The man who squeezed the last out of Cincinnati’s last championship, a popup that carried him back behind first base and into Reds lore, has died.
Todd Benzinger, the former Reds first baseman who caught the final out of the 1990 World Series, died Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, at 63. The Cincinnati Reds announced his death 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.
The Popup That Ended a Sweep
Oakland’s Carney Lansford lifted a popup into foul territory in Game 4 on Oct. 20, 1990. Benzinger ranged back behind the bag for a final out that drifted into foul ground well behind first base, finishing a four-game sweep of the heavily favored Athletics.
That Reds team led the National League West wire to wire. The 1990 title remains the most recent one Cincinnati has won. Benzinger spent the season platooning at first base with left-handed-hitting Hal Morris.
He Stopped Hershiser’s 59-Inning Streak
Boston traded Benzinger to his hometown Reds during the 1988 offseason, and he made an immediate mark. Pitcher Orel Hershiser’s record 59-inning scoreless streak ended on a two-out RBI single off Benzinger’s bat on April 5, 1989.
His first season in Cincinnati was the best of his career at the plate. The 1989 campaign brought personal highs of 17 home runs, 76 RBIs, 79 runs and 161 games played, and nobody in the National League logged more at-bats than his 628.
Benzinger was born in Dayton, Ky., and raised in New Richmond, Ohio. New Richmond High School was where the Red Sox found him, taking him in the fourth round of the 1981 MLB Draft. His debut came in Boston in 1987, and he played there through 1988.
Cincinnati kept him for parts of three seasons before trading him to the Kansas City Royals midway through 1991. He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992, then the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 1995, and retired after that final season. Over nine big league seasons he hit .257/.301/.386 with 733 hits, 66 home runs and 376 RBIs in 924 games, making 622 appearances at first base and 192 in the outfield.
A Fixture at Redsfest and Fantasy Camp
Benzinger settled in the Cincinnati area after he stopped playing, and franchise events kept drawing him back: 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 the former first baseman never strayed far from the city and was generous with his time for museum functions and for fans.
He also managed the Dayton Dragons, the Reds’ Class-A affiliate, in 2009 and 2010, and coached youth baseball back home in New Richmond.
Barry Larkin, the Hall of Fame shortstop and Reds broadcaster, shared a clubhouse with Benzinger for three seasons. He said the two had crossed paths at a Cincinnati event over the summer, and that his old teammate looked well. “It’s kind of a shock out of nowhere,” Larkin told MLB.com. Young children survive Benzinger, Larkin noted, and he said his heart went out to the family.