Wildcats have proud baseball heritage; it's time to display it
The outfield fence at Hi Corbett Field has seven tastefully displayed advertisements and the names and numbers of three Arizona players who died too young — Kelsey Osburn, Lee Franklin and “Button” Salmon.
The school displays the name and number of just one of its many star-level players, Terry Francona, No. 32, who has the left-field wall to himself.
It seems so minimalistic, especially when the growing McKale Center Ring of Honor includes Stanley Johnson, who was in Tucson for a few months and averaged just 13.8 points per game.
By comparison, the “Wall of Honor” at ASU’s Municipal Stadium celebrates the Sun Devils’ remarkable baseball history with the names and numbers of 17 players, from Reggie Jackson and Sal Bando to Dustin Pedroia and Barry Bonds.
Arizona needs to do more to magnify its baseball tradition, one that ranks with any in college baseball.
ASU’s requirements are tough; one must have been a conference player of the year, a first-team All-American, belong to the school’s Hall of Fame, or, beyond that, a MLB standout. It also retired the jersey numbers of coaches Jim Brock and Bobby Winkles, and put them on display.
It’s not too much. It is done tastefully.
Arizona should re-think its process and re-do the outfield walls with, at minimum, the names and numbers of future MLB Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman, and conference players of the year Chip Hale, Scott Erickson, Alan Zinter, Trevor Crowe and Alex Mejia.
But that’s not all. First-team All-Americans such as Eddie Leon, Dave Stegman, Carl Thomas, Shelley Duncan, Donnie Lee and distinguished major-leaguers Ron Hassey and Hank Leiber, the latter a former New York Giants All-Star, are conspicuously under-celebrated at Hi Corbett Field.
A visitor to Hi Corbett Field might notice a subtle “Baseball Legends Wall of Fame” plaque on the concourse behind home plate. It’s nice but far too understated.
Some baseball stadiums are cluttered with too much nostalgia and signage. Not Hi Corbett Field; it is notably underdressed.
