Remembering Ray Benge

Raymond A. Benge was born on April 22, 1902 in Jacksonville, Texas. The youngest of eight children born to W.L. and Annie Benge, the family moved 100 miles south to Huntsville in 1917, where Ray attended Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University).

The 5-foot-9, 160-pound right-hander lettered in baseball at Sam Houston from 1922 to 1925 and signed with the Houston Buffaloes of the Class A Texas League his senior year. On July 30, he was sold to the Waco Cubs of the same league in a deal that bought Red Bird (who would pitch for the Senators in 1921) to the Buffaloes. Benge finished the season with a 13-10 record and 4.43 ERA in 32 appearances and was purchased by the Cleveland Indians at the end of August, making his debut with the big league club on September 26.

Benge reported to the Indians’ spring training camp in Lakeland, Florida in 1926. Reporting on a number of rookie pitchers throwing for manager Tris Speaker, Norman E. Brown observed that “Ray Benge looks the best . . . he has lots of stuff and knows how to use it.”

However, Benge only made eight appearances for the Indians that season and a further eight appearances for the Decatur Commodores of the Class B Three-I League.

In 1927, he was back in the Texas League with Waco and had an excellent season with a 19-12 record and 4.09 ERA. The 25-year-old was picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1927 rule 5 draft in October and was back in the major leagues the following year.

Pitching his first full season in the majors, Benge was 8-18 with the Phillies in 1928 but that was good enough to be the club’s winningest pitcher as the hapless Phillies managed just 43 wins against a staggering 109 defeats. Over the next four seasons Benge won 11 games of more for the Phillies and was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers in December 1932. On August 8, 1933, Benge pitched probably the best game of his career, going 11 innings against Hal Schumacher of the New York Giants and claiming the 1-0 victory by allowing just three hits, two of them by Schumacher.

Following three seasons with the Dodgers he was traded to the Boston Braves in December 1935 but selected off waivers by the Phillies in July 1936.

The 35-year-old was due to pitch for the St. Paul Saints of the Class AA American Association in 1937, but sat out the season.

He was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals in February 1938 but released in April and promptly picked up by the Cincinnati Reds, making nine relief appearances before being released on June 10. Benge spent the rest of 1938 and 1939 with the Syracuse Chiefs of the Class AA International League before ending his playing days with the Texas League’s Shreveport Sports in 1939.

Benge, was a full-time cattle rancher in Karnes County before entering military service with the U.S. Navy during World War II. As a lieutenant he was attached to an acorn unit which comprised of the personnel and equipment needed to construct, maintain, and operate an advanced naval air base in the Pacific Theater. His unit was responsible for the construction of five airstrips on the New Georgia islands and Emirau Island in the Pacific. By August 1944, Lieutenant Benge was back in the United States and serving with the Navy’s shore patrol in New Orleans.

Benge returned to Sam Houston State University in 1953, first as assistant baseball coach then as head baseball coach between 1957 and 1968. He coached the Bearkats to six NAIA World Series appearances including the 1963 NAIA championship. He returned to ranching in Leon County, Texas after the 1968 baseball season.

Ray Benge, who was inducted in the Sam Houston State University Hall of Honor in 1971, passed away on June 27, 1997 in Centerville, Texas. He was 95 years old and is buried at Concord Cemetery in Concord, Texas.