1991 College Baseball All-America Team

An All-American team is an honorary sports team composed of the best amateur players of a specific season for each position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply "All-Americans". Although the honorees generally do not compete as a unit, the term is used in U.S. team sports to refer to players who are selected by members of the national media. Walter Camp selected the first All-America team in the early days of American football in 1889.[1] In 1950, the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) selected its first All-American baseball team. It has since chosen All-American teams and a player of the year for each division (National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, Division II, Division III, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, junior college and high school).[2] Collegiate Baseball selects All-American, Freshman All-American and High School All-American teams.[3] Baseball America selects pre-season and post-season All-American teams and College Player of the Year honorees.[4][5]

Various organizations selected All-American lists of the best players for the 1991 NCAA Division I college baseball season. The ABCA, the magazine Baseball America, and Collegiate Baseball were the NCAA-sanctioned selectors.[6] This list only includes players selected to the post-season All-American first team for each selector. However, many All-American selections choose second, third, etc. teams from the remaining eligible candidates.

Accomplishments

Bobby Jones was selected as player of the year by both American Baseball Coaches Association and Collegiate Baseball, while David McCarty was the Baseball America player of the year.[6] Brooks Kieschnick went on to be a repeat All-American selection on the 1992 and 1993 teams and be named a player of the year both years.[6] Mike Kelly, who had been 1990 Baseball America player of the year, returned from the 1990 team, along with Phillip Stidham.[6] Kelly won the 1990 Rotary Smith Award and Jones won the award in 1991.[7] Kelly also won the 1991 Golden Spikes Award.[8]

This class produced one Major League Baseball All-Star, one Olympic Games gold medalist and one Major League Baseball record holder. A total of five players were selected by all three NCAA-sanctioned selectors: pitchers Jones and Kennie Steenstra, first baseman David McCarty, shortstop Brent Gates and outfielder Kelly. Four school had two members of the team: Long Beach State, Pepperdine, Villanova and Wichita State

Jones led the National League in sacrifice hits allowed during the 1995 season. The following year, he was selected for the 1996 MLB All-Star Game.[9] However, in the 2001 Major League Baseball season, Jones led the National League in home runs allowed and losses.[9] During the 1995 season, Gates finished second in the American League in sacrifice flies and third in assists.[10] During the 1998 season, Kelly had a perfect fielding percentage with 137 putouts and 4 assists for a total of 141 chances.[11] Mike Neill, whose first-inning home run put the United States ahead to stay in the championship game,[12] earned a gold medal in baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics.[13] During the 2004 season, Mark Sweeney had five pinch-hit home runs, two shy of the major league record.[14] During the 2007 Major League Baseball season, Sweeney, who ranks second in career pinch hits with 175 and first in career pinch-hit runs batted in with 102,[15] led the major leagues with 24 pinch hits.[16]

Team lists

Below are the Division I players selected to the various NCAA-sanctioned lists.[17] The default list order is arranged by the position numbers used by official baseball scorekeepers (i.e., 1 – pitcher, 2 – catcher, etc.).

POY – Player of the Year
ABCA – American Baseball Coaches Association
BA – Baseball America
CB – Collegiate Baseball
Position Name School ABCA BA CB Notes
Pitcher Jones, BobbyBobby Jones Fresno State
Y
Y
Y
 1991 POY (ABCA, CB),[6] 1991 Rotary Smith Award,[7] 1991 Golden Spikes Award,[8] 1996 MLB All-Star[9]
Pitcher Steenstra, KennieKennie Steenstra Wichita State
Y
Y
Y
Pitcher Garagozzo, KeithKeith Garagozzo Delaware
Y
—
Y
Pitcher Montgomery, SteveSteve Montgomery Pepperdine
Y
—
—
Pitcher Clayton, CraigCraig Clayton Cal State
—
Y
—
Pitcher Whitaker, SteveSteve Whitaker Long Beach State
—
Y
—
Pitcher Burke, JohnJohn Burke Florida
—
Y
—
Pitcher Blanchette, BillBill Blanchette Hawaii
—
—
Y
Pitcher Phillips, TonyTony Phillips Southern Miss
—
—
Y
Pitcher Stidham, PhillipPhillip Stidham Arkansas
—
—
Y
 1990 College Baseball All-America Team (ABCA)[6]
Catcher Grifol, PedroPedro Grifol Florida State
Y
Y
—
Catcher Daniel, MichaelMichael Daniel Oklahoma State
—
—
Y
First baseman McCarty, DavidDavid McCarty Stanford
Y
Y
Y
 1991 POY (BA)[6]
Second baseman Crowley, JimmyJimmy Crowley Clemson
Y
—
—
Second baseman Rodriguez, SteveSteve Rodriguez Pepperdine
—
Y
—
Second baseman Hall, BillyBilly Hall Wichita State
—
—
Y
Third baseman Stahoviak, ScottScott Stahoviak Creighton
Y
Y
—
Third baseman Bruce, AndyAndy Bruce Georgia Tech
—
—
Y
Shortstop Gates, BrentBrent Gates Minnesota
Y
Y
Y
Outfielder Kelly, MikeMike Kelly Arizona State
Y
Y
Y
 1990 POY (BA),[6] 1990 College Baseball All-America Team (ABCA, BA),[6] 1990 Rotary Smith Award[7]
Outfielder Sweeney, MarkMark Sweeney Maine
Y
—
Y
 Major League Baseball career pinch hit RBI record (102)[15]
Outfielder Smith, MarkMark Smith USC
—
Y
Y
Outfielder Neill, MikeMike Neill Villanova
Y
—
—
 Gold medal in the 2000 Olympics[13]
Outfielder Vantiger, TomTom Vantiger Iowa State
Y
—
—
Outfielder Vitiello, JoeJoe Vitiello Alabama
—
Y
—
Designated hitter Schall, GeneGene Schall Villanova
Y
—
—
Designated hitter Daniel, MichaelMichael Daniel Oklahoma State
—
Y
—
Designated hitter Talanoa, ScottScott Talanoa Long Beach State
—
—
Y
Utility player Kieschnick, BrooksBrooks Kieschnick Texas
Y
—
—
 1992 POY (ABCA), 1993 POY (ABCA, BA, CB), 1992 College Baseball All-America Team (ABCA), 1993 College Baseball All-America Team (ABCA, BA, CB)[6]
Utility player Clayton, CraigCraig Clayton Cal State
—
—
Y

References

General
Inline citations
  1. ^ The Michigan alumnus. University of Michigan Library. 2010. p. 495. ASIN B0037HO8MY. 
  2. ^ "This is the ABCA". American Baseball Coaches Association. September 20, 2007. http://www.abca.org/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=18900&ATCLID=1245576. Retrieved May 20, 2010. 
  3. ^ "All Americans: Collegiate Baseball Newspaper". Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Inc. http://www.baseballnews.com/allamericans/index.htm. Retrieved May 20, 2010. 
  4. ^ "College: Awards: All-America Teams". Baseball America Inc. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/awards/all-america-teams/. Retrieved May 20, 2010. 
  5. ^ "College: Awards: Player Of The Year". Baseball America Inc. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/awards/player-of-the-year/. Retrieved May 20, 2010. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Baseball Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/baseball_RB/2010/awards.pdf. Retrieved May 11, 2010. 
  7. ^ a b c "Rotary Smith Award". Baseball Almanac. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/rotary_smith_award.shtml. Retrieved 2010-09-14. 
  8. ^ a b "Previous Golden Spikes Award Winners". USA Golden Spikes Award. http://web.goldenspikesaward.com/index.html. Retrieved 2010-09-14. 
  9. ^ a b c "Bobby Jones". Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesbo03.shtml. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  10. ^ "Brent Gates". Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gatesbr01.shtml. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  11. ^ "Mike Kelly". Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kellymi02.shtml. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  12. ^ "USA Baseball in the Olympic Games: A look back at Team USA in previous Olympic contests". USA Baseball.com. June 3, 2008. http://www.usabaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080618&content_id=33879&vkey=news_usab. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  13. ^ a b "Mike Neill". Sports Reference LLC. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ne/mike-neill-1.html. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  14. ^ "Pinch Hitting Records". Baseball Almanac. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/pinch-hitters-records.shtml. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  15. ^ a b "21 Mark Sweeney, 1B". CBS Sports. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/playerpage/8110. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  16. ^ Crasnick, Jerry (February 13, 2008). "Dodgers agree to deal with Mark Sweeney". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3239706. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  17. ^ "Baseball Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/baseball_RB/2010/awards.pdf. Retrieved June 8, 2010.