Nothing at Kansas University is more traditional than walking down Campanile Hill during graduation ceremonies.
“It’s special, it’s magical,” said Ryan Baty who last week was named KU’s senior scholar-athlete of the year.
As special and magical as the walk down the hill is, however, Baty won’t be doing it.
While the thousands of grads traipse into Memorial Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Baty will be wearing his KU baseball uniform for the last time.
The Wichita Northwest High product will be playing first base when the Jayhawks end the season against Kansas State at Tointon Stadium in Manhattan.
“Coach (Ritch) Price gave me the option,” Baty said. “He told me I could go to graduation, but baseball is also important to me, and my priority and allegiance is with the team.”
Life is all about choices, and Baty chose.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” he said, “but you can’t have the best of both worlds.”
Baty’s baseball world has been impressive. He is five hits away from tying Darryl Monroe’s school career record of 274 hits. He already owns KU’s career doubles record. He leads the Big 12 Conference in hits with 90 and in doubles with 23.
Owner of a team-leading .359 batting average, he’ll take a 17-game hitting streak into the season-ending series against the Wildcats.
Since missing the entire 2001 season with a shoulder injury, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Baty has started 174 consecutive games. He isn’t a defensive liability, either. In 121 games at first base during the last two seasons, he has made only three errors.
“It’s been a pleasure to be associated with him,” Price said. “He’ll finish in the top 10 in almost every KU offensive category.”
As a fifth-year senior, the 23-year-old Baty is free to sign with any major-league baseball organization of his choosing, and that’s what he plans to do.
Immediately after Sunday’s game in Manhattan, while the multitude of graduates are celebrating in Lawrence, Baty will sign a free-agent pact with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
“Several teams have shown interest in me, and Tampa Bay just seemed like the best situation for me,” Baty said.
Tampa Bay will no doubt assign him to one of its lower-level minor-league franchises.
“It’s exciting,” he said, “because I don’t know where I’m going to be in two weeks.”
Eventually, though, Baty knows exactly where he’ll be.
“Whenever baseball is over, I’m going to law school,” he said. “So I guess I will have a chance to walk down the hill someday.”