Larry Beinfest

Larry Beinfest was the President, Baseball Operations of the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball franchise in the National League East. until he was relieved of his duties on September 27, 2013.

Beinfest was born on March 3, 1964 in Encino, California and raised in Chatsworth, California. Playing baseball at Chatsworth High School, Beinfest made the varsity as a sophomore, the only one on rookie Coach Bob Lofrano's squad. By the end of the season, Beinfest was Lofrano's starting shortstop. The next year, as captain, Beinfest led Chatsworth to its first league title since 1972, its first of nine in a row. Beinfest batted .364, was exceptional in the field, an All-Los Angeles selection as a shortstop, and shared West Valley League MVP honors in 1982 with two-time MLB Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen.

The turning point of Beinfest's athletic career came in the seventh inning of the 1981 City Section quarterfinals at West Los Angeles College, when a Grant High baserunner roll-blocked Beinfest's leg, breaking it in two places. Beinfest writhed in pain as rescue crews delayed in reaching him, argued with one another, and eventually took him to the wrong hospital. After nine days in the hospital and three months of lugging a bulky full-leg cast around, Beinfest ended up with a permanently shorter left leg.

Before his injury, Beinfest had numerous recruiting letters from baseball powers like Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State. After his injury, interest waned, even as Beinfest came back strong in 1982, batting .349, leading Chatsworth to another league title and another trip to the City semifinals, and sharing the league MVP award with Saberhagen. Beinfest accepted the only Division I scholarship offered to him, a free ride to Nevada-Reno. He tore up the Northern California Baseball Association his freshman year, batting .375 and earning rookie of the year and all-conference honors. But in 1984, shuttling between shortstop and third base, his average dropped, and he relinquished his dreams of playing professional baseball.

After his sophomore season, he transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he failed to make the baseball team. Beinfest graduated from Berkeley in 1986 with a degree in international business and finance. He spent a year working for an area radio station selling air time and then set off for Syracuse University where he would earn a Master's degree in Public Communications, envisioning a career in sports broadcasting. Those plans changed a few months after graduation when the Seattle Mariners offered him a job in their front office.

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