team’s fifth run. It was the only game they won in the series as the Mets advanced to the World Series, winning the best-of-seven NLCS in five games.

“It’s become increasingly difficult for me to pitch with what I’ve had to deal with. It’s not a secret that my leg has made it pretty difficult for me the last year or so. It’s a matter of me being unable to get people out any longer.” – Andy Benes, April 17, 2002.13

After the 2000 season, Benes had surgery to address cartilage problems in his right knee and he didn’t fully recover. The knee problems seriously plagued him in 2001. His record slipped to 7-7 and his ERA was a career-worst 7.38. He pitched only 107⅓ innings and at age 33 his career seemed just about over. After a good spring, he started the 2002 season in a dismal fashion. In each of three starts through April 15, he failed to go more than four innings. He was 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA when, on April 16, he decided to accept placement on the disabled list, effectively retiring. The Cardinals essentially told Benes to go home. His arthritic knee was examined by Dr. George Paletta, and Benes’ status remained uncertain. He decided to press on and began working out in mid-May. He continued his workouts at the Cardinals’ Jupiter, Florida, spring-training facility. He took a rehab assignment at Memphis in the Triple-A Pacific Coast league, making his first appearance on June 18. He had four rehab stints at Memphis, the last, on July 4, being a matchup against his brother Alan, who was rehabbing with Des Moines in the Cubs organization. Andy’s win that night took his record with Memphis to 1-1 with an ERA of 3.12 in 17⅓ innings. He had one last rehab appearance on July 8. Since Memphis was on a break for the league’s All-Star game, Benes’ last tuneup was with Potomac in the Class-A Carolina League.

“It’s a compliment to Andy to have done well enough to get this opportunity. But the real compliment he needs is to do something with it.” – Tony La Russa, July 12, 2002.14

Benes joined the Cardinals after the All-Star break. The team was in San Diego. He was tuning up when his attention became diverted. At home plate, a presentation was going on. Shortly before the Padres traded Benes to Seattle in 1995, he had agreed to support a program, started by Padres owner John Moores, directed at at-risk middle-school youth in San Diego. It was a seven-year program and if a youth completed it, the Padres would fund his or her college education. On that July day in 2002, the first graduates of the program were announced.

When Benes took the mound on July 16 at Los Angeles, the Cardinals were a changed team very much in need of his services. With an injury to Rick Ankiel, the June 22 death of Darryl Kile, and little reliability from other starters, the Cardinals had recalled Benes, who was the best available arm in their system. In his first appearance, in Los Angeles, he went the first four innings in a game the Cardinals went on to win, 9-2. Four days later, they acquired 39-year-old Chuck Finley from the Indians for career minor leaguer Luis Garcia and a player to be named later (Coco Crisp). It was a major turning point for Benes and the Cardinals. Finley taught Benes the splitter, making him a far more effective pitcher. From his return on July 16 through September 1, Benes was 4-2 with a 1.98 ERA in 10 appearances. The Cardinals headed into September with a 76-59 record and a four-game lead in the NL Central.

On September 6, 2002, the Cardinals were matched up against the Cubs as they raced to return to postseason play. The Cubs started Alan Benes. The brothers squared off for the second time in little over two months and older brother Andy came out on top. The brothers each pitched two shutout innings at the game’s onset, but the Cardinals knocked Alan from the box in the third inning. A single by Andy scored Tino Martinez with the sixth run of the inning and knocked Alan out of the game. Andy pitched shutout ball for eight innings before Alex Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning. The Cardinals won the game, 11-2. It was the last of Benes’s 21 complete games in his 14-year career and his last major-league win. Although he didn’t have any other decisions in September, the Cardinals won each of Benes’ four remaining starts. He finished the season with 17 consecutive shutout innings to bring his ERA for the season down to 2.78 to go with a 5-4 record.  On September 29 he made his last appearance of the regular season. The Cardinals faced the Brewers at home. Benes came out of the game at the end of the fifth inning. The game was scoreless. On his last pitch, he had struck out Ryan Christenson for his 2,000th career strikeout.

On September 20 the Cardinals had clinched the NL Central with nine games remaining to be played and won the division by 13 games. Benes had the opportunity to pitch in the postseason again. He started Game Three in the Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks and pitched into the fifth inning. Experiencing control problems, he left the game with the Cardinals leading 4-3. The Cardinals won the game, 6-3, to sweep the Diamondbacks in three games and advance to the NLCS.

Benes started Game Four of the NLCS against the Giants. Through five innings, he kept the Giants off the board and allowed only two hits. The Cardinals led 2-0. In the bottom of the sixth inning, after striking out Rich Aurilia, he walked Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds, prompting manager Tony La Russa to bring in reliever Rick White. The Giants tied the game on a J.T. Snow double and went on to win the game, 4-3. One day later, the Giants eliminated the Cardinals four games to one. Benes elected to walk away from the game at the end of the season. He had no regrets.

For his career, he went 155-139, winning 10 or more games in 10 of his 14 seasons. His ERA was 3.97, and he had nine shutouts in his 387 starts.

His family stayed in the St. Louis area and he became a familiar face on television starting in 2003 when he began hosting a program geared at young fans. Cardinals Crew featured Benes and Cardinals mascot Fred Bird the Red Bird. He stayed with the program for 14 years before leaving the show to spend more time coaching youth baseball in the St. Louis area.

In 2009 he was inducted into the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame.

Benes, who had been outspoken during his early years in the big leagues, had matured over the years, especially after he threw his last competitive pitch in 2002. It was a much more mature Andy Benes who spoke on the occasion of this number being retired by the University of Evansville in 2010. (He had been inducted into the university Hall of Fame in 1994.) Speaking with the Evansville Courier and Press, he said, “You get pulled in a lot of different directions all because I was able to throw a baseball for a while, but now I try to make sure I don’t go and do things if it’s going to take away from what (my kids) have going on.”15

In 2016 Benes received the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference Lifetime Achievement Award.

On March 31, 2018, as the Diamondbacks commemorated their 20th anniversary, Benes threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The reenactment of the first Opening Day also included Diamondbacks catcher Jorge Fabregas and the first leadoff batter, Mike Lansing of the Colorado Rockies.

Perhaps the essence of Andy Benes, as he continued to help children through his baseball camps and clinics, is in a comment he made in April 2017. “We (can) forget about the stats. We (should) think about the journey (through life) and the people we met along the way. That’s truly what’s important.”16  

Last revised: May 1, 2019

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, the Andy Benes file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and the following:

Porter, David L. The Padres Encyclopedia (Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing, 2002), 221-223.

Author interview with Andy Benes, September 6, 2018.

Notes

1 Lee Jenkins, “What It Means to Be the 1,” Sports Illustrated, June 15, 2009: 56-61.

2 Gordon Engelhardt, “Benes Humbled by SIAC Award – Former Card Pitcher Recalls Evansville Days,” Evansville Courier and Press, July 31, 2016: 1C.

3 “Rural Freshman West Team Captures Tournament Title,” Evansville Courier and Press, August 10, 1980: 4C.

4 Tom Collins, “Central’s Benes to Sign with UE,” Evansville Courier, April 25, 1985: 20.

5 Engelhardt, “Benes Walking into Hall Tonight,” Evansville Courier and Press,” January 23, 2009: 1C.

6 Bill Plaschke, “First Choice Benes a Real Fireball,” The Sporting News, June 13, 1988: 28.

7 Plaschke, “Padres Sign Benes for Record Bonus,” The Sporting News, July 4, 1988: 17.

8 Dave Johnson, “Benes Keeps Helping Out Aces,” Evansville Courier and Press, March 2, 2004: 1C.

9 Associated Press, “Benes Hurls United States Past Cuba, 5-2,” Baton Rouge Advocate, August 15, 1988: 3C.

10 “Around the Minors: Padres,” The Sporting News, May 15, 1989: 40.

11 Jennifer Frey, “Benes Pitches a 1-Hitter as He Proves His Point,” New York Times, July 4, 1994: 33.

12 Cole Claybourn, “Benes’ Heart Still Beats for Cardinals,” Evansville Courier and Press, August 24, 2014: 1C.

13 Joe Strauss, “Benes Elects to Retire, Citing Knee,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 18, 2002: D1.

14 Associated Press, “Cardinals Poised to Activate Benes,” Daily Journal (Flat River, Missouri), July 13, 2002: 5.

15 Drew Bruno, “UE Retires Benes’ Jersey Number,” Evansville Courier and Press, April 18, 2010: 1C.

16 Chag Lindskog, “High School Baseball: Ball Field Dedicated to Longtime Coach Gries,” Evansville Courier and Press, April 20, 2017: 1C.