In 1962, Robert Benjamin was a promising catcher in the Pirates chain, hitting so well (.315) that the Pirates traded their other left-handed catcher, Smoky Burgess, to make way for him.
(At least, that's what Benjamin told
The Deseret News in 1992. Except that research shows it was 1964, not 1962; that Benjamin was hitting .298, not .315; that Benjamin was an outfielder, not a catcher, and that Burgess wasn't waived out of the NL until December. But other than
that…)
But one day, Benjamin was caught in a rundown, didn't see the throw coming, and got hit in the eye, ending up with a detached retina and a ruined career. Frustrated, he played four years of semi-pro football (or so he says…), took up coaching, and started living vicariously through his son, Bobby, who was the Brewers' 7th-round pick after three years at Nebraska. Bobby posted a very nice .990 OPS in his month at Helena (Pioneer League) and followed up with a .911 in the Arizona fall league.
A full-season of work at Beloit (Midwest League) in 1991 saw a still-impressive .857 OPS. But then there was a change in the Brewers front office in the off-season, and the team decided to emphasize looking for more athleticism and speed in their outfielders. The "We've already got a Greg Vaughn" theory, I guess.
This seems a bit foolish to apply throughout the system…who knows how the team might evolve as the years go by? Plus Milwaukee was in the AL at the time, where they have this handy thing called the DH, so even if Benjamin (6'0", 220 lbs) proved not to be what they were seeking in the field, there were still other options. It seems more logical to keep watering all your prospects, IMO. Worst comes to worst, you can always make some trades.
But the Brewers disagreed, and it only took one bad month at Stockton (OPS .683) before Benjamin found himself released, at age 24. Feeling down, he spurned an offer from the independent Salt Lake City Trappers of the Pioneer League and headed home to Columbus, OH. But his dad, not ready to turn loose of the dream, objected:
Quote:
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"If he wanted to, he could come home and get into the family business," says Robert Benjamin, who, along with his father, runs Robert & Company, a record store in Columbus that boasts the world's largest collection of phonograph records, more than two million of them at last count. "But why do that if you have the opportunity to play ball?" he says. "You can work the rest of your life. If you have the opportunity, take it. You only go around once. Basically that's what my advice was to him. I didn't tell him what to do. I advised him what to do."
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Another weak month for the Trappers (.674 OPS) and a dispirited Bobby went home for good, to help dad and granddad stack those stacks of wax, after all And that was that…sorry, Dad.
