Today
we have a “not so missing” 1979 card for former New York Mets catcher
Butch Benton, who made his MLB debut during the 1978 season:
Benton appeared in four games in his Big League debut as a September
call-up, going 2-for-4 at the plate with a couple of runs batted in.
He would spend all of 1979 in the Minors before making it back in 1980,
playing in 12 games though collecting one hit over 21 at-bats, good for a
.048 batting average.
Again, he’d spend all of 1981 in the Minors before coming back, this
time with the Chicago Cubs in 1982, hitting .143 with a hit over seven
at-bats in four games.
Once again, Benton would find himself back in the Minors, this time for
the 1983 and 1984 seasons before coming back for one last hurrah in the
Majors, now with the Cleveland Indians, where he appeared in a
career-high 31 games, hitting .179 with 12 hits over 67 at-bats, scoring
five runs while driving in seven.
That would be it for his MLB tenure, though I see that he would be out
of pro ball between 1986 and 1990 before coming back in the Detroit
organization in 1991 playing for their Triple-A team, getting into nine
games, before retiring for good.
No info on where, if anyplace, he played in those “missing” seasons, but
nevertheless he finished up his career with a .162 average, with 16
hits over 99 at-bats over 51 games and four seasons.