Eugene Benson (October 2, 1913 – April 6, 1999) was an American center fielder in baseball's Negro leagues.
The Wilmington Blue Rocks have hosted a "Judy Johnson Night – A Tribute to Negro League Baseball" since 1996 in which the team, the City of Wilmington, and the Judy Johnson Memorial Foundation honor a Negro leagues player.
Benson was invited to throw out the first pitch on opening day of the 1998 little league season at the field.
[2] In 2003, baseball historian Bill James identified Benson as the top Negro league player of the 1944 season.
[4] The Peanuts character, Franklin Armstrong (who Charles Schultz added the last name after Robb Armstrong in 1994) in the February 16, 2024 Apple TV Animated Special Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin, Franklin shares that his great uncle was Eugene (Gene) Benson, the Negro League baseball player.