ESPN: Top 25 big leaguers who had an impact on CWS (Winfield #1, Molitor #22)

BleedGopher

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per ESPN:

#1 Dave Winfield

To ask a longtime attendee of the College World Series about seeing Winfield at Rosenblatt Stadium is to elicit descriptions that sound like the crowd witnessed Superman outrun a locomotive or Thor drop his hammer.

"Well, first of all, he just looked gigantic," recalled Fred Lynn, the Southern Cal outfielder who faced Winfield's Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 1973 College World Series. "He was 6-6 and the ballpark felt small anyway, so when he was pitching it made the ball look like it was coming in at 200 mph."

Wait, did he say pitching? Why yes, yes he did. The man who would eventually collect 3,110 hits and 465 homers in the big leagues made his first impression as a bat-breaking college pitcher. During Winfield's All-American 1973 season he batted .385 and posted a 9-1 win-loss record with 109 strikeouts in 82 innings.

He opened up the '73 CWS by whiffing 14 batters in a 1-0 victory over Oklahoma. In the Gophers' second win he hit a homer against Georgia Southern that Omaha legend claims landed among the animals in the Henry Doorly Zoo next door. In all, he hit .363 in four games.

It was in that fourth game that Winfield's CWS legend was solidified. On the mound for the semifinals against three-time defending Series champ USC, Winfield struck out 15 through eight innings, allowing just one infield hit, and built a 7-0 lead. In the ninth, a would-be double-play victim was ruled safe at first. Winfield, visibly exhausted, surrendered a couple of more hits and was sent to left field. His relievers surrendered a pair of runs, so Winfield called timeout and asked to be put back on the mound. But knowing his ace was too tired, head coach Dick Seibert declined. Minnesota ended up losing 8-7 and was eliminated. Still, Winfield was voted CWS Most Outstanding Player.

"Even after all these years, I still remember everything about that USC game," Winfield said in 2010. "Everything. And I always will."

Fortunately for Winfield, the people of Omaha haven't forgotten anything about that game, or his entire 1973 performance. Nearly 30 years later, they elected him to the CWS Legends team. In 2006 he was voted a member of the first College Baseball Hall of Fame class.

#22 Paul Molitor

The University of Minnesota has written plenty of College World Series history. The Golden Gophers have won three CWS titles. Jerry Kindall was the last player to hit for the cycle in Omaha, playing for Minnesota's 1956 championship team. In 1973, Dave Winfield might have very well been the best player to ever set foot on the field at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.

But it was a smooth-stroking shortstop on the Gophers' 1977 and last Omaha team that longtime attendees of the College World Series still love to talk about.

"Even then, you watched Paul Molitor's swing and it was just a thing of beauty," legendary College World Series scorekeeper Lou Spry recalled in 2008. "You know how the coaches from other colleges always sit in the grandstand behind home plate? When Molitor took batting practice they were all pressed against the fence. When he swung they just would clap and shake their heads."

Molitor, who would eventually return home to Minnesota and earn his 3,000th career hit with the Twins, was a two-time All-American for the Golden Gophers. During the '77 run to Omaha, he cranked out a .325 batting average, ending his college career at .350 and leaving campus with then-school records in hits (150), runs (112), homers (18), RBIs (99), stolen bases (52), total bases (254) and triples (11). He added another 3,319 hits in the big leagues.

So, yes, Mr. Spry, a thing of beauty that swing truly was.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/10963632/?src=mobile#13

Go Gophers!!
 




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