SEC foes Tennessee and Texas A&M are in uncharted territory as they prepare to battle for MCWS title
MIKE LOPRESTI | JUNE 20, 2024
OMAHA, Neb. — Before there was Christian Moore starring for Tennessee baseball, there was Tommy Bridges.
Doesn’t ring a bell? Bridges was a pitcher for the Volunteers in the late 1920s and later had a rather interesting debut with the Detroit Tigers. The first major league batter he ever faced was Babe Ruth. He got him to pop up on the first pitch. The third batter he faced was Lou Gehrig. He struck him out. Welcome to the bigs, kid. He would end up winning 194 games.
Before there was Caden Sorrell hitting a home runs for Texas A&M, there was Wally Moon.
Can’t quite place the name? Moon was an All-Southwest Conference outfielder for the Aggies in 1950. He homered in his first major league at-bat for St. Louis and was named National League rookie of the year. A couple of other candidates for the award that season were named Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks. Moon later played on three World Series champions for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where his homers even acquired their own nicknames. Moon Shots.
Phil Garner was an infielder for the last Pittsburgh Pirates World Series title 45 years ago, and later managed the Houston Astros to their first World Series. Know where he played his college baseball? Tennessee.
Davey Johnson was an infielder for the Baltimore Orioles World Series champions in 1966 and 1970 and later managed the New York Mets to the title in 1986. Know what he was in college? A Texas A&M Aggie.
In other words, they’ve been playing baseball a long time at Tennessee and Texas A&M and with some pretty good people wearing the colors. . . .
https://www.ncaa.com/news/baseball/article/2024-06-20/sec-foes-tennessee-and-texas-am-are-uncharted-territory-they-prepare-battle-mcws-title