An All-American team is an honorary sports team composed of the best amateur players of a specific season for each team 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 together 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]
The NCAA recognizes two different All-America selectors for the 1981 college baseball season: the American Baseball Coaches Association (since 1947) and Baseball America (since 1981).[2]
| ABCA | American Baseball Coaches Association | |
| BA | Baseball America | |
| Awarded the Golden Spikes Award as national Player of the Year | ||
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player had been named an All-American at that point | |
| ♦ | Inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame[3] |
| width=10% | Position | width=15% | Name | width=15% | School | width=5% | ABCA | width=5% | BA | width=35% class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | Tony Arnold | Texas | 21 consecutive wins (8th in Division I)[4] | ||||||||
| Pitcher | Neal Heaton (2) ♦ | Miami | BA Pitcher of the Year, 1990 NL All-Star,[5] 23 strikeouts vs. Indiana State Sycamores (March 10, 1981)(T-3rd in Division I) | ||||||||
| Pitcher | Kendall Carter | Arizona State | 47 career wins (T-5th in Division I), 19 wins in a single season (1981) (T-2nd in Division I) | ||||||||
| Pitcher | Frank Viola | St. John's | 1988 Cy Young Award, 3x MLB All-Star[6] | ||||||||
| Catcher | Tom Nieto | Oral Roberts | |||||||||
| First baseman | Phil Stephenson ♦ | Wichita State | 420 career runs (Division I record), 418 career hits (Division I record), 730 total bases (Division I record), 206 career SB (Division I record), 300 career BB (Division I record), 91 career doubles (3rd in Division I), 322 career RBI (3rd in Division I) | ||||||||
| Second baseman | Billy DeMann | Arizona State | |||||||||
| Second baseman | Jeff Ronk | Cal | |||||||||
| Third baseman | Mike Sodders | Arizona State | BA POY | ||||||||
| Shortstop | Dan Davidsmeier | USC | |||||||||
| Shortstop | Bobby Meacham | San Diego State | |||||||||
| Outfielder | Mike Fuentes (2) | Florida State State | |||||||||
| Outfielder | Joe Carter ♦ | Wichita State | 5x MLB All-Star,[7] 2x Silver Slugger Award winner, 1992 & 1993 World Series Champion, 312 RBI (4th in Division I), 640 career total bases (8th in Division I). 430 career batting average (15th in Division I) | ||||||||
| Outfielder | John Christensen | Cal State Fullerton | |||||||||
| Outfielder | Mark Gillaspie | Mississippi State | |||||||||
| Outfielder | Kevin Romine | Arizona State | |||||||||
| Designated hitter | Phil Strom | Utah | |||||||||
| Designated hitter | Franklin Stubbs | Virginia Tech |