Vanderbilt a "baseball school," really?

Worth Scott…that name may not mean a lot to many of you, but he was part of one of the most major moments in Vanderbilt baseball history. His game-winning home run in the 2003 season-finale against Tennessee helped Vanderbilt makes its first SEC Tournament since 1996. Its considered a major moment because one, he beat Tennessee and anytime you can beat those orange hillbillies at that community college in East Tennessee, that’s good times for all. But also, it was a moment for Vanderbilt to build the program for the major success it has had in the past few years.

The picture above is of the Commodores winning the SEC Tournament in 2007. It will all make sense in a while.

I recently thought about this moment because Vandy just played Belmont in baseball at Greer a few days ago. As a disclaimer, all of you know that I went to Vandy and currently attend Belmont and work for Belmont, so make of that what you will.

Now, Vanderbilt is nationally ranked and has high national postseason aspirations while Belmont isn’t at that level, everyone realizes this. My Bruins (heck yeah, there my Bruins) were winning 4-2 in the middle of the game when a Commodore hit a grand slam to give Vandy the lead. Our pitcher was backing up the play at home plate and as he was returning to the mound after the entire Vandy team celebrated the home run, one of the obnoxious Vandy fan said “you should have gone to a baseball school.”

Pause. Did I just hear that from the press box? Did I just really hear a Vandy fan say that? A “baseball school?” Really?

OK, Mr. Fan. Let’s break it down why that’s so wrong on several levels.

First, Vandy isn’t Cal State Fullerton, Rice, Miami, Texas, Long Beach State, LSU or countless other “baseball schools.” Honestly, all our program has to show for itself is some SEC titles, a few regional appearances and a super regional appearance. No trips to the College World Series and obviously no national championships.

This isn’t a criticism of the Vandy baseball program. I’m beyond happy with where the program is. Tim Corbin may be the best thing that has happened to that athletic program in the past 20 years. Wait, Vandy doesn’t have an athletic program. I’ll save my opinion of that for another post. Anyway, I’m happy that the team is ranked nationally, respected around the nation, competing for conference and national titles, having major-league talents like Jeremy Sowers, Jenson Lewis, David Price, Pedro Alvarez, Dominic de la Osa, Ryan Flaherty and others come through the program. However, the school shouldn’t consider itself a “baseball program” like those other programs I mentioned earlier.

And back to the fan...the whole purpose of mentioning Worth Scott was for some prospective. I attended the school from 1999-2003. Vandy baseball was not good at that time and even bordered on terrible the years before I got there. Accept for a decent run of SEC titles in the 1970’s and the occasional moment in the 1980’s, the program was bad. So when as a senior I remember Worth hitting that home run to make the SEC Tournament, it was major because the team was finally going to face the best teams in the conference in a tournament. And I remember following the games from Atlanta, checking the SEC website for statistics. Vandy lost both games in the SEC Tournament, but I was happy that they competed.

I’m not hoping for those times to return as a fan, but I still have some prospective. Mr. Fan, were we a “baseball school” when teams like Alabama, LSU and Tennessee, ranked teams in the late 90’s, would come to Hawkins Field and lay the smack down on Vandy. Were we a baseball school when I could literally count everyone in the stands during those times in one half inning? Were we a baseball school when I could walk into the stadium in the middle of weekend series against major teams and sit first-row, behind home plate? Were we a baseball school when we had the worst baseball facility in the SEC?

Gain some prospective Vandy fans. Do I get disappointed when the team gets swept at Mississippi like it did earlier this season? Yes. Do I expect the team to make a regional, super regional and eventually the College World Series? I do currently with the positive state of the program. Was I devastated last season when Michigan won the Regional in Nashville when Vandy was the No. 1 national seed in the Tournament? I was speechless and truly sad for several days.

However, I understand how hard it is to achieve all of these things and know that if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen because I have no control over it. And when I hear media-types and fans say that this season is a disappointment because the team is only 30-11 at the time I posted this, you got to be kidding me!

Expectations for the program are definitely overblown, but I can understand it on some level. For years, Vanderbilt was stepped on by everybody and now that we have a good baseball program, we want to stick our chest out, be proud and turn to the obnoxious fans that we used to mock other schools for having back in the day when we weren’t good.

I wonder if Mr. Fan was around during the rough times when Vanderbilt was in a similar position as Belmont is in right now for baseball and don’t think that’s not a fair comparison.

Belmont is working hard to establish itself as a “baseball program” and the guys are working hard to make the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. Sound familiar?

That’s the beauty of college sports. Hopefully Belmont will make the Atlantic Sun Tournament, make a run, make the NCAA Tournament and have a Worth Scott-like moment in the process. However, I hope that my Bruins (yeah, I love Belmont and Vandy just the same) and the fans will have a better prospective of the success that will come in the next few years.

Because when Mr. Fan made his statement, I was ashamed to be an alum of my undergraduate school and fan of my favorite program there (yes, even more than football, but if they ever got volleyball, I might have a change of heart). I don’t want to be ashamed of my graduate school as well.