Friday, June 21, 2019

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 BUTCH BENTON

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.