Woodling: KU has few ties to MLB

By Chuck Woodling     Jun 19, 2005

Everybody loves sports trivia, and I’m no exception, particularly when it comes to baseball or Kansas University men’s basketball.

How about a trivia question involving both?

Name the lone current major league baseball player who has suited up and played basketball in Allen Fieldhouse.

I’ll let you think for a second or two. Tick, tick, tick, tick. OK, time’s up. Do you give up? It’s a toughie.

The answer is Chris Young, a 6-foot-10 right-handed pitcher for the Texas Rangers. When, you ask, did he play in Allen Fieldhouse? The date was Dec. 22, 1999, and Young, a sophomore at the time, was the starting center for Princeton University.

Kansas won handily that night (82-67), but Young impressed with a team-high 20 points and six rebounds. That also was the last season Young played college basketball. The Pittsburgh Pirates picked him in the third round of the 2000 baseball draft and he signed, wiping out his college eligibility because Ivy League rules dictate that once you turn pro in one sport you’re considered a pro in every sport.

Anyway, Young was traded to Montreal in 2002, then peddled to his hometown Rangers — he’s from Dallas — in 2004. If you follow baseball closely, you know Young has sparkled with a 6-3 record and a 2.78 earned-run average.

I’m not sure how many other current professional baseball players once played against the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse, but I do know there’s at least one more. Ryan Minor, the former two-sport standout at Oklahoma who once was touted as the successor to Cal Ripken in Baltimore, is on the roster of an independent-league team in Lancaster, Pa.

And now, some trivial information about former KU baseball players toiling in the minor leagues:

Les Walrond, the last former KU baseball player to put on a big-league uniform, is with the Florida Marlins’ AAA farm club in Albuquerque, N.M. A left-handed pitcher, Walrond logged eight innings with the Royals in 2003.

Prior to Walrond, the last Jayhawk to appear in the big leagues was Jeff Berblinger, who had a demitasse with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997. Berblinger, the second baseman on KU’s 1993 College World Series team, only had five at-bats with St. Louis.

Coincidentally, the former Jayhawk closest to the major leagues right now also is an infielder who belongs to the Cardinals. John Nelson, who last played for KU in 2001, is the starting shortstop for the Cards’ AAA farm team in Memphis, Tenn.

If St. Louis shortstop David Eckstein were to suffer an injury, the Cards could send a call for Nelson who, at last check, was hitting .282 with nine home runs, and only four errors in 58 games.

However, the 26-year-old Nelson’s difficulty making contact in college has stayed with him in the pros. He’s KU’s career leader in strikeouts and currently ranks among the Pacific Coast League leaders in Ks.

Another former KU infielder now in the minor leagues has had whiff woes, too. Third baseman Travis Metcalf, KU’s career home run leader, has fanned 66 times in 63 games with the Texas Rangers’ Class A team in Bakersfield, Calif. At last check, Metcalf with batting .268.

The only other former KU position player in the minors right now — or until the short-season leagues open next week — is Brent Del Chiaro, who is hitting .173 as the backup catcher for the Angels’ AA club in Little Rock, Ark. Del Chiaro was drafted in the 41st round by the Angels in 2001, the same year the Cardinals made Nelson their eighth-round selection.

Oh, and if you’re wondering about Kevin Hooper, the former Lawrence High and Wichita State standout, he’s with the Detroit Tigers’ AAA farm in Toledo, Ohio. Hooper has played in about two-thirds of the Mud Hens’ games, mostly in the infield, but he also has logged outfield duty for the first time in his career.

Woodling: Jayhawks have history with signees in draft

By Chuck Woodling     Jun 8, 2005

History does repeat, and sometimes in a way that leaves you with an uncanny feeling of dejà vu.

When Kansas University basketball signee C.J. Henry was selected in Tuesday’s baseball draft, the moment was eerily reminiscent of exactly 20 years ago when KU football signee Brian McRae also was a first-round baseball draftee.

The franchises are different but — and here’s the odd coincidence — each was the 17th player tapped. McRae went to the Royals and Henry was snatched by the Yankees.

The selection of Henry was no surprise. Just about every mock baseball draft had the son of former KU basketball players Carl Henry and Barbara Adkins going to the Yankees with the 17th pick, and few expected he ever would enroll for KU’s fall classes.

That wasn’t the case with McRae. In 1985, most baseball gurus didn’t even list McRae as a Top 50 draft prospect. Yet the Royals management wasn’t about to let the 17-year-old son of 39-year-old designated hitter Hal McRae get away.

Although he never admitted it in public, KU football coach Mike Gottfried was stunned by McRae’s lofty pick. With McRae expected to be a fifth- or sixth-round baseball draft choice, Gottfried felt justified in offering a precious scholarship to the 6-foot, 170-pound wide receiver/defensive back out of Blue Springs (Mo.) High.

McRae had reinforced Gottfried’s faith by saying just before he signed a KU tender that he wouldn’t even consider the baseball draft. “I’m going to college,” McRae stressed. “I’m real happy with my decision. I won’t change my mind.”

Meanwhile, Kansas baseball coach Marty Pattin also was smiling because of Gottfried’s intent to excuse McRae from spring practice so he could play for Pattin’s team. But four days after the ’85 draft, McRae signed a professional baseball contract that guaranteed him a six-figure bonus.

“That’s great,” said KU baseball coach Marty Pattin, ironically a former Royals pitcher. “It’s not great for me, but there’s not much I can do.”

In theory, young McRae still was eligible to play football in college, but the only pro baseball players who wind up with collegiate football careers are the ones who wash out in the minor leagues.

McRae did not wash out in the minors, but he was spending his sixth summer in the bushes when the Royals recalled him from Double A ball in early August of 1990. McRae went on to have a 10-year major league career, finally retiring in 1999 with a .261 lifetime batting average while playing for the Royals, Cubs, Mets and a couple of other clubs.

In 1991, when I sat down with him for an interview, McRae admitted he often mused how fate had intervened and changed his life.

“If I hadn’t gone in the first round, I would have gone to KU,” he told me at the time. “Sometimes I’ve wondered what it would have been like if I’d come to Lawrence.”

We’ll never know, of course. If McRae had opted for college football, he very well could have developed into an NFL-quality defensive back. Then again, he might have become a pro wide receiver, although his size may have been a red flag at that position.

Regardless, even though he spent six years in the minors, the odds of him lasting 10 years in the major leagues were much higher than surviving a decade in the NFL. And, according to estimates, McRae made at least $20 million during his major-league career.

Today, McRae is listed as a part owner of WHB radio 810 in Kansas City. He works for MLB.com Radio and also does stints with Kansas City’s Metro Sports cable outlet.

Without much doubt, McRae made the right decision about his future. We can only guess, however, about Henry.

At 6-3 and 205 pounds, Henry seems more suited to baseball than basketball because if you’re that size and hope to play in the NBA, you had better possess extraordinary skills. In pro basketball, 6-3 guards are a dime a dozen.

So, at this stage of Henry’s life, it seems likely that, barring injury, he will, like McRae, make a lot of money swinging a bat.

Woodling: Zero tolerance could be Giddens’ onus

By Chuck Woodling     Jun 6, 2005

Will we ever see J.R. Giddens in a Kansas University men’s basketball uniform again?

The longer the flap over Giddens’ participation in the May 19 parking-lot brawl at the Moon Bar goes on – resolution won’t come anytime soon – the less the chance Giddens will return for his junior year on Mount Oread.

At least, that’s the feeling I had after reading between the lines of the comments KU coach Bill Self made about Giddens to assistant sports editor Gary Bedore that appeared in Sunday’s Journal-World.

Self stressed he would make the decision on whether the 6-foot-5 guard from Oklahoma City would be permitted to wear a uniform next season. Then, if Self gives the OK, it would be up to Giddens, the KU coach added, “to decide if he can live by what criteria we will have for him.”

Even though Lawrence Police have not filed a report on the incident and won’t, they say, for weeks, I suspect Self already has made up his mind.

First, I can see no compelling reason to kick Giddens off the team or to suspend him for a year. It’s not like Giddens has been involved in a string of police-related incidents, like the ones that led to the eventual banishment of KU running back John Randle by coach Mark Mangino.

Second, I think it’s safe to say Self’s invitation to return will be filled with behavioral clauses, almost certainly including one that prohibits Giddens from entering any establishment where alcohol is served, even after he turns 21 in February.

Surely, that’s what Self was thinking when he mentioned Giddens would have to decide if he could live with the criteria of reinstatement. Face it: Making watering holes off-limits is a stringent restriction on any collegian who considers night life an integral part of the rite of passage.

Still, by making bars and other late-night establishments off-limits to Giddens, Self would be doing his embattled player a favor. The May 19 incident and the ensuing publicity have placed a bull’s-eye squarely on Giddens’ back.

If Giddens is permitted to go into a bar or nightclub, he would become the potential target of a any punk or low-life who could pick a fight with him and later brag he was the one who ended Giddens’ college career. Sure, Giddens could turn the other cheek, but temptation is best resisted by abstention.

If Giddens sets foot on the Kansas University campus again, he must be willing to live with a zero-tolerance edict. He must understand a no-bar rule is for his own good.

Something else Giddens would have to face next season is the inevitable derision from unsympathetic fans when the Jayhawks play on the road. Over the last two years, he has had to listen to chants of “Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart” time and again – a reference to his link to the theft of goods from one of the ubiquitous merchandiser’s outlets in his native Oklahoma City.

If Giddens does suit up next season, he inevitably will hear chants of “Moon Bar, Moon Bar” when the Jayhawks play at Kansas State and Missouri – and probably elsewhere, too.

Would it be better in the long run if Giddens did not return to KU?

Perhaps. Giddens came to Kansas to play basketball, not to study nuclear physics. Like so many other KU student-athletes, his major is communications, and he can make a heck of a lot more money playing pro basketball than he can with a communications degree.

You’ve seen Giddens play enough times to know he is a gifted leaper with a flair for dramatic dunks. You know, too, that he’s a good – but not great – three-point shooter. At the same time, you’ve probably noticed he has difficulty creating a shot off the dribble and, on defense, does not possess quick-enough feet to be classified as a quality defender.

NBA scouts tell us they like Giddens because he’s athletic, but at the current stage of his development he’s not a first-round draft choice, meaning he would be guaranteed nothing if he opted to turn pro.

Nevertheless, if Giddens decides it’s time to play for pay, he shouldn’t have much trouble securing a contract to play somewhere overseas. Life wouldn’t be as opulent as in the NBA, but foreign clubs pay with real money.

Meanwhile, only one winner has emerged from this sad situation. The Moon Bar. It’s now a Lawrence landmark.

Woodling: Locale, fame factors in coverage away from arenas

By Chuck Woodling     Jun 1, 2005

Those of us who buy ink by the barrel are prone to label stories of monumental importance as either the Second Coming or World War III. Or both.

Basically, these blockbuster news stories are read word-for-word by everyone, usually because the words recount a horrifying disaster or because they involve something unusual about someone famous.

J.R. Giddens is famous. He is a starter on Kansas University’s men’s basketball team, and around here, you can’t acquire fame any faster.

When every game you play is on live television, you are an instant celebrity. Everything you do occurs inside a fishbowl. You walk into a grocery store and people will whisper, “Look, it’s J.R. Giddens.” Later, people will tell their friends, “Guess who I saw at the store yesterday? J.R. Giddens.”

A decade from now, when people talk about J.R. Giddens, the Pavlovian reaction will be the stabbing incident. Even if he becomes an All-American, a first-round NBA Draft choice or even the governor of Oklahoma, Giddens forever will be tied to the Moon Bar melee.

At least around these parts. After all, it did happen here.

Now let’s talk about former KU basketball All-American Paul Pierce. What’s your first reaction to Pierce?

Let’s see : Left after his junior year for the NBA. Slipped to the 10th selection in the NBA Draft. Became an all-star. Plays for the Celtics. Uh, came to KU from the Los Angeles area. That’s about it.

What about the time Pierce was knifed? Oh, yeah, forgot about that. But that didn’t happen here. It happened in Boston.

Exactly. The geography factor at work. What happens here remains indelibly here. What happens there soon is forgotten.

By the way, to refresh your memory, the Pierce stabbing makes Gidden’s leg wound look like a paper cut.

On Sept. 25, 2000, Pierce was attacked inside a Boston nightclub. He was stabbed eight times in addition to being clubbed in the head with a bottle of champagne and pummeled by a dozen patrons who jumped into the mix.

Doctors saved the former Jayhawk’s life when he suffered severe stab wounds to his face, neck and back, including one that damaged his lung and abdomen. Two and a half years later, Pierce showed his gratitude by pledging $2.5 million to help expand the hospital’s surgery center.

Imagine the media circus if Pierce had been stabbed in Lawrence or Topeka or Kansas City while he still was at Kansas University. As it was, we read about the Pierce incident in Boston with fascination, but not with the same focus we would have if he had been assaulted in a nearby watering hole.

In a similar vein, would you be surprised if I told you a Kansas University football player was shot outside a Lawrence bar 15 years ago?

Over the years, you’ve read stories about June Henley shoplifting, Mario Kinsey and Reggie Duncan stealing a purse and John Randle brawling, but the KU football player who was shot wasn’t a skill player, and so that story quietly has faded away.

The player’s name was Khristopher Booth. He was a red-shirt freshman offensive lineman and he was shot in the chest by a Fort Riley solider wielding a small-caliber handgun during an argument outside the now defunct Pizzaz nightclub at 901 Miss.

Remarkably, Booth suffered only minor injuries, and that’s another reason the incident didn’t generate more publicity. When it comes to injuries, publicity is generated in direct proportion to the seriousness.

Also relegating the incident to obscurity was the fact Booth never became a player with name recognition. In fact, coach Glen Mason kicked him off the team prior to the 1992 Aloha Bowl. Booth later transferred to Central State in Ohio and disappeared from the Kansas consciousness.

Yet, Booth and Giddens are, in my memory, the only KU athletes who ever have been wounded in bar incidents while they still were enrolled. Neither was hurt seriously – thank goodness – but it’s a case study in fame. One became a Second Coming and the other barely a second thought.

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