PERFECT GAME CROSSCHECKER'S TOP TEN LIST
WEEK 27: 7/14/08 - 7/20/08
 
HARGROVE HEADLINES SUMMER SKIPPERS
Friday July 18, 2008
The unexpected appearance of former major league player and manager Mike Hargrove in the uniform of the Jayhawk League’s Liberal Bee Jays this summer has shed some additional national spotlight on some of the country’s top summer college league programs.

Hargrove, who played 12 years in the big leagues from 1974-85 and managed for 16 more before abruptly resigning as skipper of the Seattle Mariners at mid-season a year ago, signed on to manage the Bee Jays, four-time National Baseball Congress World Series champions. Hargrove played for the Bee Jays in the summer of 1972 when he was a college player at nearby Northwestern Oklahoma State, and has maintained a long association with the team.

“I’m enjoying this, I’m having fun,” Hargrove said earlier this summer. “I would like to manage again in the big leagues someday. But I’m not unhappy here by any stretch of the imagination. No matter what level you play on, it’s still a great game.”

Traditionally, summer college league coaches come from almost all walks of life in the baseball world with the notable exception of Division I head coaches as the NCAA does not allow D-I head coaches to coach in summer league competition as it once did.

Summer league coaches typically range from Division III and NAIA head coaches, to junior college head coaches, to college assistants, to high school coaches, to ex-coaches, to former players—even former big leaguers.

Hargrove is the most celebrated ex-big leaguer managing on the summer league level this year, but he is not the only one. At least 10 former big league players are serving as head coaches of clubs in the nation’s recognized summer college leagues. More than 20 such leagues exist.

Here’s the 10 former big leaguers managing this summer at the summer college league level, ranked by the number of big league seasons they played:
Rank Manager Team League Big League Seasons
1 Jim Gantner Wisconsin Woodchucks Northwoods 17 (1976-92)
2 Frank Viola Leesburg Lightning Florida Collegiate 15 (1982-96)
3 Mike Hargrove Liberal Bee Jays Jayhawk 12 (1974-85)
  Kevin Seitzer Mac ‘N Seitz A’s MINK 12 (1986-97)
5 Roy Howell San Luis Obispo Rattlers California Collegiate 11 (1974-84)
6 Rich DeLucia Kutztown Rockies Atlantic Collegiate 10 (1990-99)
7 Chris Bando Braves Arizona Collegiate 9 (1981-89)
8 Todd Benzinger Cincinnati Steam Great Lakes 9 (1987-95)
9 Phil Stephenson Dodge City A’s Jayhawk 4 (1989-92)
10 Ricky Jones Athens Pirates Great South 1 (1988)
--ALLAN SIMPSON Top Ten List Archives
RECORD NUMBER OF NO. 1 PICKS
Tuesday July 15, 2008
With the selection of Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton to their first All-Star Game teams, the 2008 event marks the first time that five No. 1 overall draft picks have appeared in the same All-Star Game.

Gonzalez was the top selection in the 2000 draft, Hamilton the No. 1 pick in 1999. They join Braves third baseman Chipper Jones (1990), Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (1993) and Twins catcher Joe Mauer (2001) as No. 1 overall picks in the game. Had Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell (1998) been voted into the game via online fan voting, that would have made six No. 1 overall picks.

Only twice before, in 1998 and 2000 when Darin Erstad (1995), Ken Griffey Jr. (1987), Jones and Rodriguez all appeared in the same games, had as many as four No. 1 overall picks played in the same game.

A total of 18 former No. 1 overall picks have played in the All-Star Game, including 13 appearances by Griffey and 12 by Rodriguez.

This year’s total is in stark contrast to 1965-83, when no former first overall picks played in the All-Star Game 15 different times. Rick Monday, the No. 1 overall pick in 1965, played in the 1968 All-Star Game but no other No. 1 overall pick made an All-Star Game appearance again until 1974. No first overall selection since Mauer in 2001 has done so since.

Including this year’s game, here’s the most All-Star Game appearances made by the draft’s No. 1 overall picks:
Rank Player Position Drafted by (Year) ASG Appearances
1 Ken Griffey Jr. OF Mariners (1987) 13
2 *Alex Rodriguez SS Mariners (1993) 12
3 Darryl Strawberry OF Mets (1980) 8
4 Harold Baines OF White Sox (1977) 6
  *Chipper Jones 3B Braves (1990) 6
6 Rick Monday OF Athletics (1965) 2
  Jeff Burroughs OF Senators (1969) 2
  Shawon Dunston SS Cubs (1982) 2
  Darrin Erstad OF Angels (1995) 2
  *Joe Mauer C Twins (2001) 2
* Scheduled to appear in 2008 All-Star Game
--ALLAN SIMPSON Top Ten List Archives