BOL Round Table

Vaz was great, but what about Dave Magadan? He hit over .500 one year at Bama.

BG

I still can't believe he stepped on that baseball...His pitching would have helped tremendously...

thank you TR...are they still putting out players the caliber of Deshea and Rudd...those were 2 exceptional College athletes...

or have they slipped since the 90s...?

1998-1999, are last round of BP we used to call the intimidator. Try to hit as many out as you could and hope the apposing starting pitcher was watching

South Panola sent Nick Brassell to Ole Miss in 2011. He'll be one of the top sophomores in the country in 2012.

TR

Yeah, bats don't sound anything like they used to.

TR

Yep, I bet going from the college season with those bats to the summer wood bat leagues damaged some egos back in the mid-90s. Especially going to the opposite field.

TR

KW could play, should have stayed four years IMO, could have worked on his skills some more, How about a James "Hollywood" Robinson update?

Great, great little piece, TR! I still have a great deal of mixed emotions regarding the 1997 baseball team. That was at the pinnacle of my UA baseball fever. I had season tickets for a number of years before enrolling at UA and rode down with my dad for at least 1 or 2 games a week. I loved that team and adored Joe Caruso after he was my counselor at a camp after my freshman year in high school.

My mixed emotions are not due to any love lost for that particular team. In fact, that team remains one of my favorite teams of all time, up there with the 2004 Red Sox, 1992 & 2009 Bama football squads and the 2005 Bama basketball team and the 2001 NE Patriots. But, the way that season ended hurt. Vaz's injury probably hurt me almost as much as it did him. And, the loss to LSU in Omaha broke a part of my heart that has still not been mended.

I was at the game in '97 when we beat LSU 28-2 at the Joe. The Tide put on a hitting clinic unlike anything I have ever seen not on a slow pitch softball field. Eight of the starting nine had home runs. The ninth, it was either G.W. Keller or Andy Phillips, went 5-6 with 4 extra base hits. It will always be one of the most memorable games of my lifetime.

And, I remember watching the CWS Championship game. Joe Caruso, my favorite Bama baseball player of all time, was breaking records. We looked great throughout the tournament. Even Vaz's injury was not going to hurt us. I was 14 and, in my mind, there was no way we lose the championship game to an LSU team we had pummeled 28-2.

But, we lost. It broke my heart. I walked out of Baumhower's Wing's in Homewood almost ready to cry and that is not something I have ever done over a sporting event. I still love Bama baseball and remain a fan. But, it has never been able to reach ehe level it was before that game. I've tried. But, I think a little piece of my fan-dom died when we lost that day.

If I remember correctly, we beat LSU 12-2 in the finals of the SEC tournament that year as well.