Born in Granite Quarry, North Carolina, Benson attended Catawba College in nearby Salisbury. He debuted in the Majors with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1943 and had a second trial with the Mackmen in 1946, but most of his career would be spent in the organization of the St. Louis Cardinals. While he appeared in only 46 games for St. Louis between 1951–53, he was a fixture with the Cards\' Rochester Red Wings and Columbus Red Birds Triple-A farm clubs as a player. Overall, Benson batted .202 in 104 MLB at bats over five seasons, with three home runs and 12 runs batted in. In his finest minor league season, 1951 at Columbus, he batted .308 with 18 home runs and 89 RBI.\n', '

He became a manager in the Redbird system in 1956 with the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Class C Northern League. On July 6, 1961, he was promoted from manager of the Triple-A Portland Beavers to the Cardinals to serve as a Major League coach under new skipper Johnny Keane.\n', '

Benson worked with Keane through the Cards\' 1964 World Championship, then moved to the New York Yankees when Keane switched to the Bombers (his 1964 World Series opponent) in 1965. But the Yankees were in a downward spiral at the time, finishing sixth in the \'65 American League race. Then they won only four of their first 20 games in 1966, resulting in Keane\'s firing and Benson\'s resignation on May 7.\n', '

Return to Vern Benson Autograph Profile