Yeong-Ho Benitez

Yeong-Ho Benitez
Art by cain @sigmaufo
Basic Information
Team	Philly Pies
Former Team(s)	Houston Spies
Status	Incinerated
Batting
Pitching
Defense
Running
Modifications	SiphonSiphons will steal blood more often in Blooddrain and use it in more ways.
Dates Active	July 20–Oct 12, 2020
External Links	Blaseball-Reference Player Changes Player Page
Personal Information
Item	None
Armor	None
Evolution	Base
Pregame Ritual	Blacking out
Coffee Style	Americano
Blood Type	Love
Fate	14
Soulscream	XHEOAXHEOAXUAAEIUAAEIUEUAAEEUAAEEXHAAAXHAAAXEUAAAEUAAAEHEIXIHEIXIH

Yeong-Ho Benitez, also known to fans and teammates as Shutterbug, was a lineup player for the Philly Pies and was with the team since Season 4, Day 37. Benitez previously played for the Houston Spies. Benitez was incinerated on Season 10, Day 13.

Official League Records

Benitez joined the league as a member of the Houston Spies at the beginning of Season 1.

During the Season 9 election, Benitez received the Siphon modification due to the passing of the Forecast: Blooddrain decree.

Benitez was incinerated on Season 10, Day 13 and replaced by Yusef Puddles.

History

COMMUNITY REPORTS
The remainder of this article contains lore created collaboratively by the Blaseball community.

Art Career

After getting their start at the Philadelphia Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Benitez developed into a world-renowned photographer. Their work has been featured in exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Center, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. Their work is known for its dark themes featuring motifs of hidden messages, though these have yet to be deciphered.

Houston Blaseball Career

Benitez surprised the art world by joining the Houston Spies, invoking a long-forgotten rule stipulating a player may be replaced on the squad by anyone who can best them in single combat. Spies management didn't allow the bout to go ahead, as Benitez had challenged Alexandria Rosales and would have been destroyed, but they signed Benitez on the spot in recognition of their gumption, chutzpah and moxie. Since that time, Benitez has been instrumental in developing the Spies' classic strategy of dragging the game into overtime so that everyone gets nervous and their opponents are more likely to make mistakes. Benitez claims they are actually better at batting against balls covered in palm sweat because it's the 12th inning and everything's on the line.

Conspiracy Theories

Benitez is the target of a number of conspiracy theories from a group that calls themselves "Yeongers." These theories center around the accusation of Benitez being involved with espionage, including taking the compromising photograph of Philly Pies General Manager Sam Hinkie and the state of Delaware which instigated the Delaware Affair, but Benitez asserts they've never even been to Delaware. These theories were only furthered by Benitez later joining the Pies. Some Yeongers believe that he was given a spot by blackmailing Hinkie with other photographs.

A different branch of theories surrounds the Season 4, Day 37 swap with Morrow Wilson. Taking off from the idea that Wilson was a deep-cover agent within the Pies, some theorists assert that Benitez was themself a Pies plant within the Spies organization. Supporters of this theory point to Benitez's pugnacious approach to joining the Spies, and a suspicious tendency to request "Wooder Ice" as a treat. Under this theory, the transfer of players was less a Feedback-induced swap, and more an exchange of blown-cover intelligence assets in order to secure some kind of detente within the Evil League. Sam Hinkie and Spies leadership have both denied all of the above.

Philly Blaseball Career

Benitez has received a warm welcome in Philly, quickly earning the nickname "Shutterbug" from his teammates and fans, who cheer his accomplishments by yelling, "Snap snap!" It has been noted that Benitez's recent photography work has centered around the cities of future Pies opponents.

The Walk-Off Shadow Strobe (Season 9, Day 70)

In the bottom of the 9th inning of a game against the Charleston Shoe Thieves, a Repeating Benitez used their Shadow Strobe Yes Jutsu to win the game before a peanut-weakened Kennedy Cena could come to the plate. Fans reported hearing Benitez whisper, "Forgive me, Hinkie, I must go all out — just this once..." as he emerged from the dugout. Amid a series of strobe flashes, multiple copies of Benitez then reached base safely, taking photos of each other vogueing in celebration. The third copy grounded into a fielder's choice of Shame, scoring the lead Benitez from third base. The Shoe Thieves tried to appeal to the umps, but Benitez yelled "Believe it!" and slammed the photographic evidence down on home plate.

Incineration and ARG

On Day 13 of Season 10, Eduardo Woodman was playing in the outfield when a hysterical Benitez ran up to them. "I found it Ed, it all makes sense!" Woodman recalled Benitez saying. "We're gonna crush 'em in half! The five bases are the key! It’s the key!" Benitez pressed a canister of undeveloped film into Woodman's hand and ran towards the dugout. Before Benitez could make it to cover, they were incinerated by a rogue umpire.

The roll of film turned out to be the first clue in an elaborate alternate reality game (ARG) that Benitez created in case of their death. At first glance the photos in the roll appeared to just be pictures of the Pies players training. However, when the photos' timestamps were lined up, converted to hexadecimal, run through a Caesar cipher, and read backwards, they revealed the clue "S2E173812" and a message from Benitez claiming that game-changing information awaited in their darkroom, the location of which can only be uncovered by solving their clues.

"S2E173812" lead the Pies players to check Episode 17 of season 2 of My Roomie Ruslan ("A Rosy Ruslan Christmas"). 38 minutes and 12 seconds into the episode, Benitez can be heard coughing. By slowing down and phase-shifting the cough audio, the team could make out the phrase: "Mark it down that I like a dozen daisies under the arch."

After three nights of brainstorming and several cases of Sir Veza beers, Bright Zimmerman realized that the clue was pointing them to Reading Terminal Market, located at 12^th and Arch Street. By counting the number of petals on each daisy in the market, running those numbers through a Ukranian algebraic formula, translating from Greek, and subtracting five, the players got the clue "the-yay ungus-fay ides-hay the-yay anary-cay."

Currently, the Pies are stuck on this clue. During weekends they often gather together to swap ideas about what it could mean. Despite this, Pies GM Sam Hinkie is confident that the team will eventually solve the puzzle. "It will all make sense in time," he said. "Yeong-ho always came through when we needed them."

Music

Yeong-Ho Benitez Walk Up Music (as of Season 4 on the Pies)

Gallery

• 

  by Sernik

• 
• 

  How the Gamelog Render Shadow Strobe Yes Jutsu

• 

  by @Robonorm