Stan Benjamin - Personal Life

Personal Life

Benjamin was married to his wife Barbara, maiden name Hall, from 1941 until her death 54 years later in 1995. She was attending Framingham State Teachers College when they met, and school rules forbade female students from getting married or they faced expulsion. Town records didn't publish marriages until after January 1, each year, so the couple got married at 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day 1941 at her home in Raynham, Massachusetts. This prevented the school from learning about her marriage until after she had graduated. The Benjamins had one son, Richard, and three daughters, Nancy, Janice, and Joanne; as well as 12 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.

Benjamin died at the age of 95, of heart failure, in his daughter's home on December 24, 2009, in Harwich, Massachusetts. He is interred at Green River Cemetery in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Benjamin was a member of both the McDaniel College and Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association hall of fame, and in 2008, he received a special recognition award from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation. Tal Smith, Astros' president of baseball operations, said of Benjamin, “Stan’s positive evaluation of Bagwell was definitely a catalyst in our taking him... He was a vital cog in our organization who had the ability to convey his opinion in a precise manner. You always knew where you stood with him. He was a longtime employee, but more important, a longtime friend.’’ Smith also called him a "keen judge of talent."