FORMER BAMA BASEBALL STAR ELECTED TO COLLEGE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

BY NICK TAYLOR-some stats courtesy of ROLLTIDE.COM
DAVE MAGADAN


Former Alabama All-American first baseman David Magadan became the second Alabama baseball player joining Joe Sewell-(a 2007 inductee) to be elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Magadan is a Tampa FL native & is also the current hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox was the top vote-getter among the 10-member induction class, the College Baseball Foundation and Hall of Fame announced Thursday afternoon. Magadan was a three-time ALL SEC selection was the 1983 National Player of the Year after hitting .525 for the Tide.

Joining Magadan in the 2010 College Baseball Hall of Fame Induction class are Alan Bannister (SS, Arizona State), Bob Bennett (Head Coach, Fresno Stare), Eddy Furniss (1B, LSU), Don Heinkel (P, Wichita State), Wally Kincaid (Head Coach,
Cerritos College), George Sisler (P/OF, Michigan), B.J. Surhoff (C, North Carolina), Charles Teague (2B, Wake Forest) and Richard Wortham (P, Texas).

“This is a tremendous honor,” Magadan said Thursday afternoon from the Red Sox spring training complex in Ft. Myers, Fla. “This speaks a lot for the people that were around me at the University of Alabama and the coaching staff with Coach (Barry) Shollenberger, Roger Smith and the rest of the staff.

Shollenberger was the Crimson Tide’s head coach from 1980-94. He had the best seat in the house during Magadan’s record-setting season that ended with in the national championship game at the College World Series.

“Obviously, it’s a well-deserved honor,” Shollenberger said from his home in Valrico, Fla. “I will never forget the things he did, like hits in first six of seven at-bats as a freshmen and then tearing up the SEC in the (1983) SEC Tournament in Starkville. He is one of the few players that raised his average from the regular season through the post-season. He was a good hitter in the regular season, but when the pitching got better he raised his average. David only got one shot in Omaha and he made the most of it. I’m not surprised at all he was elected into that company, he certainly belongs there.”

He played in 162 games in his Alabama career and batted .439 (268-for-610) with 64 doubles, 14 home runs and 188 RBI. His .439 batting average still ranks among the leaders in Division I baseball and still sits atop the SEC standings as the highest career average in league history.