Current World Series players once played at Simmons Field

Another great reason to follow College Baseball

Simmons Field is a great place to catch future Major League stars. Sometimes they're on the other team . . . and sometimes they show their future star potential at the cost of the Tigers.

Phillies slugger Ryan Howard played for the Southwest Missouri State Bears, and demonstrated his home run hitting potential against the Tigers more than once.

· May 2, 2001 @ Simmons Field: In a 12-11 win for the Tigers, Ryan Howard opened the game with a three-run homer off Ryan Stegall in the first inning.
· May 9, 2001 @ Springfield: MU's Shaun Marcum (soon thereafter to transfer to SMS) surrenders a solo home run to Ryan Howard in a 5-3 tiger loss

The Phillies' Gregg Dobbs, a former Sooner, faced the Tigers several times:

· April 9, 2001 @ Simmons Field: The Tigers lost their third straight game 9-6 to OU on this day, aided by Dobbs, who belted 3 homers in three days. In Game 2 of the series, Dobbs went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles and a homer. The weekend had started badly in the first inning of the Friday night game, as "sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning as leadoff batter Jerome Godsey reached on a throwing error by Propst and came around to score on an RBI single by Sergio Garcia. Sooner left fielder Gregg Dobbs then turned on an Endicott mistake and lifted a towering shot over the wall in right and the next three OU hitters followed with singles to put the Tigers in a hole they couldn’t dig out of."
During that same weekend, Dobbs' teammate, Jason Bartlett (now with the Tampa Bay Rays), contributed to the Sooners' Saturday win with a wind-blown grand slam.

The Rays' J. P. Howell faced Mizzou when he was a Longhorn pitcher.

· May 3rd, 2004 @ Simmons Field : After the Tigers took the first two games of a weekend series from the #1 ranked Longhorns (starting with a defeat over local product Sam Lecure on Friday), they were hoping for a sweep. But the Texas offense racked up 16 runs, which was 15 more than UT starter Howell needed, since he held the Tigers scoreless.
I remember thinking the Tigers had a good shot at a win, since J. P. Howell was reportedly injured. But, "All-American left-hander J.P. Howell, whose start was pushed back two days because of a severe cut on his foot, gave up just one hit in four innings."

The lesson learned: Even when the Tigers lose, you never know what future MLB star you'll see when you come out to the ballpark.


Former college baseball players in the 2008 World Series

Phillies

Joe Blanton, Kentucky
Clay Condrey, McNeese State
J.A. Happ, Northwestern,
Brad Lidge, Notre Dame
Jamie Moyer, St. Joseph's (PA)
Eric Bruntlett, Stanford
Gregg Dobbs, Oklahoma
Ryan Howard, Southwest Missouri State
Chase Utley, UCLA
Pat Burrell, Miami
Geoff Jenkins, Southern California

Tampa Bay

Chad Bradford, Southern Mississippi
Matt Garza, Fresno State
J.P. Howell, Texas
David Price, Vanderbilt
Andy Sonnanstine, Kent State
Dan Wheeler, Central Arizona
Jason Bartlett, Oklahoma
Evan Longoria, Cal State Long Beach
Carlos Pena, Northeastern
Gabe Gross, Auburn
Fernando Perez, Columbia
Ben Zobrist, Dallas Baptist