Curtis Benton Welch (February 10, 1862[1] – August 29, 1896) was an American Major League Baseball center fielder for the Toledo Blue Stockings, St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, and Louisville Colonels.

Welch started his professional baseball career in 1883 with Toledo of the Northwestern League and stayed with the club when it moved to the American Association the following year.

Welch scored the series-winning run in extra innings of game 6 of the 1886 World Series in a close play at the plate famous among baseball fans of his generation as the "$15,000 slide,"[2] that number being an estimate of the total gate receipts in the winner-take-all Series.

[4] Welch led the AA in hit by pitches in 1888, 1890, and 1891, and he ranked third in stolen bases in 1886 and 1888.

[5] Welch sometimes kept a case of beer in the outfield behind a billboard, taking a drink between innings.