Al Benton

John Alton Benton (March 18, 1911 - April 14, 1968) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who played with the Philadelphia Athletics (1934-35), Detroit Tigers (1938-42, 1945-48), Cleveland Indians (1949-50) and Boston Red Sox (1952).

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A native from Noble, Oklahoma, Benton was a classic example of every manager's dream: be the long man one day, volunteer to make an emergency start the next, and close a game out the day after that.

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The problem was that Benton was so versatile that he hasn't had an opportunity to find one role in his career. In 1940 he compiled a 6-10 record with 17 saves, and in 1941 he went 15-6 with a 2.97 ERA in 38 games. He completed seven of 14 apertures and got seven saves. Despite his 7-13 mark a year later, his ERA was 2.90 with career-highs in starts (30) and innings pitched (226.2). Then, he compiled a good season 1n 1945 with 13-8, a career-low 2.02 ERA, five shutouts, and 12 complete games in 191.2 innings. The rest of his career he worked basically as a setup man or as an emergency starter.

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A twice All-Star (1941-42), Benton compiled a career 98-88 record with 697 strikeouts and a 3.36 ERA in 1688.1 innings. He died in Lynwood, California, at age of 57.

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March 18: March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). There are 288 days remaining....

1911: 1911 was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar)....

1968: 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar)....

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