From the Archives: 2000 — Just Rebels
Before Everyone Knew Their Names: Jon Rogers, Cedric Benson and One Remarkable Baseball Spring
There is something different about looking at an old photograph when you already know what happened afterward. In the spring of 2000, Jon Rogers and Cedric Benson were simply two Lee Rebels trying to win baseball games.
Rogers was the senior quarterback who had helped lead Lee to back-to-back state football championships. Benson was the junior running back whose name was already beginning to travel far beyond Midland. Football was where most people knew them. But for a few months that spring, they traded shoulder pads for bats and gloves, walked onto the field at Ernie Johnson and reminded everyone that neither one of them belonged in just one sport.
And there were afternoons when the two of them together were almost unfair.
For Rogers, Baseball Wasn't a Side Story
Jon Rogers entered his senior baseball season with something to prove. A year earlier, he had expected to contribute as both a pitcher and infielder, but he ran into some obstacles that prevented him from playing. By the time he returned as a senior, his football résumé had become enormous.
Two state championships.
Quarterback of one of the most successful football teams in Texas.
None of that, however, guaranteed him anything on a baseball field.
Rogers understood that.
“I felt like I had a lot more to prove.”
He quickly did.
Alongside Collin Gilliam, Rogers gave Lee what the Reporter-Telegram described as a 1-2 pitching punch. During district play, Rogers was 4-2 with a 2.75 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 35⅔ innings. Then there was his bat. At one point he was hitting .452 in district play.
He wasn't a football player filling a spot until spring ended. He was one of Lee's best baseball players. Coach Jesse Benavidez thought the mentality carried from one sport to the other.
“He’s a competitor. That comes from the football program as well.”
And standing beside him in the outfield was another pretty good football player.
Cedric Was Still a Junior
It is easy now to attach everything that came later to the name Cedric Benson but in 2000, that story hadn't been written yet. He was still a junior. He was already one of the most highly regarded running backs in the country, but on Lee's baseball team he was an outfielder trying to find his swing.
Early in the season, Benson admitted things hadn't come as easily at the plate as he wanted. Then they started to click and against Abilene High, everything clicked at once.
Four Home Runs, Two Rebels
On April 15, Lee beat Abilene High 11-6.
Rogers hit two home runs. Benson hit two home runs. Two apiece. Four between them.
It was the kind of box score that, decades later, almost makes you stop and read it again. Benson's day included much more than simply clearing a fence. After doubling home two runs, he later ripped a ball into the right-center-field gap. His speed took over. What began as a hit into the gap ended with Benson racing all the way around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. By then, the football comparison was impossible to ignore.
The Reporter-Telegram put it directly in the headline:
“Football stars play big for Lee baseball.”
But what makes the old articles fun to read now is that Benson wasn't talking like a future college superstar or NFL running back. He sounded like a high school baseball player who was relieved to finally feel comfortable.
“I struggled a bit to hit at the beginning of the season, but now things are falling into place.”
For one afternoon, the two players who had terrorized football defenses all fall were doing essentially the same thing to baseball pitchers and it wouldn't be the last time they affected Lee's season.
One Could Beat You With His Arm. The Other Could Change a Game With One Swing.
Rogers' role became particularly unusual. When he wasn't pitching, he could play right field. When Lee needed his bat, it stayed in the lineup and when Lee needed somebody to make a play in a playoff game, Rogers seemed to find a way to do that, too.
During the regional-quarterfinal series against Lubbock High, Lee was once again fighting to keep its season alive. In the deciding Game 3, Rogers made a diving catch to end the third inning, a play described at the time as potentially game-saving. The Rebels still needed somebody to break a 3-3 tie.
This time it was Benson.
He came to the plate in the seventh inning and got a hanging curveball.
“I kind of felt that when I went up to bat that something great would come.”
He was right. Benson drove it out for a game-winning home run, sending Lee into the regional semifinals. Two football stars. One saved a run with his glove. The other supplied the winning run with his bat and suddenly Lee was one series away from the Region I final.
Rogers Had Another Decision Waiting
There was another layer to Rogers' senior season that nobody watching from the stands could see completely. His future wasn't settled. Football was an option, so was baseball. Asked during the season which one he considered his primary sport, Rogers didn't really have an answer.
He loved both and baseball was about to make its case.
After Lee's season ended, the Atlanta Braves selected Rogers in the 13th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft out of Robert E. Lee High School. He signed and entered professional baseball, ultimately pitching two seasons in the Braves' minor-league system. One year later, another name from that Lee lineup appeared in the MLB draft.
Cedric Benson.
The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Benson in the 12th round of the 2001 draft as an outfielder from Lee. He would play briefly in the Dodgers' minor-league system before football ultimately became the sport the world would know him for. Two players sharing the same Lee baseball lineup in 2000. One would be drafted by the Braves that summer. The other would be drafted by the Dodgers the following year. Baseball wasn't even the sport that had originally made either of them famous around Midland.
Before We Knew What Came Next
That's what makes this particular page of Lee baseball history worth remembering.
We know the endings now. We know Jon Rogers' senior spring led directly into professional baseball. We know Cedric Benson's path eventually led through the University of Texas and into a football career that made his name recognizable across the country. The devoted Rebel families and fans sitting at Ernie Johnson Field in the spring of 2000 couldn't see all of that yet.
They simply saw two teenagers wearing Lee across their chests.
One could take the mound and shut down an opponent.
One could turn a hit to the gap into an inside-the-park home run.
Either could put a baseball over the fence and in one unforgettable game, both of them did it twice.
For a brief stretch of spring in West Texas, before drafts and colleges and professional careers decided where their paths would lead, Jon Rogers and Cedric Benson were just teammates trying to keep the Rebels playing one more game.
Looking back now, that's what makes the story even better.
Because before everyone knew their names—
they were just Rebels.
If you are around Midland on Saturday, September 26th, 2026 - Cedric’s statue dedication will be at 1 PM at Astound Broadband Stadium. Of course, it's a football statue but that doesn't take away what he gave to Rebel Baseball. There are a lot of people who have put in a lot of time to make this happen! Hope you can make it! I know Jon will be there. I will post the flyer below along with pictures.
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If you are interested in helping Lee Baseball for the upcoming 2027 Season, we are always accepting donations, selling outfield sign sponsorships and looking for Community Partners to help!
-Andrea
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