Shayne Bennett

From SoSH

Shayne Anthony Bennett was drafted by the Red Sox in 1993. He was traded three years later and spent parts of three lackluster seasons with the Montreal Expos from 1997-1999.

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Moment in the Sun 3 Trivia 4 Quotes 5 External Links

Overall Career

Bennett had been was on his way up the Aussie Rules ladder. He'd been drafted by the Collingwood Football Club, and according to Collingwood's director of football, Graeme Allen, he was set to become a star center half-forward or full-forward. But, upon visiting a friend, Dave Naylor (an Australian footballer who's just broken into Major League baseball) He rethought his decision. One night at a bar, he had a chance encounter with the ex-Minor Leaguer from the United States (Naylor) who sold him on the idea of trying baseball. Baseball, he figured, was a way to see America. And so almost before he knew it, he enrolled at a junior college in Illinios where he asked if could sit at the end of the bench with the baseball team. The team's manager was so surprised by the idea, he decided to give Bennett the chance.

Bennett says, "He basically told the guys, 'we're getting this Australian guy who played some Australian Rules Football, that he's here to have a good time and see the country and meet people and that's why he's come to school'. And he told me that he'd fit me in whenever he could. And I didn't mind, it didn't bother me at all, I was just happy to be there. And I remember I went to the first practice, just getting off a plane a day before. Everyone was working out and I was just sitting on the astroturf kicking an American footballs from end to end. I wasn't too interested to pick up a baseball."

After establishing himself as a solid pitcher, Bennett was drafted by the Sox in the 25th round of the 1993 amateur draft. he was traded by the Red Sox with Rheal Cormier and Ryan McGuire to the Montreal Expos for Wil Cordero and Bryan Eversgerd on January 10, 1996. He made his major league debut a year later and went 0-1 in 16 games with the Expos. As a reliever he went 5-5 in 62 games in 1998, and appeared in just 5 games in 1999.

Moment in the Sun

• Earned a win over the Netherlands in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup

Trivia

• Didn't play baseball as a kid, but rather Australian Rules Football
• Gave up home run #66 to Mark McGwire in 1998

Quotes

"I came to America on vacation, now I gave up the 66th," Bennett joked. "I never should have stayed. He didn't even hit it on the good part of the bat; if he did it wouldn't gone out of the stadium." -Bennett, on his place in history (after McGwire's 66th)

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis