Gary Bennett

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Gary Bennett**
Major League Baseball debut
St. Louis Cardinals — No. 28
Catcher
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
September 24, 1995 for the Philadelphia Phillies
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
Batting average	.241
Hits	365
Home runs	19
Teams
Philadelphia Phillies (1995-1996, 1998-2000) New York Mets (2001) Colorado Rockies (2001-2002) San Diego Padres (2003) Milwaukee Brewers (2004) Washington Nationals (2005) St. Louis Cardinals (2006-present)

Gary Bennett (b. April 17, 1972 in Waukegan, Illinois) is a back-up catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball team.

Bennett made his major league debut in 1995 for the Philadelphia Phillies after the Phillies drafted him in the eleventh round of the 1990 amateur draft. He was a member of the Boston Red Sox organization in the 1997 season, but he returned to the Phillie organization the following year where he stayed until he was traded to the New York Mets for fellow catcher Todd Pratt on July 23, 2001. Bennett played in one big league game for the Mets (going 1-for-1) before they traded him to the Colorado Rockies a month later. He stayed with the Rockies in 2002, getting over 200 at-bats in a season for the first time in his major league career. He then signed free agent deals with the San Diego Padres for 2003 (where he eclipsed the 300 at-bat mark for the first time), Milwaukee Brewers for 2004, Washington Nationals for 2005, and St. Louis Cardinals for 2006.

Bennett came alive in late August of 2006, hitting 4 home runs in the span of a week including a walk-off grand slam, the first Cardinals Grand slam at the New Busch Stadium, against the Chicago Cubs on August 27, '06, equaling his career high of 4 in one year that he set with Colorado.

Bennett, while on the Cardinals 25-man 2006 World Series roster, did not play in that series, which the Cardinals won, defeating the Detroit Tigers four games to one.

On November 28, 2006, Bennett was re-signed by the Cardinals.