Andy Benes Named To MVC Hall Of Fame Class of 2023

UE Legend Is Set To Join The HOF In March

On Tuesday, the Missouri Valley Conference announced its Class of 2023, and University of Evansville legend Andy Benes is slated to be inducted in March of 2023. 

Aside from Benes, the 26th MVC Hall of Fame class features three four-time first-team All-Conference selections in Melanie (Boeglin) White (Indiana State women’s basketball); Barb (Gaines) Porter (Missouri State softball), and Rachel Tejada (Illinois State women’s soccer); Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith (Tulsa); and a 2007 Master’s and 2015 British Open champ in Zach Johnson (Drake).

Including this year’s six inductees, the MVC Hall of Fame consists of 145 former student-athletes, administrators, coaches, and contributors.  Benes is the first representative of the UE baseball program to join the MVC Hall of Fame.  

In a career that went from 1986-88, Benes was a 3-sport student-athlete with the Purple Aces.  While spending time playing basketball and football, Benes will be most remembered for his performance on the baseball mound.  His professional baseball career took off after leaving UE in 1988.  Andy Benes was the 1988 NCAA Baseball Player of the Year was the 1988 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Player of the Year.

During the 1988 collegiate season, Benes recorded a 16-3 record for the Aces, spotting a 1.42 earned run average in 146 innings of work.  He struck out 188 batters that year while leading the NCAA in strikeout ratio (11.6/9 innings).  He also won the Pitching Triple Crown leading DI baseball in wins, ERA and strikeouts.

Benes was the No. 1 overall pick by the San Diego Padres in the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft.  Andy was a Padre from 1989-1995, earning The Sporting News Rookie Pitcher of the Year honor in his first year with San Diego.  He was an All-Star in 1993 and led the National League with 189 strikeouts during the 1994 season.  Benes finished third in the Cy Young Award balloting in 1996 after an 18–10, 3.83 ERA season.

Benes’ major league career spanned four organizations from 1989-2002 as he also pitched for the Seattle Mariners (1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-99), and he had two stints with the St. Louis Cardinals (1996-97 and 2000-02).

He recorded a 155-139 record in the majors with a career 3.97 ERA and 2,000 strikeouts. Notably, he struck out the final batter of his career in 2002 to reach that plateau.

At Evansville, Benes was an All-American in 1988 by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and the ABCA, while his No. 30 is one of two retired jerseys in program history.  He helped the United States to the gold medal in baseball in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympic Games.

Benes currently lives in St. Louis with his wife Jennifer. They have seven kids and seven grandkids. He owns a youth baseball club as well as being active in the St. Louis community with the Cardinals. He enjoys his weekly Bible studies, public speaking about his Christian faith, and playing golf.

The league will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship in St. Louis, Mo., next March 2-5. The Friday, March 3, festivities will begin with an 8:00 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:30 a.m.

Tickets to the 2023 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held at Stifel Theatre, which is adjacent to Enterprise Center – can be obtained by contacting the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The 2023 State Farm MVC Tournament marks the 33rd-straight year the event has been staged in St. Louis.  With 33 consecutive years at the same neutral site, Arch Madness is the second-longest neutral site tenured collegiate tourney in the nation (following only the Big East in New York City).

“One of the great rewards that come with representing a Conference with the magnitude of the Missouri Valley is the opportunity to interact with some of the finest practitioners in the collegiate athletic space,” said Commissioner Jeff Jackson.  “This class represents the reach of The Valley in and away from the athletic arena.  We are all truly inspired by their achievements and touched by their grace.”