Benny Distefano Stats

Benny Distefano was born on Tuesday, January 23, 1962, in Brooklyn, New York. Distefano was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on May 18, 1984, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Benny Distefano baseball stats page.

Baseball Almanac Top Quote

"Major league teams have been panting for more catchers since shinguards, begging for mothers to allow their sons to play there, and yet they cut off an entire stream of talent that happens to throw left-handed. In the last 100 years, Dale Long caught two innings for the Chicago Cubs in 1958, Mike Squires the same for the 1980 White Sox. And since Aug. 18, 1989, when Distefano caught for the last time, baseball has embraced retro uniforms and even revenue sharing—but not the likes of Distefano. The minor leagues do not have one left-handed catcher right now. 'It's a slow-changing game,' said Distefano, now the hitting coach of the West Michigan Whitecaps, a Detroit Tigers Class A affiliate. 'It takes a creative manager that's willing to go with something that might be a little outside the box.'" - New York Times Staff Writer Alan Schwarz (08/15/2009, 'Left-Handed and Left Out', Source)

Benny Distefano

Benny Distefano Autograph on a 1985 Donruss (#166)

Benny Distefano Autograph on a 1985 Donruss (#166)

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Birth Name:   Benito James Distefano
Nickname:   Benny
Born On:   01-23-1962  (Aquarius)
Place of Birth Data Born In:   Brooklyn, New York
Year of Death Data Died On:   Still Living (500 Oldest Living)
Place of Death Data Died In:   Still Living
Cemetery:   n/a
High School:   Lafayette High School (Brooklyn, NY)
College:   None Attended
Batting Stances Chart Bats:   Left   Throwing Arms Chart Throws:   Left
Player Height Chart Height:   6-01   Player Weight Chart Weight:   195
First Game:   05-18-1984 (Age 22)
Last Game:   08-05-1992
Draft:   1982 : 2nd Round (29th)

Benny Distefano

Benny Distefano Pitching Stats

- - Did Not Pitch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Benny Distefano

Benny Distefano Hitting Stats

1984 22 Pirates 45 78 10 13 1 2 3 1 9 5 1 13 2 0 1 3 .167 .226 .346
1986 24 Pirates 31 39 3 7 1 0 1 0 5 1 0 5 0 2 0 0 .179 .190 .282
1988 26 Pirates 16 29 6 10 3 1 1 0 6 3 1 4 0 1 0 1 .345 .394 .621
1989 27 Pirates 96 154 12 38 8 0 2 0 15 17 3 30 2 0 3 6 .247 .333 .338
1992 30 Astros 52 60 4 14 0 2 0 0 7 5 1 14 0 0 1 1 .233 .303 .300
5 Years 240 360 35 82 13 5 7 1 42 31 6 66 4 3 5 11 .228 .296 .350

Benny Distefano

Benny Distefano Fielding Stats

1984 Pirates 1B 17 2 180 63 3.7 62 55 7 1 5 n/a n/a n/a .984 9.30
1984 Pirates LF 7 1 78 10 1.4 9 8 1 1 0 n/a n/a n/a .900 3.12
1984 Pirates RF 15 10 255 28 1.9 27 26 1 1 1 n/a n/a n/a .964 2.86
1986 Pirates 1B 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 n/a n/a n/a .000 0.00
1986 Pirates RF 9 5 135 13 1.4 13 13 0 0 0 n/a n/a n/a 1.000 2.60
1988 Pirates 1B 5 5 108 41 8.2 41 38 3 0 1 n/a n/a n/a 1.000 10.25
1988 Pirates RF 2 1 39 3 1.5 3 3 0 0 0 n/a n/a n/a 1.000 2.08
1989 Pirates 1B 48 30 852 324 6.8 318 302 16 6 21 n/a n/a n/a .981 10.08
1989 Pirates C 3 0 18 2 0.7 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1.000 3.00
1989 Pirates RF 1 1 27 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 n/a n/a n/a .000 0.00
1992 Astros 1B 6 2 69 25 4.2 25 23 2 0 4 n/a n/a n/a 1.000 9.78
1992 Astros LF 7 3 81 13 1.9 13 13 0 0 0 n/a n/a n/a 1.000 4.33
1992 Astros RF 5 2 63 4 0.8 4 3 1 0 0 n/a n/a n/a 1.000 1.71
1B Totals 77 39 1,209 453 5.9 446 418 28 7 31 n/a n/a n/a .985 9.96
RF Totals 32 19 519 48 1.5 47 45 2 1 1 n/a n/a n/a .979 2.45
LF Totals 14 4 159 23 1.6 22 21 1 1 0 n/a n/a n/a .957 3.74
C Totals 3 0 18 2 0.7 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1.000 3.00
5 Years 126 62 1,905 526 4.2 517 486 31 9 32 1 1 0 .983 7.33

Benny Distefano

Benny Distefano Miscellaneous Stats

1984 Pirates 0 1 .000 18 5 n/a 26.0 6.0 8.7 - - -
1986 Pirates 0 0 .000 24 0 n/a 39.0 7.8 7.8 - - -
1988 Pirates 0 0 .000 10 0 n/a 29.0 7.3 4.8 - - -
1989 Pirates 1 0 1.000 52 1 n/a 77.0 5.1 10.3 - - -
1992 Astros 0 0 .000 36 0 n/a 0.0 4.3 8.6 - - -
5 Years 1 1 .500 140 6 n/a 51.4 5.5 8.6 - - -

Benny Distefano

Benny Distefano Miscellaneous Items of Interest

1984 Pittsburgh Pirates 10 $43,200.00 - -
1986 Pittsburgh Pirates 31 $66,100.00 - -
1988 Pittsburgh Pirates 30 $82,500.00 - -
1989 Pittsburgh Pirates 30 $85,000.00 - -
1992 Houston Astros 30 $93,222.00 - -

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Being left-handed in baseball, except in rare cases, means exclusion from the position of catcher. This is due in large part to the game's counterclockwise flow. There have only been 28 left-handed throwing players who caught in at least 1 defensive inning. Did you know that Benny Distefano is one of those rare left-handed catchers?

Left Handed Catchers

Name Games Caught Fielding %
Jack Clements 1,073 .973
Sam Trott 272 .906
Pop Tate 202 .905
Sy Sutcliffe 186 .887
Bill Harbridge 128 .855
Mike Hines 99 .896
John Humphries 75 .876
Fred Tenney 71 .936
Art Twineham 52 .936
Phil Baker 50 .911
Jiggs Donahue 45 .943
Dave Oldfield 35 .857
Charlie Householder 34 .895
Fergy Malone 21 .780
Jack McMahon 16 .900
Charlie Krehmeyer 12 .864
Joe Wall 7 .903
Benny Distefano 3 1.000
Homer Hillebrand 3 .899
Jim Egan 2 1.000
Dale Long 2 1.000
Mike Squires 2 1.000
Charlie Eden 1 1.000
John Cassidy 1 1.000
John Mullen 1 .714
Lefty Marr 1 .000
Martin Powell 1 .000
Billy Redmond 1 .000

On April 28, 1992, David Cone of the New York Mets was pitching a no-hitter that Benny Distefano broke up with an infield hit in the eighth inning. Author Roger Angell wrote the following (A Pitcher's Story: Innings with David Cone, Grand Central Publishing, April 1, 2002) about that moment in Cone's Career:

Cone, one could say, was ready and then some. His coup, which he pitched at the Stadium on July 18, 1999, is only the sixteenth perfect game in a century of major-league ball, but was also his own first no-hitter of any description. On three occasions in his fourteen-year career in the majors, he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, only to be foiled. He remembers those scenes, too - in particular a wrong-field dribbler cued toward third with one out in the eighth by a Houston batter named DiStefano in 1992, when Cone was pitching for the Mets; the ball died just in front of Dave Magadan's frantic late charge from third. A Met's teammate of Cone's, the great reliever John Franco, thinks back to that injustice - and to DiStefano's lifetime .228 batting record - every time Cone's name comes up in conversation. "I was even in school with the guy," he says disgustedly, "Benny DiStefano, behind me at Lafayette High in Brooklyn, and he kills Coney that way." He could be talking about Lee Harvey Oswald. The real enemy here - for Franco and every pitcher - is luck, which stalks the field in ever low-scoring game, guiding this rocketed line drive in the third baseman's mitt or nudging that bloop into an unreachable few inches of terrain, but which perversely must be given a secret save in every no-hitter.

When Benny Distefano made his Major League debut on May 18, 1984, he hit a triple in his first big league at-bat. The last time a Pittsburgh Pirates player did the same thing was on September 19, 1967, by Bob Moose - the starting pitcher. No Bucs player has matched the feat since.

Benny Distefano First Game

Benny Distefano | The Indiana Gazette | May 19, 1984 | Page 21