Favorite Allie P Reynolds Stadium Memories

[Matt_bob123]

My favorite memory will always be 2008 Regional when Jordy Mercer tried to win it all by himself. The image of him jumping into home plate after the home run walk-off of TCU will forever be my desktop wallpaper. Tho the regional will always be associated with us being robbed of a great season by the NCAA coming after Andy Oliver. Jordy was insane that weekend, he hit home runs that Inky would have been proud of.

The old ballpark has had its share of oddities through the years, but one that stands out to me was an at-bat by Shelby Ford. Shelby had been a star for TCU, but wasn't happy with his role and transferred to OSU (he became immediately eligible because of a little known "trade" which allowed OSU signee Jake Arrietta to go to TCU and be eligible). Anyway, Frank was asking Shelby to bunt in a situation to move a runner over. I don't think he'd ever bunted before, he was primarily a guy with power. The defense ran a wheel play, so the second baseman went to first. Well, Shelby accidentally bunted it HARD to where the second baseman had just vacated, past the pitcher. It rolled to the outfield. Shelby Ford, even while trying to execute a bunt, hit a double. I don't think I've seen a bunt double since.

The most dominating season I had the pleasure of seeing was Michael Freeman's senior season. The previous year he had been a JUCO, with 7 innings pitched in the regular season. (He would throw an addition 7 inning in a yeoman's effort in the Big12 Championship game against Texas that year, as we tried to save the bullpen for regionals). He changed his slot angle and developed that Rob slider and he was unhittable. It was nasty to watch him destroy guys all season long. His ball danced. I think Freeman just recently retired from baseball and became a firefighter in Edmond. I hope he's one of the former players making it back for this weekend.

 

[NattyPoke]

My favorite memory will always be 2008 Regional when Jordy Mercer tried to win it all by himself. The image of him jumping into home plate after the home run walk-off of TCU will forever be my desktop wallpaper. Tho the regional will always be associated with us being robbed of a great season by the NCAA coming after Andy Oliver. Jordy was insane that weekend, he hit home runs that Inky would have been proud of.

The old ballpark has had its share of oddities through the years, but one that stands out to me was an at-bat by Shelby Ford. Shelby had been a star for TCU, but wasn't happy with his role and transferred to OSU (he became immediately eligible because of a little known "trade" which allowed OSU signee Jake Arrietta to go to TCU and be eligible). Anyway, Frank was asking Shelby to bunt in a situation to move a runner over. I don't think he'd ever bunted before, he was primarily a guy with power. The defense ran a wheel play, so the second baseman went to first. Well, Shelby accidentally bunted it HARD to where the second baseman had just vacated, past the pitcher. It rolled to the outfield. Shelby Ford, even while trying to execute a bunt, hit a double. I don't think I've seen a bunt double since.

The most dominating season I had the pleasure of seeing was Michael Freeman's senior season. The previous year he had been a JUCO, with 7 innings pitched in the regular season. (He would throw an addition 7 inning in a yeoman's effort in the Big12 Championship game against Texas that year, as we tried to save the bullpen for regionals). He changed his slot angle and developed that Rob slider and he was unhittable. It was nasty to watch him destroy guys all season long. His ball danced. I think Freeman just recently retired from baseball and became a firefighter in Edmond. I hope he's one of the former players making it back for this weekend.

Thanks for the stories. Michael Freeman is one of my all time “work hard because you never know” stories. He went from no chance to make a D1 baseball impact to dominant and he did it by working his butt off! I thought that he was a pre-med student?

 

[Matt_bob123]

Thanks for the stories. Michael Freeman is one of my all time “work hard because you never know” stories. He went from no chance to make a D1 baseball impact to dominant and he did it by working his butt off! I thought that he was a pre-med student?

Our old roster listed him as a Biology major with a dream of being a physicians assistant. I know he has a family to support, so life may have dictated his future. His Junior season, he closed out a game with Alcorn State, brought his girlfriend on to the field and proposed. A pretty baller move and great Allie P memory for the Freeman family.

 

[OSUinTX]

Think I have mentioned it here before. My favorite memory has nothing to do with an actual game. In the mid-80s, I lived on Bellis which is now the parking lot for the practice center. We used to walk the couple of blocks to the hill along the third base side and watch Pete take batting practice for hours each evening and play hackey sack. One time, a foul ball came my way which I picked up and Holliday, who was throwing the BP raises his glove indicating me to throw him the ball. I totally choked. Played baseball until five years ago even going through walk-on tryouts in the early 80s as I used to have a cannon right arm, but there I was, mano a mano and I threw the ball into the ground a good 15 feet in front of him. Total fail.

Another time, we had eventually moved to play sack on the softball field because the lights were still on when we noticed the rear gate to APR was open. I snuck in through the gate and at the time there was an alley about 10-15 feet wide between the outfield fence and the higher perimeter security fence. I found a baseball, then another, and another, working my way to the left field line eventually with 2-3 dozen baseballs stashed in my t-shirt like a kangaroo. Then I realized.....I had not heard the ping of Pete's bat for a few moments. I peeked through a slit in the outfield fence to see Pete walking past second base toward the fence to retrieve the balls he had hit in the alley. Then half the lights go out including all of the softball field lights. I sprinted best I could with 20 lbs. of baseballs in my shirt, trying to get to the outer gate before Pete got to the inner gate. Narrow alley with only a couple yards of visibility due to the curvature, just hoping I did not run into Pete. I did not, getting out well before he went in. We snuck off and by the time we got to the hill along the left field line, Pete comes back out of the alley gate as Holliday was approaching him with a bag, and Pete shrugged with his arms out and palms up as to say, "I have no idea where all the balls went". I had those balls for years.

 

[Duke Silver]

I went to a few of the hitting machine camps that gary ward put on. Going station to station under gia then out on the field. Hearing coach ward tell stories was the coolest thing i had heard.
Before football, before basketball, there was baseball. My dad and one of my brothers were there a lot. The vivid memories were the midwest regionals. Anywhere inside was ok. Then when in omaha, time stopped. I was hooked.

 

[Chairman of the Board]

I mentioned Jake Benz' two walk off HRs in another thread--that was a great one.

Another one would be the Bedlam brawl. People often forget that Manny Cervantes also hit a late HR to either tie or give us the lead. I

 

[gundysburner]

Tough to single out just one.

When ESPN had a national sunday night game of the week, I remember watching Mike Henneman no-hit Florida in a battle of ranked teams.

Lots of great Midwest regional memories through the years. It came in a loss, but seeing Ray Ortiz go deep 6 times in one day vs. Wichita State was awesome.

Old Big 8 days, when pitching staffs were shot by Sunday afternoon & games would go on forever. Forget what year it was, but the Bedlam Brawl on a Sunday was legendary. Seeing Bobby Purna (golden gloves winner) put Darrin Cox on his a$$ in about a millisecond was priceless. Then Greg Wahlberg, of all people, wins the game with a walk-off grand slam.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltDZimdHk9M

 

[LandscapePoke]

Tough to single out just one.

When ESPN had a national sunday night game of the week, I remember watching Mike Henneman no-hit Florida in a battle of ranked teams.

Lots of great Midwest regional memories through the years. It came in a loss, but seeing Ray Ortiz go deep 6 times in one day vs. Wichita State was awesome.

Old Big 8 days, when pitching staffs were shot by Sunday afternoon & games would go on forever. Forget what year it was, but the Bedlam Brawl on a Sunday was legendary. Seeing Bobby Purna (golden gloves winner) put Darrin Cox on his a$$ in about a millisecond was priceless. Then Greg Wahlberg, of all people, wins the game with a walk-off grand slam.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltDZimdHk9M

I hung out with Wahlberg a little bit during this year as my best friend lived next door to him and we would talk baseball. We were at this game and Cox deserved the ass beating he got. We asked Greg what the pitch was and he said he knew what it would be as he had seen all the guys pitches except for one, and he sent it over the wall.

 

[teachum]

Sandy D. running the bleachers with my then 4 or 5 year old son.

 

[Cro]

Spring of '98, my senior year. Mid-week, afternoon game against I couldn't even tell you. I'm at work listening to Rex call the game and a brawl breaks out. Again, I can't remember what happened in the game to cause the brawl, but next thing I know is that Rex is saying "Gasparino has ahold of the 1st base coach"! Well, I guess Billy worked their 1st base coach over pretty good during the fight. Couple of days later, TH is on the radio, or in print one, saying that the NCAA was asking for our tape of the game, so they could review the brawl. TH said he told the NCAA that they had forgotten to record the game that day........... then he kinda chuckled and said "1st one all season that we forgot to turn the camera on"......

 

[osuhog]

Bedlam. Late 90's. I believe it was tie ballgame. bottom of the 9th. Jeff Guiel on 2B. Rusty McNamara at the plate. Hit's a walk-off gapper. Crowd going crazy. visitors were in the 3B dugout back then. OU pitcher walking toward their dugout. Guiel rounding 3rd & heading home with arms in the air. OU pitcher CLOTHESLINES Guiel before he gets to the plate. Benches clear. Gary Ward goes straight to Guiel & directs him to home plate before doing ANYTHING else.

I would LOVE to see that video. See how good my old memory is. I could be off on some of this for sure. lol. Haven't seen it since that day. I was sitting in row 1 section 1. Right above our dugout. It was incredible!

 

[#1 Pokes Fan]

I hung out with Wahlberg a little bit during this year as my best friend lived next door to him and we would talk baseball. We were at this game and Cox deserved the ass beating he got. We asked Greg what the pitch was and he said he knew what it would be as he had seen all the guys pitches except for one, and he sent it over the wall.

I played prep ball against Cox. His name fit him well. Complete douchebag and I still love watching him get his ass beat. Truly well deserved.

 

[N E Poke]

Every single game called by this legend.
“This is your Cowboy baseball reporter Bill Platt, rounding third and headin' home”

 

[MustangPokeFan]

Way too many in the 1980s to pick just one!

 

[AgronomyPoke]

This could be remembered wrong as it was almost 40 years ago!
Standing next to bull pen watching our pitcher warm up and waiting on Pete to hit one out. Hear ping of the bat, look up and all I saw was a line drive and the the ball going THROUGH the left field fence about 5 feet off the ground. Ball never hit the ground!

 

[Go Pokes]

Tough to single out just one.

When ESPN had a national sunday night game of the week, I remember watching Mike Henneman no-hit Florida in a battle of ranked teams.

Lots of great Midwest regional memories through the years. It came in a loss, but seeing Ray Ortiz go deep 6 times in one day vs. Wichita State was awesome.

Old Big 8 days, when pitching staffs were shot by Sunday afternoon & games would go on forever. Forget what year it was, but the Bedlam Brawl on a Sunday was legendary. Seeing Bobby Purna (golden gloves winner) put Darrin Cox on his a$$ in about a millisecond was priceless. Then Greg Wahlberg, of all people, wins the game with a walk-off grand slam.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltDZimdHk9M

Makes me sick to think about that Bedlam Brawl ... I didn't go that day because I had to study. WHAT WAS I THINKING???!!!

 

[Go Pokes]

Bedlam. Late 90's. I believe it was tie ballgame. bottom of the 9th. Jeff Guiel on 2B. Rusty McNamara at the plate. Hit's a walk-off gapper. Crowd going crazy. visitors were in the 3B dugout back then. OU pitcher walking toward their dugout. Guiel rounding 3rd & heading home with arms in the air. OU pitcher CLOTHESLINES Guiel before he gets to the plate. Benches clear. Gary Ward goes straight to Guiel & directs him to home plate before doing ANYTHING else.

I would LOVE to see that video. See how good my old memory is. I could be off on some of this for sure. lol. Haven't seen it since that day. I was sitting in row 1 section 1. Right above our dugout. It was incredible!

You've got a very good memory, except it was Jay Mac at the plate. Guiel got clotheslined by OU pitcher Toby Wilmot and then put the brakes on before reaching home. I remember Ward was also holding Rusty (who must have been on deck) back with his arms around his waist -- Rusty was ready to Rumble!

 

[Go Pokes]

Spring of '98, my senior year. Mid-week, afternoon game against I couldn't even tell you. I'm at work listening to Rex call the game and a brawl breaks out. Again, I can't remember what happened in the game to cause the brawl, but next thing I know is that Rex is saying "Gasparino has ahold of the 1st base coach"! Well, I guess Billy worked their 1st base coach over pretty good during the fight. Couple of days later, TH is on the radio, or in print one, saying that the NCAA was asking for our tape of the game, so they could review the brawl. TH said he told the NCAA that they had forgotten to record the game that day........... then he kinda chuckled and said "1st one all season that we forgot to turn the camera on"......

Northern Iowa. Freezing cold February game! Miserable. There were only about a dozen of us left in the stands when the brawl started. I shall elaborate later when I have more time on how it all came about ... even had to write up a deposition of sorts to state what I saw from the stands, since the UNI coach was apparently wanting to take legal action. Short version: UNI hit "home run" to left, but it was left of the foul pole by at least 6 feet -- but the ump saw the pole that held the netting and thought that was the foul pole and called it a home run. UNI went ballistic when the runs didn't count (think we scored about 20 on them a day earlier and the Panthers were desperate to have a lead in this series at some point and some glimmer of hope) ... Our coaches were arguing respectfully with the ump(s) and the UNI coach comes out of the dugout and starts in on Robbie Wine. When he flicked Robbie's cap off, Billy G. (playing 2nd) took umbrage and tackled him near first base. A dogpile ensued and that's when the UNI coach's nose got bloodied (perhaps broken -- you'll have to ask Doc Crawley).

 

[Cro]

Northern Iowa. Freezing cold February game! Miserable. There were only about a dozen of us left in the stands when the brawl started. I shall elaborate later when I have more time on how it all came about ... even had to write up a deposition of sorts to state what I saw from the stands, since the UNI coach was apparently wanting to take legal action. Short version: UNI hit "home run" to left, but it was left of the foul pole by at least 6 feet -- but the ump saw the pole that held the netting and thought that was the foul pole and called it a home run. UNI went ballistic when the runs didn't count (think we scored about 20 on them a day earlier and the Panthers were desperate to have a lead in this series at some point and some glimmer of hope) ... Our coaches were arguing respectfully with the ump(s) and the UNI coach comes out of the dugout and starts in on Robbie Wine. When he flicked Robbie's cap off, Billy G. (playing 2nd) took umbrage and tackled him near first base. A dogpile ensued and that's when the UNI coach's nose got bloodied (perhaps broken -- you'll have to ask Doc Crawley).

great stuff! Thanks! Billy G is one of my all time OSU favorites. Those teams were scrappy as hell back then........

 

[Jostate]

Makes me sick to think about that Bedlam Brawl ... I didn't go that day because I had to study. WHAT WAS I THINKING???!!!

That was the only home game I didn't attend that season. I won't even get into why.