Todd Benzinger

by Laureen Smith
(Duluth, MN, United States)

In '93, I took my sister to a Giants-Rockies game for her birthday. We got there early, to see batting practice and to try to snag some autographs. She loved the Giants (I liked them too but was a rabid fan of the new Rox as well), and she also had a crush on Will Clark. She bought some Giants stuff to have signed, and headed toward their dugout.

I went around to the Rockies side. It was obviously more crowded over there (back when there were 70,000 people at every game), and I never got close enough to anyone to get an autograph. So I headed back to the Giants side of the field to look for my sister. I found her, and she says to me, "Look who's autograph I got on this pennant." I said who? She says, "I'm not sure. Everybody went to this guy, so I went too."

So I look at the pennant, and it was signed by Joe Morgan! Hall of Fame 2nd baseman Joe Morgan! My favorite player when I was a little leaguer, because he was a little second baseman like me. He was announcing games for the Giants, and he was headed for the broadcast booth, or to interview a player for their pre-game show, or something. I told her, "You gotta let me have that pennant!" She basically said "no way, finders keepers." Well, nowadays, she doesn't know where that pennant is, after she had 2 kids, a divorce, a move, 2 more kids, etc.. I don't let her forget about it. I tell her, "If you'd have given me that pennant, we both would know where it would be right now. Hangin' on my friggin' wall, that's where!" I guess that's what you get for having one sister and no brothers to take to a game.

She and I also talked to Todd Benzinger, and she tried to get him to get Will Clark to come over and sign something for her. He told her, "That's YOUR job!" But Benzinger was a nice guy, spent a couple minutes talking to us. He's really the only opposing player I've ever talked to.....