Benny Valenzuela
Benjamin Beltrán Valenzuela was a Mexican professional baseball player, a third baseman who appeared in ten Major League Baseball games for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1958 season. Nicknamed "Papelero" in his native Mexico, he threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed.Biography
His abbreviated MLB service notwithstanding, Valenzuela played 20 years in professional baseball, with the last decade spent exclusively in the Double-A Mexican League and lower-classification Mexican minor leagues. He began his pro career with the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings, an unaffiliated team in the Class C Arizona–Texas League, then was drafted into the Cardinal organization in 1955. After hitting.314 and.286 in consecutive seasons with the Double-A Houston Buffaloes in 1956–57, he received early- and late-season auditions with the 1958 Redbirds, spending the bulk of that year with Triple-A Omaha. He singled in his first MLB at bat off Johnny Podres of the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 27, but overall collected only three hits in 14 at bats with a base on balls during his lone big-league campaign. At the close of the 1958 season, Valenzuela was traded to the San Francisco Giants in a five-player transaction that netted the Cardinals right-handed pitcher Ernie Broglio.
After his playing retirement, he became manager of the Alijadores de Tampico in the Mexican League.
