ROSENBLATT STADIUMOMAhA’S DIAMOND ON ThE hILL

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Dave Winfield was one of the finest athletes ever to appear at the College World Series. He played basketball and baseball at Minnesota. He was drafted in basketball by the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA and the Utah Stars of the old ABA, and he was selected in the baseball draft by the San Diego Padres. Even though he never played a down of college football, the Minnesota Vikings picked him in the 17th round of the NFL draft.

The nCaa’s executive director from 1951 through 1988. His desire to see the CWs grow led to the expansion of Rosenblatt stadium and increased television coverage.

Walter Byers

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1973: The mighty Winfielddave Winfield arguably is the greatest athlete ever to play at Rosenblatt stadium.

He was drafted by four teams in three professional sports. He put together a baseball career that landed him in both the college and professional halls of fame.

He left the game with but one regret.“i’ve never seen myself pitch,’’ he said in a telephone interview. “back then, there

was no television or tapes of the game. it’s like when someone asks me, ‘How hard did you throw?’ no one used radar guys then, so i really don’t know. a lot of people don’t even remember that i pitched.’’

They do if they attended the 1973 College World series. The 6-foot-6 Winfield pitched minnesota to a 1-0 win over oklahoma in its opening game, limiting the sooners to six singles and striking out 14.

Winfield played left field in the Gophers’ next two games, a 3-0 loss to arizona state and a 6-2 win over Georgia southern. He was back on the mound to face south-ern California, and for eight innings, he turned in one of the most dominating perfor-mances in CWs history.

He struck out 15. The only usC hit was an infield single. Winfield took a 7-0 lead into the ninth.

“He was throwing 105 mph bbs,’’ said usC’s Rich dauer.unfortunately, Winfield had some trouble controlling those bbs, walking nine usC

hitters. That caught up with him in the ninth, and he moved to left field after giving up three singles that, along with an error, cut minnesota’s lead to 7-3.

Three more singles off a minnesota reliever made it 7-5 and had minnesota assistant George Thomas scrambling out to left field. Thomas, filling in after head coach dick siebert was ejected, asked Winfield if he could give the Gophers a few more pitches.

“i had pitched on short rest,’’ Winfield said, “and there was just no way i could continue.’’

usC wound up scoring three more runs to pull off one of the greatest comebacks in CWs history. Winfield headed off to a professional career, never to pitch again.

“i maybe wanted to mop up once just to say i pitched in a big league game,’’ he said. “i wanted to get out there and get my picture taken. but i didn’t want to get hurt.’’

Minnesota’s Dave Winfield was a two-way star for the Gophers in the 1973 College World Series. He hit .467 with a home run and two RBIs while playing left field in two of the Gophers’ four games in Omaha. In two starts as a pitcher, he allowed just 10 hits and struck out 29 batters in 17⅓ innings.

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mike Rebhan enjoyed his finest baseball hour at the College World series.

Rebhan helped pitch Georgia to the 1990 national title, beating top-seeded stanford and college baseball’s best pitcher, mike mussina, twice in bracket play. in doing so, Rebhan earned the outstanding player award and added his name to the list of unlikely heroes at Rosenblatt stadium.

“as i reflect back, i can safely say what happened in Omaha was the pinnacle of my baseball career,’’ Rebhan said. “it’s a moment that i’ll never forget.’’

The senior right-hander had pitched well prior to Georgia’s arrival at the CWs, winning 11 games. He tacked on two more victories in Omaha, holding stanford to five hits in a second-round 16-2 rout of the Cardinal. in the bracket championship game, Rebhan limited stanford to six hits in a 5-1 win that put Georgia into the championship game.

“Of the two games, the second win probably meant the most to me,’’ Rebhan said in a 2000 interview. “after the first one, i heard how it was a fluke and how i couldn’t do it again. so to come out and pitch the way i did in the second game, and to win it, was huge.’’

Rebhan didn’t pitch in the title game, which Georgia won 2-1 over Okla-homa state.

a 32nd-round pick by boston out of junior college, Rebhan had turned down $12,000 to attend Georgia. He was not drafted in college, and he said he turned down some free-agent offers to finish his degree and raise a family.

“When i was younger, i always said i’d sign for a bag of peanuts to get a chance to play pro ball,’’ Rebhan said. “but when you get older, you find yourself having to make choices. in my situation, i knew that choice had to be school.’’

Georgia pitcher Mike Rebhan beat Mike Mussina twice in bracket play to help lead the Bulldogs to the 1990 national title.

It was no fluke

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He took an oregon state program that hadn’t been to omaha in 53 years to Rosenblatt in 2005. after going 0-2 that season, the beavers returned to win championships in 2006 and 2007.

Pat Casey

2006

Oregon State coach Pat Casey (with hand raised) celebrates with his team after the final out of a championship season.

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ever wonder why Oregon state went 53 years between trips to the College World series?

Jim martin knows.“The beavers had a jinx on them,’’ martin said, chuckling.martin was a young boy when Oregon state made its first

CWs appearance, in 1952. He and his buddies were playing ball one June day at the Riverview Park diamond, near what is now the elephant complex at the Henry doorly Zoo.

The neighborhood boys were in the middle of a game when a bus pulled up. Out stepped the Oregon state players, ready to practice.

not so fast, martin and his buddies said.“back in those days, if you were on the field first, it was yours

until you were ready to leave,’’ martin said. “They said they had a permit to use the field. Heck, no one needed permits in those days.

“someone called the Parks Commission, and sure enough, they had a permit. We were told we had to get off the field. We were upset. ... Well, we weren’t that upset. We figured we’d just find somewhere else to play.’’

The beavers lost their two games in Omaha that year and didn’t return again until 2005. martin figured that the baseball gods were responsible as they must not have cottoned to a bunch of collegians kicking the kids off the field.

“We figured it was like the jinx that boston Red sox had for selling babe Ruth to the Yankees,’’ martin said.

The beavers lost their first two games in 2005 but went on to win national championships in 2006 and 2007.

The jinx of the Beavers

Oregon State’s Tyler Graham slides safely home, beating the tag of North Carolina catcher Benji Johnson.

Georgia Tech players look for a little bit of luck with their hat-shaking ritual.

Omaha’s diamOnd On the hill

experience the history of Rosenblatt through the people and teams that helped turn the stadium into a national treasure. drawn from more than 60 years of World-herald archives and the reporting of staff writer steven Pivovar, the story of how municipal stadium became Rosenblatt stadium and helped frame the growth of college baseball is revealed.

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