It’s not often we talk about college baseball here at The Ghost of Moonlight Graham , but I thought we would today. Yesterday, the NCAA announced its College World Series legends team.
The 25 players and three coaches were selected from a list of 95 nominees picked by the NCAA, the Omaha World-Herald and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Members of the team who can attend will be honored at the CWS this year, in the final season of Rosenblatt Stadium.
Here is the list of the players that were selected.
• Dustin Ackley, North Carolina, 1b, 2007-09
• Will Clark, Mississippi State, 1b, 1985
• Bob Horner, Arizona State, 2b, 1976-78
• Todd Walker, Louisiana State, 2b, 1993-94
• Darwin Barney, Oregon State, ss, 2005-07
• Nomar Garciaparra, Georgia Tech, ss, 1994
• Spike Owen, Texas, ss, 1981-82
• Sal Bando, Arizona State, 3b, 1964-65
• Pat Burrell, Miami (Fla.), 3b, 1996-98
• Robin Ventura, Oklahoma State, 3b, 1986-87
• Barry Bonds, Arizona State, of, 1983-84
• J.D. Drew, Florida State, of, 1995
• Terry Francona, Arizona, of, 1979-80
• Mark Kotsay, Cal State Fullerton, of, 1994-95
• Fred Lynn, Southern California, of, 1971-73
• Dave Winfield, Minnesota, of, 1973
• Steve Arlin, Ohio State, rhp, 1965-66
• Eddie Bane, Arizona State, lhp, 1972-73
• Burt Hooton, Texas, rhp, 1969-70
• Huston Street, Texas, rhp, 2002-04
• Jason Windsor, Cal State Fullerton, rhp, 2004
• Ryan Garko, Stanford, c, 2001-03
• Landon Powell, South Carolina, c, 2002-04
• Pete Incaviglia, Oklahoma State, dh, 1983-85
• Brooks Kieschnick, Texas, dh-rhp, 1992-93
For me, the best college baseball player I saw play (1990 – current) was Todd Walker. When Walker was at LSU he was a hitting machine. I really thought he was going to be the next great hitting second baseman.
Walker went on to have a solid major league career, but never came close to the hitter I thought he would be. I thought he would be Chase Utley good.
The other player that stands out to me on this list is Brooks Kieschnick. Kieschnick was another player that was a man amongst boys in college, but never enjoyed any success at the major league level.
Kieschnick was kind of a “tweener.” He was a really good hitter and a really good pitcher, but never did anything great that would translate to the Major League game.
Kieschnick ended up playing parts of six seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, and Milwaukee Brewers. After trying his hand as a hitter early on in his career, Kieschnick converted to a full-time pitcher and enjoyed his most success with the Brewers in 2004 when he posted a 3.77 ERA in 43 innings.
Congratulations to all these players and their accomplishments at the college level. The 2010 College World Series starts June 19th.
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