The Greatest College Baseball Schools

For all the complaints about the one-and-done epidemic in college hoops, the none-and done nature of baseball seems almost barely worth mentioning.  In 2009, the Wall Street Journal found that there were only 26 college graduates among the 780 players and managers in Major League Baseball, good for a whooping 3.3%of the league.  It’s practically the rule that ballplayers expect to get drafted out of high school, heading straight to minor league rosters at the ripe age of eighteen.  Then there’s the roughly quarters-worth that are discovered as youngsters on the ball fields of the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, and a host of other predominately low-income nations for whom higher education is often simply out of reach.  (The percentage of foreign-born minor leaguers is closer to half)  And this is nothing new; neither Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken Jr, or Greg Maddux ever so much as glimpsed the inside of a college classroom.  For what we think of as such a cerebral sport, the shear absence of academia is hard to comprehend.

College baseball will never achieve the notoriety of its counterparts in large part because there are just so few stars to be found.  Still, there are those few scholars among the masses for whom higher education was a reality, fewer still who have made it to Omaha.  He is a look at the ten most successful college baseball programs and the talent they bequeathed to the Bigs.

1)  USC
12 World Series titles and 21 appearances
Illustrious alumni: Tom Seaver, Randy Johnson, Fred Lynn, Mark McGwire, Barry Zito, Mark Prior, Ian Kennedy, Jeff Cirillo
2)  Texas
6 World Series titles and 35 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Roger Clemens, Drew Stubbs, Huston Street, Burt Hooten, Greg Swindell, Shane Reynolds
3)  LSU
6 World Series titles and 18 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Albert Belle, Brad Hawpe, Ben McDonald, Brian Wilson, Aaron Hill
4)  Arizona St
5 World Series titles and 22 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Dustin Pedroia, Andre Ethier, Sal Bando, Rick Monday, Jason Kipnis, Mike Leake
5)  Miami
4 World Series titles and 25 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Ryan Braun, Greg Vaughn, Pat Burrell, Charles Johnson, Aubrey Huff, Chris Perez
6)  Cal St Fullerton
4 World Series titles and 18 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Tim Wallach, Aaron Rowand, Mark Kotsay, Phil Nevin, Kurt Suzuki, Ricky Romero
7)  Arizona
4 World Series titles and 17 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Kenny Lofton, Trevor Hoffman, Scott Erickson, JT Snow, Ron Hassey
8)  Minnesota
3 World Series titles and 5 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Terry Steinbach, Denny Neagle, Dan Wilson
9)  Stanford
2 World Series titles and 16 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Mike Mussina, Jack McDowell, Bob Boone, Rick Helling, Jeremy Guthrie, Carlos Quentin, Jed Lowrie, Drew Storen, Sam Fuld
10)  South Carolina
2 World Series titles and 11 appearances
Illustrious alumni:
Brian Roberts, Mookie Wilson, Roberto Hernandez, Gene Richards, Dave Hollins

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