Morgusky...my favorite Redbirds were Bob Gibson and Yadi. Talk about a couple of gut grinders. You love them as teammates but HATE them as the enemy.
Now THIS is what a UK Baseball Team Looks Like
- Thread starter BigBlueCatNation
- Start date
Gibbys my favorite pitcher ever. Total beast and alpha dog. Couldn't get him to leave the mound. His HOG speech makes people emotional. You could see how hard it was for him to give it up. Wish I could have seen those giys live.
I was too young to see the big red machine but my pops always liked those teams.
What's the breakdown of Kentucky people? 70/30 reds cardinals?
Spot on about the Reds! I love baseball and have been a huge Reds fan my whole life, I just never really cared about college baseball, but I'm into it now. Losing that series to the Giants in 2012 was unacceptable! That team won 97 games in 2012, which was the second best overall record in the majors and then blew those 3 home playoff games. They've gotten progressively worse since then and it looks like it will be another 2 or 3 years before they'll have another team that can even be remotely competitive in the NL Central.
I was a big jockety fan. He brought in Larry walker, Edmunds, rolen,
Traded for waino and carpenter.
Drafted pujols, freese etc.
He built our team over the last 15 + years. I hate our Gm right now. Him and matheny destroyed our momentum. We'll fix it
Jockety did pretty good in cincinatti I thought. Just couldn't hold on to it
Traded for waino and carpenter.
Drafted pujols, freese etc.
He built our team over the last 15 + years. I hate our Gm right now. Him and matheny destroyed our momentum. We'll fix it
Jockety did pretty good in cincinatti I thought. Just couldn't hold on to it
if u have watch espn, search Kentucky baseball, select the replay tab, and you can watch it there, I went back and watched the end again.
That is good information. And the "uniform" start date is probably an important piece of this.
It's just interesting, because we heard all these excuses for years, and then as soon as Madison left, UK goes out and wins the SEC for the first time ever (and that was before 2008).
They have been pretty good since then, as well.
IIRC, we were within a win of the CWS in 1993. We lost two games in a row to Stanford when one would have gotten us there.
IDK, I'm sure he's a good guy and is a good ambassador today. However, since the mid-2000s, when the turnaround occurred, it seems that people were willing to make excuses for Madison for decades and most people didn't care because UK baseball wasn't that big of a deal.
But sure, the in-state talent development was light and we were competing in the SEC, with powers such as Georgia, Florida, etc. I know it wasn't easy it's just interesting how the dramatic turnaround seem to have coincided with his departure.
I haven't watched any college baseball in the past, but have watched the last three games UK has played, and if it weren't a 4 hour drive to Lexington I would have been there cheering them on, I got addicted to UK basketball in 1963 and now am addicted to UK baseball, its great to be a UK fan.
Definitely congrats to the baseball team...I follow the other sports here and there...I'm happy for all of them! (softball, baseball, volleyball etc)
That whole series turned on a called ball with Gregor Blanco hitting in the third game. Head case Latos blew up after that. Things went downhill after that. Pathetic collapse.
Most people that I know from Western Kentucky are Cardinals fans. I don't know many Lexington natives that are Cardinals fans; either they are Reds or Yankees fans. Are you from WKY? I'm not from KY originally, but I am a big Reds fan (we suck). I noticed some Warriors jerseys at the UK baseball game last night, WTF?
I was born in West Tennessee and raised, dad's family is from Mayfield Kentucky. It's all cardinals my way, so thick the cardinal caravan rolls through my hometown county.
Those warriors jerseys are popping up here too. Ridiculous. Band wagoneers
Couldn't agree more. I'll admit that I have a lot of bad feelings about UL but 99% of that stems from basketball and football. All of the baseball kids on both teams seem like super kids and represent well. I want UK to win em all but I don't dislike the UL baseball players or coach. Only seems fitting as you say that they wouldn't meet up until Omaha. Whatever-- play ball.
It was a 4 hour drive for me, but we were there all weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the Monday game (had to work Monday).
Here is a video of it. We should let Sean Adler know how much we appreciate it.Shout out to the NC State pitcher that stared our dugout down when they beat us the first time.![[roll]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/roll.r191677.gif "roll [roll]")
![[laughing]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/laugh.r191677.gif "Laughing [laughing]")
To piggyback on the discussion of being a northern bb team you must also understand the scholarship situation. Baseball has only 11.3 or 11.7 rides to give. The bulk of that goes to pitchers. This makes it impossible to build a roster without state kids getting state tuition rate! Even if you split them all in half then you have to find very good players willing to pay to come and play. Some of those players are getting drafted and offered signing bonuses.
Northern players don't develop the way southern players do because you can't play in Aau tournaments in November in the north so development in fla ala, Louisiana Texas is different. IF you grew up in Louisiana you may be willing to go play of and pay 2/3 or all of your way for the opportunity but are you willing to go north and pay 2/3 based on out of state tuition us housing. They may be allowed to offer in state rates but it hasn't always been the case.
The most difficult job of a d1 coach is the allocation of scholarship money year to year. They must build a roster not knowing if their commits will sign after being drafted. To add to this the top players (pitchers) have to get full rides otherwise they take the 500,000 signing bonus and try to improve themselves in the minor leagues. Committed players may get drafted by teams willing to pay and wait Yankees Red Sox. It is a tough situation.
Imagine if Cal had to wait until after the draft to see where monk and fox went before they made their decisions. So I echo the rule changes and the turf and proliferation of indoor facility have really improved the competitive opportunity of northern schools.
Northern players don't develop the way southern players do because you can't play in Aau tournaments in November in the north so development in fla ala, Louisiana Texas is different. IF you grew up in Louisiana you may be willing to go play of and pay 2/3 or all of your way for the opportunity but are you willing to go north and pay 2/3 based on out of state tuition us housing. They may be allowed to offer in state rates but it hasn't always been the case.
The most difficult job of a d1 coach is the allocation of scholarship money year to year. They must build a roster not knowing if their commits will sign after being drafted. To add to this the top players (pitchers) have to get full rides otherwise they take the 500,000 signing bonus and try to improve themselves in the minor leagues. Committed players may get drafted by teams willing to pay and wait Yankees Red Sox. It is a tough situation.
Imagine if Cal had to wait until after the draft to see where monk and fox went before they made their decisions. So I echo the rule changes and the turf and proliferation of indoor facility have really improved the competitive opportunity of northern schools.
Excellent insights. Sounds like you've been on a coaching staff. Personally I've not coached, but my son played, so I know how things work.
Another angle: Baseball in the north gets "leftover athletes" (after Football and Basketball get their picks). That is true in the South too, but immigrants from Hispanic countries/islands ramps up the in-state recruiting pool.
I don't have much in common with my Louisville brethren usually but we can agree on this. This would have been an epic matchup in Omaha on the national stage. Its basically like UK/UofL meeting in the Sweet 16 when both teams are top 8 teams and it should have been a final 4 game or Elite 8 at worse.
Southeastern part of the state surprisingly has a lot of Braves fans. Growing up with Fox Sports South and getting all the Braves games during the Chipper Jones era will do that
I was an early supporter of UK baseball ,when Keith Madison was the coach. My involvement,included buying "baseball calendars" ,with the proceeds going to supplement Keith's "salary " of $17500/ year. He also helped in the field maintenance,and basically built the modern baseball program ,from the ground up! Also donated and did free construction work on stadium renovations. All of this,is to indicate the lack of support and the obstacles Keith had to overcome ! What he accomplished in his tenure,is why his name ought to be on the new stadium. The cruel irony is that Cliff Hagen is the one that paid Keith ,the $17500/yr,and relegated him to a basement office in Alumni Gym! How ironic that Cliffs name was put on the stadium. Hope this provides some context to UK baseball evolution.
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