As the Major Leagues begin another season, I am reminded how big a sport baseball has become again at Vanderbilt. That's much like it was when our Centennial class was on campus.
As Tim Corbin has done with his Commodores since he came to Nashville in 2003 (going to the NCAA Tournament almost every year and winning the SEC Regular Season and Tournament Championships last year), so Larry "Smokey" Schmittou (he's in the center of the photo above) did for the Black and Gold starting in the late 1960s.
While we were in school, Coach Schmittou built a program that set new records each year for most wins (33, 35,36 and 37 from 1971-1974) and won back to back SEC championships in 1973 and 1974 (our first baseball championships in school history).
Under Schmittou's guidance the team won the SEC Eastern Division three years in a row from 1972-1974 (yes, even before the league expanded and went to divisions in almost all sports in the early 1990s). Vandy then won back to back league crowns by sweeping Western Division champs Alabama in the SEC playoffs two years in a row (no 8-team, double elimination post season tournament in those days).
I had the great fortune to broadcast the championship series my senior year and was at the mic when the final batter struck out and we won the pennant. It rates as one of my fondest memories while I was at Vanderbilt and the deciding pitch was thrown by a member of our Class, John McLean, who was one of several great hurlers on that squad (including fireballer Doug Wessel and All-American Jeff Peeples).
My other great Vanderbilt baseball memory comes from a mid-season weekday game during the 1973 championship season against the University of Tennessee. Early on, our guys got cuffed around pretty good and fell way behind. But then came a furious ninth inning rally which climaxed with the bases loaded, the Commodores behind three runs, and centerfielder Tommy Powell (another Class of '73 member) up to the plate.
Tommy crushed a pitch from the UT relief hurler over the fence (I actually belive it wound up on top of the swimming pool in Memorial Gym), plating four runs and giving Vandy a very sweet 9-8 victory!
I think I still remind Tommy about that home run almost every time I see him....and he never seems to get tired of it :) Tommy is on the left in the picture above. The other player (with the catcher's glove on the right in photo) is catcher Greg "Radar" Collins, who led the 1973 team in homers with nine.
So what are your memories of Vanderbilt baseball? Remember sitting down the right field or left field lines and heckling the opposing players (especially whatever poor persons were playing first base or left or rightfield)? How about just enjoying the warm sunshine and maybe some smuggled-in "refreshments" while watching the game? Please leave your thoughts below.
For those of you not in Nashville, you'll be happy to know Vanderbilt still plays baseball in the same part of campus, right next to the football stadium, where they were 35-plus years ago. But now it is a wonderful little stadium, called Hawkins Field, where you can actually find a nice chair-back seat down the first or third base lines, and the left field wall looks a like the Green Monster in Fenway Park in Boston (hey, our coach is from New England and he loves the Sox). Be sure and check it out when you come to Reunion October 24-25.
3 comments:
thanks for the vanderbilt baseball notes..we( mark bode..class of 1973 ) got the baseball tradition started..in 1971 i guess with the first SEC eastern division win...jeff peeples was the leader but actually before him was elliot jones ( his son warner was a recent all american at vandy, elliot was 9-5 in 1969 as an all SEC pitcher and pitched in the PITT organ ) and mike willis ( pitched in the big leagues for 5 yrs ) , and steve estep ( all SEC ) and bill winchester ( all SEC )and jerry reasonover ( all SEC ) and jimmy conn( all SEC and played in the dodgers organ) and my favorite catcher, chuck boyett,those guys were great and laid the foundation for SEC championships...then for the class of 1973 the future all american :jeff peeples lead the way followed by his buddy john mclean ( all SEC both he and jeff pitched professionally )we borrowed duane donohue from football and he lead the team in HRs one yr, TOMMY POWELL walked on and " only " became the captain his senior yr and hit MANY big HRs actually...not JUST the biggest one of all..the winning walk--off slam against TENN at home ( for background...peeples had been shutting them out then suddenly gave up 4 straight homeruns to TENN..the week before he had beaten the # 2 team in the nation in CA...USC with the all american OFer..FRED LYNN...i came in leading the nation in ERA ( zero ) after peeples after having beaten the # 1 team in the nation the week before ( arizona st , with THEIR all american , bump wills )out in CA..and gave up 2 MORE HRs to TENN...we were shell--shocked...we had been leading 3--0..their starting pitcher got so excited he juumped up and hit his head on the dugout ceiling...and knocked himself OUT...so they had to go with another guy ...THAT guy loaded em up the next inning and...ole tommy powell took him on top of the swimming pool roof....i believe we won 9--8....it was our year...after i signed to pitch at vandy ( class of 1973 ) schmittou came back to chattanooga and signed 2 of the greatest players ever at vandy...ted shipley and rick duncan ( class of 75..both almost made it to the big leagues ) doug wessel ( 73 ) set an NCAA record for SKs in one game as a freshman ( 23 ) and almost made it to the big leagues later, robert hendrickson was the other captain in 73 ( class of 73 ) and was the very best defensive 2B man in the nation in 1973..and a bunch of the other guys were like class of 73--74 kinda guys who came back for another yr and won the SEC all over again..( steve burger,wayne palmore,etc) greg collins ( 74 ) left after 73 to play pro ball...he was the best catcher in the nation that yr..back then alot of pitchers played " both ways "...mclean and peeples were great hitters as well...mclean led the SEC in HRs one yr...we may have had a shoe--string budget and the worse field in the nation to play on back then ( 1970--1974 ) BUT we had as good of players as have EVER played at vandy, we had the VERY BEST student fans in the SEC ( some classic stories about " fan envolvment " LOL especially against TENN who we all "hated " )we had way more fun than any group of athletes is supose to have, and..we beat EVERYBODY and i mean EVERYBODY in the nation back then..almost our entire team ( except my buddies ed white, tommy powell and me ) played pro ball...something UNHEARD-OF back then..and we truely set the pace for vanderbilts winnings sport : baseball ( with the help of the great jess neely , coach larry schmittou , and our great great student fans back then )......mark bode ( class of 73 ) ( PS : we all miss jeff peeples very much , jeff sadly died a few yrs ago..if ANYBODY was to live forever...it would have been HIM )
here are a few more funny 1970-1974 baseball stories..basketball had signed 2 " street--tough " players from NYC...i think 1971 was their freshman yr..one was billy " around the world " smith ( cause he hade been around the world i think ) and the other i think was ben skipper...any way they were both shooters and they decided to tie bells ( cant make this stuff up ) onto their shoe laces of their sneeks during games so every time they went up for a jumper...ring ring ring....well i guess after a few " 2 for 16 " games and the vandy coaches decided the musical jumpshots were not such a good idea but the SEC beat them to it and passed an emergency " you cant tie bells to your shoelaces during NCAA games " rule in the middle of the season....well i guess one or both decided it would no longer be fun to play basketball at vandy and one or both left school....but i guess " the school " didnt get the message cause......at least one of the rooms was left empty...so a few weeks later all of the athletes on my floor in tower # 1 get a knock on our doors and are told to go over to ( tower # 2 ? i forget ) because there is a " movie " being made...LIVE...( in ,i believe, billy around the worlds old room ) and the " seats " are going fast....so we go over there and there must have been 40 guys in the hall sitting down watching or listening to what was going on in billys old room....to put it mildly...there was a festive athmosphere...at least half of the athletes in the hall way went up to the ahhh " movie set " and applied for a job to be in the " movie "...every time the " lady " actress came out of the room for a " breather " she recieved a standing ovation from her fans OPPS from the audience....it went on for a couple of hours if i can remember right...it was hilarious...you get that many athletes needing to blow off steam in that kind of environment and you are gonna laugh your ace off...and back then that was all a " no no "...quadroupleing the spice and humor...mark bode "73
another funny baseball story...it was the spring of 1970 and schmittou was shooting for a top 20 kinda yr....tons and tons of wins...they had a winning season the yr before ( mostly on the arms of elliot jones and big mike willis ) and schmittou had now brought in doug wessel ( the top college freshman pitcher in the country without a doubt ) , jeff peeples ( he didnt really hit his big stride till the next yr )willis was better than ever..john mclean came in...alex thompson, there was suddenly a TON of pitching ( yell i didnt see the mound till 1/2 way through the season )and jeff love was ready to lead the world in hitting, estep , winchester, jimmy conn ( soon to sign with the dodgers ) tommy powell came aboard...duane donahue, etc etc....any way we play KY on a sat right before we head to florida for our spring trip...at home....its miserable...20 degrees, raining, it got dark really early in nashville in early march back then...well we beat KY and have a really good record...maybe 8--2 something like that..maybe 10--2...but coach schmittou had scheduled ANOTHER game before we got on the bus...either against KENYON or CALVIN college ( neither powerhouses OK )what you call " schedule padders "...the game was to start about 3:30 at our field which has no lights..........meaning you pray you can win 1-0 in a very fast game before its called for darkness...but alass the best laid plans of mice and men....something like that....runs are scored by both teams with ease...and its raining harder and harder and...its getting REAL dark.......somebody hit a high popup around the plate..way way out of sight...and it comes down and.....dissapears ...dissapears in THE MUD !! it sank out of sight !!...i think we are down by 1 ..something like that ( remember football practiced in right field when we didnt have a game so there were LIGHT POLES in right field with the lights pointing....kinda straight down...like church league softball lights...and there were maybe......12 lightbulbs....not 12 light poles LOL....and its dark...REAL dark but coach schmittou wont let it go....he WANTS this win...the umpires are like : come ON coach....this is rediculous...its pouring down rain....cold as can be ( not KY cold but cold )the field is a swamp...and you cant see the 3rd baseman....so coach schmittou has the FOOTBALL lights turned on...and the lights on the side of the football stadium ( nobody had ever even seen those lights before...they must have been used by football for practice back before the french and indian war )..he has everybody turn on their car lights, office lights within a mile of the field...cigerette lighters, we start a bonfire in the dugout in this big oil drum ...and the lighting improves about........3%....this is NCAA baseball !!...LOL...anyway i think the umpires let him get away with that circus for an inning or so then they called the game ..i am 99% sure we lost........it was pitch dark..and raining cats and dogs...and coach schmittou was trying every trick in the book to squeeze another inning....then another....etc...one of the stories of which vandy baseball is built on.....and look where they have taken it now....what an incredable ride and what great history....mark bode '73
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