The man who squeezed the last out of Cincinnati’s most recent championship — a lazy popup drifting into foul ground well behind first base — has died.
Todd Benzinger, the first baseman who caught the final out of the Reds’ 1990 World Series title, died Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, at 63. The Reds announced his death Thursday, Oct. 22. No cause was given.
The club said in a statement that it extended 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 team said.
The 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 catch completed a four-game sweep of the heavily favored Athletics by a Reds team that had led the National League West wire to wire. That 1990 championship is still the most recent one Cincinnati has won.
Benzinger shared first base that season in a platoon with the left-handed-hitting Hal Morris. A year earlier, on April 5, 1989, early in his first season in Cincinnati, his two-out RBI single ended pitcher Orel Hershiser’s record 59-inning scoreless streak.
From New Richmond to Fenway
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 out of New Richmond High School, and he debuted in Boston in 1987 and stayed through 1988. Boston traded him to his hometown Reds during the 1988 offseason.
His 1989 season was the best of his career at the plate. He set personal highs with 17 home runs, 76 RBIs, 79 runs and 161 games played, and his 628 at-bats led the National League.
He spent parts of three seasons with the Reds before Cincinnati dealt him to the Kansas City Royals midway through 1991. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992 and the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 1995, then retired after that final season.
Across nine big league seasons, Benzinger batted .257/.301/.386 with 733 hits, 66 home runs and 376 RBIs in 924 games. He made 622 appearances at first base and 192 in the outfield.
He Never Left the Caravan
Benzinger made his home in the Cincinnati area after he stopped playing, and he kept turning up at franchise events — 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 he stayed close to the city and gave his time generously to the museum’s events and to fans.
He managed the Reds’ Class-A affiliate in Dayton in 2009 and 2010, and coached youth baseball back home in New Richmond.
Barry Larkin, the Hall of Fame shortstop and Reds broadcaster who was Benzinger’s teammate for three seasons, told MLB.com: “It’s kind of a shock out of nowhere.” Larkin said he had seen Benzinger at an event in Cincinnati over the summer and thought he looked well. Benzinger had young children, Larkin said, and his heart went out to the family.
