One of the strongest memories of my childhood was Mississippi State in the College World Series in 1985.
The first college sporting event I ever saw was a Mississippi State baseball game. I don’t know the exact attendance but there were several thousand Bulldog fans there to see Will Clark, Rafael Palmerio, Bobby Thigpen and Jeff Brantley. I don’t know how many were there but as a 12-year-old from Kemper County, I didn’t know there were that many people in the state of Mississippi.
That’s the day I fell in love with Mississippi State baseball. I picked it up at a good time.
A year later, I’m listening to the Bulldogs play Miami in the College World Series. The winner of the game was headed to the championship game. I was listening on the radio to Jim Ellis make the call from my room in Preston because there was no such thing as ESPN at my house or satellite, much less cable television or air conditioning.
One of my boyhood heroes was Thigpen. There’s was something about that name, perhaps because it sounded so much like pigpen.
I’ll never forget dancing around my room when Thigpen hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead.
Then in the ninth, with the Bulldogs leading and ace Jeff Brantley on the mound. The Hurricanes got a runner on base and Ron Polk called to centerfield for Thigpen, who owned the MLB single-season save total at 57 for years.
Thigpen gave up a two-run home run to Greg Ellena and the Hurricanes won 6-5 to break my heart. I had listened to almost every game that season because there was little else to do in Kemper County. We got two channels most of the time on our antenna and if the sun, moon and stars lined up, we might get a third station. So if I wasn’t listening to the Bulldogs on 107.9 in French Camp, I was probably listening to the Cardinals on 1120 KMOX. If I hit it just right, I could even pick up Saints news from WWL and the Big 870 in New Orleans.
I laid on my bed and cried that night. I grew up loving the Saints but never had much to cheer about as far as the Saints were concerned. This was the first time I had ever pulled for a winner and the first time I had really felt the sting of a crushing loss.
I have gotten to see some great Mississippi State baseball games since then and I’ll be the first to say that this year’s team has officially taken it’s place as my second favorite of all time. I don’t think people realize how hard it is to get to Omaha when everything is going right. But for a team to lose their coach and start 2-7 in the SEC and do what they’ve done in the postseason, it’s something special. But not quite as special as the 1985 team.
Robbie Robertson is sports editor for The Newton County Appeal. You can e-mail him at rrobertson12811@yahoo.com.
