Stan Benjamin

Stan Benjamin

Alfred Stanley "Stan" Benjamin (May 20, 1914 – December 24, 2009) was a right fielder in Major League Baseball for five seasons; four with the Philadelphia Phillies (1939–1942), of the National League (NL), and one with the Cleveland Indians (1945), of the American League (AL). The 6' 2", 194 lb. Benjamin batted and threw right-handed, and was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. After graduating from high school, he attended Western Maryland College, now known as McDaniel College, where he played baseball, basketball, and football.

In addition to his major league playing career, he played in minor league baseball for ten seasons. He began at the age of 23, with the Thomasville Orioles of the Georgia-Florida League in 1937, and finished as the player-manager for the Fresno Cardinals of the California League in 1948. During that time, he played in 955 minor league games, and batted .304, and hit 52 home runs. In the early 1940s, he was an assistant football coach at Northeastern University. Later, during his minor league career, he began coaching high school football, part-time, in his home town of Framingham, and then full-time once his playing and managing career ended.

Starting in 1948, he was the head baseball coach and assistant football coach for Greenfield High School in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and took over the head football coaching duties in 1958. He held both positions, in addition to being a physical education teacher for a local middle school and part-time basketball referee until 1964. In 1965, he was hired as a talent scout for the Houston Astros, a job he held for nearly 40 years. It was his evaluation of Jeff Bagwell that led the Astros to acquire him from the Boston Red Sox for Larry Andersen.