Can you guess which pitcher lost more games than any other in the 1990s? It isn’t Anthony Young, the Mets pitcher who dropped 27 consecutive decisions and had the decade’s lowest win percentage. It’s not Greg Maddux, who led ’90s pitchers in both games started and total innings pitched. The pitcher with the most losses is Andy Benes.
Despite leading MLB with 116 losses in that period, Benes was anything but a bust. He was an Olympic gold medalist and was selected with the first overall pick of the 1988 draft. He fanned 2,000 batters and finished the ’90s among the decade’s top-10 for strikeouts. Benes retired 20 years ago and still remains in the all-time top 100 career strikeout leaders.
Wins and losses are generally mediocre at conveying pitching success, but are helpful in framing the futility of playing for a subpar team. Benes led the National League in strikeouts in 1994 (189), beating all-time greats such as Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez while also leading the league in losses (14). Much of this is attributable to his anchor position in the rotation of the woeful San Diego Padres. The team was loaded with top-level talent in the early 1990s (Gwynn, Sheffield, McGriff) but couldn’t seem to do anything with it. The Padres went 508-563 during Bene’s tenure with the team, and were 439-488 in games in which he didn’t earn a decision.
Benes on Cardboard
Andy first appeared in the 1988 Topps Traded set as a member of that year’s US Olympic team. Benes made multiple appearances on Topps cards before finally being depicted in a Major League uniform. His 1989 Topps rookie shows him in in a different hat. The same year’s oddball Topps “Big” set portrays the pitcher again with the Olympic team, complete with a giant waving American flag. Topps did manage to get him into a Padres uniform for its line of Bowman cards.
Benes would go on to wear uniforms for several different teams. Near the end of his career he appeared alongside newcomer Albert Pujols as a member of the Cardinals in the 2001 Topps issue. Seemingly needing to keep up with the second coming of Stan Musial, Benes is depicted batting rather than pitching.
1993 Finest Refractor
Benes’ 1993 Finest Refractor was added to my collection via an eBay purchase. I asked the seller for any background on the card and she told me her father had once been a big fan of ’93 Finest. They had purchased multiple unopened boxes (😮) over time and built two complete sets of the base cards in the 1990s. Through opening packs and buying individual cards they had put together 50 refractors before abandoning the effort. The father eventually gave her the cards and a handful of empty display boxes before she broke up the collection.
I included this card with my “recent” PSA submission. A close inspection beforehand showed a small corner ding and it appears the grading service agreed. The card is now encased in a PSA 8 slab that matches the bulk of my in-progress set.
Fun fact: Benes went back to school to finish his degree 26 years after leaving to play pro ball.
