1994 College Baseball All-America Team Explained

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 magazine 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 1994 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

The 1994 College Baseball All-America Team included the most highly regarded college baseball players as recognized by various national selectors and its members accumulated numerous collegiate awards. With Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, and Danny Graves, the team included three future Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Stars. The following is a summary of the collegiate and MLB accomplishments of the players from the team. However,, R. A. Dickey remains an active MLB player.[7] Five players were selected by all three NCAA-sanctioned selectors: pitcher Danny Graves; catcher Varitek; first baseman Tommy Davis; shortstop Garciaparra; and outfielder Payton. Varitek and Todd Walker had both been selected unanimously to the 1993 College Baseball All-America Team, while Antone Williamson is a repeat All-American according to Baseball America. Veritek had also been a unanimous selection to the 1992 College Baseball All-America Team. José Cruz Jr. would repeat as a selection to the 1995 College Baseball All-America Team by all selectors and Shane Monahan would repeat as a selection by Collegiate Baseball.[6] Walker won the 1993 College World Series Most Outstanding Player.[8] Varitek swept the Dick Howser Trophy, the Rotary Smith Award, and the Golden Spikes Awards in 1994.[9] [10] [11]

Garciaparra is a two-time American League (AL) batting champion, AL Rookie of the Year, six-time All-Star, who led the AL in at bats, hits, doubles, triples, and intentional walks. He led the AL in errors regardless of position in 2002 and in putouts as a shortstop in 1997.[12] Varitek is a three-time All-Star (2003, 2005 and 2008), Gold Glove-winner, Silver Slugger-winner, and two-time World Series champion (2004 and 2007). He called the pitches for a major league record four no-hitters.[13] Danny Graves, who is a two-time All-Star (2000 and 2004) and won the 2002 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, is the only Vietnamese-born player in MLB history.[14] Georgia Tech had three selections and Clemson had two.

Several other players made notable marks as professional players. Paul Wilson became the MLB number one overall draft pick in 1994.[15] Walker led the NL second basemen in fielding percentage and putouts during the 2002 season.[16] Cruz, who won a Gold Glove in 2003 in the NL, led the NL in putouts as a rightfielder (2003) and the AL in putouts as a centerfielder (2000) but also led the AL in errors committed as a rightfielder (2004). He accumulated over 1,100 hits and 200 home runs.[17] Payton led the AL outfielders in fielding percentage in both 2005 and 2008 with perfect ratings. He led the NL in putouts as a leftfielder in 2003 and in assists as a centerfielder in 2004, but he also led the NL in errors as a centerfielder in 2000.[18]

Key

ABCAAmerican Baseball Coaches Association[19]
BABaseball America
CBCollegiate Baseball
Awarded the Golden Spikes Award, Dick Howser Trophy or Rotary Smith 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[20]

All-Americans

Below are the Division I players selected to the various NCAA-sanctioned lists.[21] The default list order is arranged by the position numbers used by official baseball scorekeepers (i.e.,,, etc.).

scope=col style="width:15%;"Positionscope=col style="width:15%;"Namescope=col style="width:15%;"Schoolscope=col style="width:5%;"ABCAscope=col style="width:5%;"BAscope=col style="width:5%;"CBscope=col style="width:40%;" class="unsortable"Notes
PitcherWichita State
PitcherMississippi State
PitcherLong Beach State
PitcherFlorida StateMLB number one overall draft pick (1994)
PitcherMiami21 saves in a single season (1994) (T-4th in Division I),[22] 4.72 H/9 (11th in Division I), 2x MLB All-Star (2000 and 2004) and 2002 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award winner
PitcherOklahoma State
PitcherTennessee
PitcherOhio State
PitcherWashington20 saves in a single season (T-6th in Division I)
Catcher
  • (3)
Georgia Tech3x MLB All-Star (2003, 2005 & 2008), Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, 2x World Series champion (2004 & 2007),[23] Caught 4 no-hitters
First basemanSouthern Mississippi
Second baseman (2) ♦LSU1993 College World Series Most Outstanding Player
Third basemanCentral Michigan
Third baseman (2)Arizona State
Third basemanClemson
Shortstop ♦Georgia Tech2× AL batting champion, AL Rookie of the Year, and 6x MLB All-Star (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2006)
OutfielderRiceGold Glove (2003)
OutfielderMemphis.424 career batting average (24th in Division I),. 771 career slugging percentage (24th in Division I)
OutfielderClemson137 hits in a single season (1994) (2nd in Division I)
OutfielderGeorgia Tech129 hits (1994) (T-7th in Division I)
OutfielderKentucky
Designated hitterBYU
Designated hitterVirginia
Utility playerDuke8 consecutive games with a home run (Division I record)

See also

References

General
Inline citations

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Michigan alumnus. University of Michigan Library. 2010. B0037HO8MY. 495.
  2. Web site: This is the ABCA . May 20, 2010 . September 20, 2007 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100402022638/http://www.abca.org/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=18900&ATCLID=1245576 . April 2, 2010 .
  3. Web site: All Americans: Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. May 20, 2010. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Inc. July 30, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100730123125/http://www.baseballnews.com/allamericans/index.htm. dead.
  4. Web site: College: Awards: All-America Teams. May 20, 2010. Baseball America Inc. https://web.archive.org/web/20100423145315/http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/awards/all-america-teams/. April 23, 2010 . live.
  5. Web site: College: Awards: Player Of The Year. May 20, 2010. Baseball America Inc. https://web.archive.org/web/20100423145341/http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/awards/player-of-the-year/. April 23, 2010 . live.
  6. Web site: Baseball Award Winners. May 11, 2010. National Collegiate Athletic Association.
  7. Web site: R. A. Dickey. October 8, 2010. Sports Reference LLC. June 26, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140626102444/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dicker.01.shtml. live.
  8. Web site: Most Outstanding Player Award. September 14, 2010. CWS Omaha, Inc. May 22, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150522124210/http://www.cwsomaha.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58034&Itemid=192. dead.
  9. Web site: Rotary Smith Award. September 14, 2010. Baseball Almanac. February 2, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100202004616/http://baseball-almanac.com/awards/rotary_smith_award.shtml. live.
  10. Web site: Previous Golden Spikes Award Winners. September 14, 2010. USA Golden Spikes Award. https://web.archive.org/web/20100921031143/http://web.goldenspikesaward.com/index.html. September 21, 2010 . live.
  11. Web site: Dick Howser Trophy. September 14, 2010. National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. November 26, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101126190144/http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/awards/howser/index.html. dead.
  12. Web site: Nomar Garciaparra. October 8, 2010. Sports Reference LLC. April 12, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090412050140/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/garcino01.shtml. live.
  13. Web site: Red Sox' No-Hitter Puts Varitek in Record Books. May 13, 2010. May 21, 2008. The New York Times. Kaplan, Thomas. October 6, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141006185653/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/sports/baseball/21redsox.html. live.
  14. Web site: Danny Graves. October 8, 2010. Sports Reference LLC. March 23, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210323221313/https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/graveda01.shtml. live.
  15. Web site: 1st Picks Overall in the MLB June Amateur Draft. October 30, 2010. Baseball-Reference.com. June 14, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100614213155/http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?overall_pick=1&draft_type=junreg. live.
  16. Web site: Todd Walker. June 8, 2010. Sports Reference LLC. December 4, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101204175607/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walketo04.shtml. live.
  17. Web site: Jose Cruz. October 8, 2010. Sports Reference LLC. April 30, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110430114402/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cruzjo02.shtml. live.
  18. Web site: Jay Payton. October 8, 2010. Sports Reference LLC. January 26, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130126143042/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/paytoja01.shtml. live.
  19. Web site: NCAA Baseball Award Winners. NCAA. April 8, 2012. March 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205111/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/baseball_RB/2010/awards.pdf. live.
  20. Web site: College Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees. College Baseball Hall of Fame. April 12, 2012. October 12, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181012212118/http://www.collegebaseballhall.org/hall_of_famers.jsp. live.
  21. Web site: Baseball Award Winners. June 8, 2010. National Collegiate Athletic Association.
  22. Web site: Division I Record Book. NCAA. April 14, 2012. April 12, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190412174951/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/baseball_RB/2012/D1.pdf. live.
  23. Web site: Jason Varitek. May 13, 2010. Sports Reference LLC. https://web.archive.org/web/20100511102823/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/varitja01.shtml. May 11, 2010 . live.

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