"for what they could have been on those teams?"
Seriously????? How about for what they WERE on those teams? Very hard to compare apples to apples but these accolades that Raffy and Will had while playing here, for Leach would be equivalent of National Coach of the Year, Western Div Coach of the Year, Western Div champion, going to the playoffs while here, setting records for wins here. Outside of being a great interview, humorist, and a really nice genuine down to earth guy, he was a .500 coach here and that's it.
These states below have nothing to do w/ "what they could have been", its what they did.
Clark @ MSU:
-Golden Spikes College Baseball Player of the Year 1985
-All American, First team, The Sporting News (’84, ‘85)
-All SEC, All SEC Western Division (’84, ‘85)
-Member of 1984 US Olympic Baseball team
-SEC Tournament Championship (’85)
-College World Series (’85)
-Led SEC in HRs (25), RBIs (77), Hits (94), & Runs scored (75) (’85)
-Inducted into National College Baseball Hall of Fame
-Member of MS Sports Hall of Fame
Ralf @ MS:
-Set Mississippi State and SEC career record for home runs (67), RBIs (239) and total bases (530).
-First triple-crown winner in SEC history with a .415 average, 29 HR and 94 RBIs (1984).
-SEC All-Tournament team (1983).
-NCAA Regional All-Tournament team (1984, 1985)
-Member of MS Sports Hall of Fame
-Inducted into College Baseball Hall of Fame
Together they led MSU to its highest end-of-the-season ranking in school history at that point (No. 3 in 1985).
Easy fella... you put something in quotes, but that's not what I said, at least not in the context I meant. To be clear, I meant what those
teams could have been. We all talk about how great that 1985 team was (and it was) and how it should have won the CWS (and it should have) and how it could have if "X" happened differently (Gene Morgan getting hurt, pitching Brantley on limited rest vs Miami, etc.).
The 1985 team, for all intents and purposes, is looked back on with pride, yes, but also with a great deal of regret and what 'could have been'. This board was founded with a '1985 Theory' that highlights "what could have been":
The 1985 Theory - If Mississippi State had won the 1985 College World Series, we would have won at least 4 more since
Now.... you are correct that those are great stats and great feats, but when you look at Will Clark's page on the MS Sports Hall of Fame website:
William Clark
msfame.com
The profile picture is him in a Baltimore Orioles jersey (which I think is perhaps the oddest choice) and there are 6 bullet points on his time at Mississippi State sandwiched between his high school career numbers, Olympic career, and a mountain of MLB numbers.
Hence, he's remembered as much or more for what he did
outside of Mississippi State. Even your post above includes a bullet point on the 1984 Olympic team, which has about zero to do with Mississippi State and could actually be seen as a detriment if he was splitting time training/playing with both teams.
Raf is a little different, while his profile picture is as a Texas Ranger, his bio is more college-focused:
Rafael Palmeiro
msfame.com
I would still argue that if Raf (or Will) went on to have sputtered in the minors or had an extremely average MLB career or failed to do anything outside of Mississippi State, he wouldn't have statues of them at Dudy Noble.
