The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1285691
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 ■ 41 Baseball The Best LHP Mike Caldwell; San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers (1971-84): After pitch- ing NC State to its first College World Series in 1968 as a freshman and being named the ACC Player of the Year in 1971, Caldwell advanced to Major League Baseball, where he once won two games for the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1982 World Series. In 1978, New York Yankees hurler Ron Guidry and Caldwell were the two best pitch- ers in the American League, finishing one- two, respectively, in the American League Cy Young race. Guidry was the unanimous victor in voting, but Caldwell pitched an amazing MLB-leading 23 complete games, a total that has been reached only twice since then. On opening day in 1979, Caldwell beat Guidry and the Yankees to start the season. The left-hander pitched a total of 2,408 innings and picked up 137 wins during a 14- year career. He spent his post-playing days as a roving pitching coach and was in the second class of the NC State Athletics Hall of Fame. The Rest OF/3B Dave Robertson; New York Gi- ants, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates (1912-22): After playing football, baseball and basketball at NC A&M, Robertson be- came the school's first professional athlete after his college career ended. Signed by Giants manager John McGraw while still in college, Robertson eventually played double-digit years in the majors, twice leading the National League in home runs and hitting .500 in his only World Series ap- pearance in 1917. Playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates late in 1921, Robertson hit for the cycle in a game against his old teammates. He appeared in 804 games. INF Jimmy Brown; St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates (1937-46): In 890 games, Brown had more at-bats (3,512), notched more hits (980), scored more runs (465) and had more doubles (146) than any NC State alum in the major leagues. The native of Jamesville, N.C., came to State College during the Depression to learn under coach Chick Doak and then spent nearly a decade as a switch-hitting infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, taking his turns as the starting shortstop, second baseman and third baseman. As a 27-year-old rookie in 1937 — Brown lied about his age out of college, making him- self two years younger — he notched nine triples and led the league in sacrifice hits. In 1939, Brown led the league in at-bats and finished sixth in Most Valuable Player voting. In 1942, the wily and speedy leadoff hitter joined with fellow North Carolina native Enos Slaughter and rookie Stan Musial to lead the Cards to victory against the overwhelming favorite New York Yankees to win the only World Series title of Brown's career. Then, 34 games into the 1943 season, Brown enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force. He spent his two and a half years in military service at the Memphis Army Air Field in Tennessee, where he played both baseball and basketball. He made a brief comeback after the war with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but played in just 79 games as a utility infielder. After retiring as a player, Brown criss- crossed the country as a minor league man- ager for some two decades before retiring to his farm in Bath, N.C. RHP Tim Stoddard; Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, San Di- ego Padres, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians (1975-89): Stoddard remains the only person to ever win an NCAA basketball championship and play for a World Series champion, though he was not on the active roster for Baltimore's 1983 title. The East Chicago, Ind., native did, however, pitch in the 1979 World Series, which the Orioles lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stoddard, a power forward for the Wolfpack basketball team and a power pitcher for Sam Esposito's baseball team, spent 14 years in the majors, appearing in 485 games, compiling a 41-35 record with 76 saves. He has spent most of his post-playing days as a college assistant, though he did a memo- rable turn in the movie "Rookie of the Year" in the "pitcher's got a big butt" scene, as well as the Tom Hanks movie "Big." Stoddard is now the pitching coach at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. LHP Dan Plesac; Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phila- delphia Phillies (1986-2003): During his NC State playing days, Plesac was often overshad- owed by his older brother Joe, who pitched three All-ACC seasons before being selected in the second round of the MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres. Dan, a two-sport star who also signed con- ference letters of intent to play basketball at both NC State and Purdue, was more inter- ested in hoops at Crown Point High School in Indiana, but eventually blossomed into a baseball All-American for head coach Sam Esposito and was taken with the 26th pick of the 1983 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. The left-handed hurler played longer in the major leagues — 18 seasons — than any other former NC State player, appearing in three All-Star Games, recording 158 saves and pitching in 1,064 games, which ranks seventh in MLB history. Plesac brought personality to the mound for six different franchises — one year, his Fleer baseball card featured him swinging a bat, despite the fact that he recorded just one hit in 15 plate appearances in his near-two decades in the majors. He was not only a success on the field, he has become a popular television figure as one of the permanent hosts of the MLB Network's "MLB Tonight" program, which airs nightly throughout the baseball season. SS Trea Turner, Washington Nationals (2016-present) Like Brown, Turner was a starting infielder on a World Series champion. Unlike Brown, Turner is as much as an offensive force as a defensive stalwart for his team, as the first half of the 2020 season has proven (as of Sept. 2, he leads the majors in hits and batting average). He is really just scratching the surface of his abilities at the highest level of professional base- ball, with a couple of seasons of productivity curtailed by injuries. There is no doubt, however, that Turner will likely one day top the list of the greatest former Wolfpack players in the majors. He already owns the record for the most stolen bases ever by a former NC State player (162) and may one day soon become the first player in MLB history to hit for the cycle more than two times. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP