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Monday, January 5, 2009
Baylor baseball’s field of dreams
BASEBALL TEAM
The history of baseball at Baylor University is long and rather illustrious. The Bears’ first season on the diamond came way back in 1902, making it the school’s second-oldest varsity sport behind football, which kicked off three years earlier.
So when you’re talking about more than a century of history and tradition, that’s a heck of a lot of players to wear the “B” on their caps. Suffice it to say it wasn’t easy to pare all of the terrific players BU has produced to one out-of-the-cornfield team of legends, but I don’t mind the challenge.
Here’s a look at Baylor’s all-time diamond dandies:
Catcher: Kelly Shoppach (1999-2001): A consensus All-American and the Johnny Bench Award winner as the nation’s best backstop as a senior, Shoppach hit .333 with 26 home runs and 121 RBIs for his career. Now he’s in the bigs with the Cleveland Indians, and shone in 2008 when perennial all-star Victor Martinez got hurt.
First baseman: Charley Carter (1998): Can a guy who played just one season in Waco be considered one of the all-time greats? Sure, if he put together one of the greatest all-time seasons. That’s what Carter, a Texas transfer, did in ‘98, hitting .402 with a school-record 47 extra-base hits, 21 home runs and 86 RBIs.
Second baseman: Eric Nelson (1996-99): A first-team All-Big 12 honoree as a senior, Nelson hit .346 for his career — fourth-best among all Bears — and could really pick it in the field.
Shortstop: Steve Macko (1976-77): At .370, Macko’s career batting average is the best in Baylor history. A gritty gamer, he earned first-team All-America recognition in 1977 while hitting .417 and guiding the Bears to their first-ever College World Series. A fifth-round draft pick of the Cubs that year, Macko played in 25 major-league games before dying of cancer in November 1981.
Third baseman: Fritz Connally (1977-80): Connally was Baylor’s all-time home run leader, with 38, when he graduated, though he’s now fifth on that list. A four-time All-Southwest Conference star, Connally was the top slugger on the Bears’ back-to-back CWS teams in 1977 and ‘78.
Outfielder: David Murphy (2001-03): A three-year starter in right field, Murphy was one of the program’s most gifted athletes ever. After two solid seasons in 2001 and ‘02, Murphy exploded as a junior, hitting .413 (sixth-best all-time) with 11 home runs, 67 RBIs and a school-record 121 hits. Naturally, he was named an All-American, and now he’s one of the Texas Rangers’ most promising young players.
Outfielder: Mickey Sullivan (1952-54): The guy could do more than coach. Boy, could he hit, too. Baylor’s first two-time All-American, Sullivan hit a blistering .519 in 1954, a school record and the highest single-season average in the history of the Southwest Conference.
Outfielder: Jon Topolski (1996-99): Nicknamed “Topper,” it’s a fitting moniker for Topolski, given that he tops BU’s career home run chart with 50 longballs. A third-team All-American in 1999, Topolski also ranks second in extra-base hits (116) and third in RBIs (194). In ‘98, Topolski led the nation with 11 triples, becoming the first BU player to top the NCAA leaders in a statistical category.
Designated hitter: Marty Crawford (1993-96): This all-time squad has to have a DH. We’re not making our pitchers hit. Though technically a second baseman at Baylor, Crawford is a perfect choice for DH, considering his .368 career average, second-best all-time at BU. My colleague John Werner, the Trib’s longtime BU baseball beat writer, called Crawford the best contact hitter he ever saw come through Waco.
Utility player: Larry Isbell (1950-52): Isbell isn’t just one of Baylor’s best baseball players — he’s one of the school’s best athletes. The program’s first All-American in 1952, Isbell hit .431 that year, then a school record and a mark that still ranks second to Sullivan’s .519 average. The baseball program started handing out the Larry Isbell MVP award in 1977 in a tribute to the former great. A phenomenal football player, Isbell also earned All-America honors on the gridiron in 1951.
Pitcher: Ted Lyons (1920-23): A two-time All-SWC great, Lyons is the only Baylor player — heck, he’s the only Southwest Conference player — to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Lyons won 260 games for the Chicago White Sox, and baseball historian Bill James once ranked Lyons one of the 50 best pitchers of all-time. Fittingly, BU’s top pitcher award is named for Lyons.
Pitcher: Jason Jennings (1997-99): Like Lyons, Jennings is a no-doubter on this team. The first consensus National Player of the Year in Division I history, Jennings put together a ridiculous year that season in ‘99, going 13-2 with nine complete games and a 2.58 ERA on the mound while hitting .386 with 17 home runs and 68 RBIs. Jennings is easily one of the best pitchers AND hitters in school history, ranking in the top 10 in home runs, RBIs, extra-base hits, total bases, slugging percentage, plus wins, saves, shutouts and strikeouts. He joined Sullivan as the only other Bear to tally All-America honors twice.
Pitcher: Burl Coker (1975-78): Coker is tied (with Steven White) atop BU’s all-time wins list at 28, and was the ace of a pair of College World Series clubs. Coker’s 1.64 ERA in ‘78 is BU’s best in the aluminum-bat era.
Pitcher: Kip Wells (1996-98): It should be noted that Wells’ first two seasons at Baylor weren’t spectacular. But his final year was a humdinger, as he went 13-4 for a Baylor team that won 41 games and finished second in the Big 12. Wells was recognized as an All-American before being selected with the 16th overall pick of the Major League Draft by the Chicago White Sox.
Pitcher: Ryan LaMotta (2003-06): Figured we needed a good guy out of the pen to close out this squad. LaMotta is second all-time at Baylor with 14 relief wins, plus he added another seven Ws as a starter. He earned a well-deserved reputation as a big-game pitcher.
Coach: Steve Smith (1995-present): In a bang-bang play over Mickey Sullivan, this was obviously a tough call. No doubt Sullivan achieved some great things in his 21 years as BU skipper, winning five SWC Coach of the Year awards and leading the Bears to a pair of College World Series. But Smith has been no less impressive as he enters his 15th year. He has a .608 winning percentage (to Sullivan’s .603) and has guided the Bears to a pair of Big 12 championships and a return trip to the CWS in 2005. Smith’s 1999 team won a school-record 50 games, including a mind-blowing stretch of 31 wins in 33 games from mid-February to early April.
- Introducing the all-time Baylor football team
- Baylor soccer's all-time squad
- The Best of Quarter-Miler U
- Nothing but aces for Baylor golf
- Baylor baseball's field of dreams
- Catching up to BU's swiftest cross country runners
- Introducing BU's all-time volleyball all-stars
- BU's all-time tennis teams
- These Bears could ball
- Baylor softball's all-time lineup
- BU women's hoops dream team
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