The man who squeezed the final out of Cincinnati’s last championship made that catch on the run, well behind first base, in foul ground.
Todd Benzinger, the former major league first baseman who caught the popup that ended the 1990 World Series, was 63 when he died on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. The Reds made the death public a day later, on Thursday, Oct. 22, and gave no cause.
The club offered condolences to his family, friends and former teammates. “Todd will be remembered with great affection and gratitude for his place in one of the most memorable chapters in Reds history,” the Reds said in a statement.
A Popup Behind the Bag
Oakland’s Carney Lansford lifted a popup into foul territory on Oct. 20, 1990, in Game 4, and Benzinger ranged back behind the bag to run it down. The game was over, and so was the series. A Reds team that had led the National League West wire to wire had just completed a four-game sweep of the heavily favored Athletics.
Cincinnati has not won a title since. Benzinger platooned at first base that season with left-handed-hitting Hal Morris.
The Single That Stopped Hershiser
Boston traded Benzinger to his hometown Reds during the 1988 offseason, and he made his mark early. On April 5, 1989, he singled home a run with two out, ending pitcher Orel Hershiser’s record 59-inning scoreless streak.
His bat never did better than it did in his first Cincinnati season. He posted career bests of 17 home runs, 76 RBIs, 79 runs and 161 games played, while his 628 at-bats topped the National League.
From New Richmond to the Majors
Benzinger was born in Dayton, Ky., and raised in New Richmond, Ohio. The Red Sox drafted him in the fourth round of the 1981 MLB Draft, taking him out of New Richmond High School. His debut came in Boston in 1987.
He played there through 1988, then spent parts of three seasons with the Reds. Cincinnati traded him to the Kansas City Royals midway through 1991. The Los Angeles Dodgers employed him in 1992, and the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 1995; he retired after that final season.
His nine big league seasons produced a .257/.301/.386 line, with 733 hits, 66 home runs and 376 RBIs in 924 games. First base accounted for 622 of his appearances, the outfield for 192.
He Never Left the Franchise
Benzinger settled in the Cincinnati area after he stopped playing, and he kept showing up for the club — the Reds Caravan, Reds Fantasy Camp, the Reds Legends Remember program and Redsfest. Rick Walls, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame Museum, said Benzinger stayed close to the city and gave his time generously to the museum’s events and to fans.
Class-A Dayton, then a Reds affiliate, had him as its manager in 2009 and 2010. Youth baseball teams back home in New Richmond had him as a coach.
Barry Larkin, the Hall of Fame shortstop and Reds broadcaster, spent three seasons as Benzinger’s teammate and said he had run into him at an event in Cincinnati over the summer, where he thought his former teammate looked well. “It’s kind of a shock out of nowhere,” Larkin told MLB.com. His heart went out to the family, Larkin said, noting that Benzinger had young children.
