Todd Benzinger, the switch-hitter who caught the final out of the Reds' 1990 World Series sweep, died Wednesday at 63.

The Reds announced his passing in a statement earlier this week. Three of his nine MLB seasons, spread from 1987 to 1995, were spent in Cincinnati.

Boston took him in the fourth round of the 1981 draft. He spent his first two big league seasons with the Red Sox.

Then came December 1988 and a five-player swap that sent him to Cincinnati. For a kid born in Dayton, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River, it was basically a homecoming.

He wasted no time introducing himself. In his very first at-bat as a Red, in the first inning on Opening Day 1989, he delivered an RBI single.

That hit ended Orel Hershiser's regular-season scoreless-inning streak at a record 59 innings. Not a bad way to say hello to a new fan base.

He was the everyday first baseman that year. By 1990, the role had shrunk into more of a platoon, split between first base and the occasional start in left field.

The Carney Lansford pop-up Cincinnati will never forget

But he got the start at first in Game 4 of the 1990 World Series against the Athletics. And then the ball found him.

Carney Lansford lifted a pop-up into foul territory. Benzinger squeezed it for the final out, and the Reds had a four-game sweep.

Every championship roster needs a guy like that. He's the one at the wedding who never gives the toast but is still stacking chairs at midnight.

Barry Larkin, his Hall of Fame teammate, remembered him as a super nice guy and a hard worker who was never real loud.

“He was just a steady, consistent contributor,” Larkin told MLB.com. “There was no craziness about him.”

The rest of the playing career moved fast. His at-bats dried up in 1991, he asked for a trade, and the Reds sent him to the Royals that July.

Another offseason deal shipped him to the Dodgers. He finally found stability by signing with the Giants as a free agent, spending his final three MLB seasons in San Francisco.

A stint with the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate followed in 1995. Over his MLB career, he hit 66 home runs with a .257/.301/.386 slash line.

Did those numbers ever tell his whole story? Not even close, and baseball doesn't celebrate that kind of player nearly enough.

He managed the Reds' A-ball affiliate in Dayton in 2009 and 2010. Years earlier, at Royals Spring Training in 2000, he helped Mike Sweeney make the jump from catcher to first base.

“He poured into me like I was his little brother,” Sweeney told the Kansas City Star, still struck by how a stranger gave so much to him.

Thirty-six years later, that foul pop is still the last image of a championship October in Cincinnati. And Todd Benzinger is the man standing under it, every single time.