Todd Benzinger

Todd Eric Benzinger was born on 11 February 1963 in Dayton, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. His mother was Joan Barbara (McGrath) Benzinger and his father, Joseph Albert Benzinger Jr., was an elementary school teacher. He had three older sisters, Holly, Lynn and Kimberly, an older brother, Joseph, and a younger brother, Brian. His uncle by marriage, Don Gross, had pitched for the Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He attended New Richmond High School in New Richmond, Ohio, about 20 miles from Cincinnati, where he was a multi sport athlete and an All American, and a star running back on the football team. The Boston Red Sox selected him out of high school in the fourth round of the June 1981 draft.

Benzinger worked his way through the Red Sox minor league system, with stops at Elmira, Winter Haven, Winston-Salem, New Britain and Pawtucket, and made his major league debut on 21 June 1987. A switch hitter who threw right handed, he began in the outfield before moving to first base. In 1988, during the run under new manager Joe Morgan that Boston fans called Morgan Magic, he hit a tenth inning walk off home run on 20 July, a night remembered as the Benzinger Game.

Before the 1989 season he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds. In the first inning of Orel Hershiser's first start of 1989 he drove in a run to end the Dodgers pitcher's record scoreless streak at 59 innings, and that season he led the National League with 628 at bats. In 1990 the Reds led their division wire to wire and swept the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. Benzinger played in all four games and caught the final out of Game 4 to clinch the title.

He moved to the Kansas City Royals in 1991, played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992 and the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 1995, and ended his professional career in 1995 with the Columbus Clippers. In 924 major league games he batted .257 with 66 home runs and 376 runs batted in.

After retiring he coached the girls' basketball team at Loveland High School in Ohio from 2006 to 2008, and managed the Dayton Dragons, the Reds' Class A affiliate, in 2009 and 2010.

Benzinger made his home in the Cincinnati area and lived in New Richmond, where he was very active in youth baseball and spent considerable time coaching and mentoring young players. He and his former wife, Kristi, had a son, Grant, who was most valuable player of the 2018 Horizon League basketball tournament for Wright State and later played professionally in Germany. His brother Brian coached baseball at New Richmond High School for 20 years.

He remained close to the Reds, taking part in the Reds Caravan, Reds Fantasy Camp and the Reds Legends Remember programme, and was a popular guest at Redsfest and at the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.

Todd Benzinger died on Wednesday 21 October 2026, aged 63. The Cincinnati Reds announced his death on 22 October and did not give a cause. He had been scheduled to appear at the Reds Hall of Fame's Halloween celebration on 24 October.

The Reds said he would be remembered with great affection and gratitude for his place in one of the most memorable chapters in the club's history. Rick Walls, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, said fans would always remember him for catching the final out of the 1990 World Series, but that those who knew him would remember his friendship, kindness and presence in the community.

Benzinger's catch for the final out of the 1990 World Series remains one of the most replayed moments in Cincinnati sports history, the end of the Reds' last championship. In Boston he is remembered for the Benzinger Game of 1988, and in the Cincinnati area for decades of work with young players and the club's community programmes.