In honor of Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming Mass Sunday at Yankee Stadium (as well as filling space), I'd thought see if there had been other Benedicts who had played baseball in Yankee Stadium.

Benedict isn't that common of a name among baseball players and Baseballreference.com just gave me 10 players who had Benedict (or Benedicto) as part of their names.

1. Arthur Melville Benedict. He played three games for the Phillies in 1883. He was probably booed.
2. Bruce Edwin Benedict. He never played a game at Yankee Stadium as he spent his entire 12 season MLB career with the Braves.
3. Roman Benedicto Colon. Although he pitched in 32 games for the Tigers in 2005 and 2006, none of those games were at Yankee Stadium. He has pitched at Shea Stadium, but the Pope doesn't do Shea. He's afraid of the 7 train.
4. Thomas Benedict Cotter. He played in six games for Boston of the American Association in 1891.
5. George Benedict Jumonville. He played briefly in 1940 (and batted .088) and 1941 (and batted .429) and he also hit a home run in his last major league at bat. But he played all his games for the Phillies.
6. John Benedict Kelly. He played in 52 games with the Cardinals in 1908 as an outfielder. 100 years later, we don't know if he was righthanded or lefthanded.
7. Emil Benedict Kush. His career was interrupted by World War II, but he did pitch in parts of six seasons for the Cubs from 1941 through 1949. But no appearances at Yankee Stadium.
8. Samuel Benedict Perlozzo. Finally, a Benedict who has done something at Yankee Stadium! Perlozzo had two cups of coffee as a player, one with the Twins in 1977 and another with the Padres in 1979, but he never got to Yankee Stadium. But he did manage the Orioles. Perlozzo took over for the last 55 games of the 2005 season and got to see the O's lose four games at Yankee Stadium from 9/19 through 9/22. In 2006, the O's the dropped 5 of 9 games at Yankee Stadium. In 2007, Perlozzo's Orioles won 2 of 3 in Yankee Stadium, but he didn't get to make a return trip as he was fired after game 69. Overall, Perlozzo's teams were 6-10 at Yankee Stadium.
9. Biff Benedict Pocoroba. What's the deal the Braves and catchers with the name Benedict in this time period? Pocoroba played his whole big league career with the Braves. He even made the NL All-Star team in 1978. But he never got to Yankee Stadium.
10. Benedict Joseph Zientara. Benny Zientara is the only major leaguer who has the first name of Benedict. He played parts of four seasons, interrupted by World War II for the Reds. So again, no trips to Yankee Stadium.

If I were thorough, I would include players named Benito, the Spanish and Italian equivalent of Benedict. So here they are.

1. Benito James DiStefano - Benny DiStefano is probably more famous for being a left-handed catcher (three games in 1989 for the Pirates) than anything else. He was a career NL player.
2. Benito Santiago - Santiago played 20 seasons and for 10 different teams. But he only played at Yankee Stadium 16 times. He hit one home run at Yankee Stadium, a solo homer off of Dwight Gooden on September 19, 1997.

The Pope will also celebrate a Mass Thursday at the new Nationals park, where it is expected that the Pope will offer a special prayer that will give the Nats the ability to score runs.