Diamond Homecoming: Gators Set to Pay Tribute to Wilkerson
Thursday, April 19, 2012 | Baseball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The answer, you'd think, would be obvious.
In 1996, Florida slugger Brad Wilkerson stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning against rival Florida State in the opening game of the College World Series at Omaha's historic Rosenblatt Stadium. The Gators trailed the Seminoles 2-1, but the bases were loaded for the superstar freshman outfielder.
You guessed it ... grand slam.
After Wilkerson went through a conga line of hugs and high-fives, he returned returned to the team's dugout to be greeted by UF coach Andy Lopez. Celebration over.
“Get down to the bullpen,” Lopez said. “You're pitching the ninth.”
Wilkerson closed out the Seminoles one-two-three.
Oh, yes. And it was also his 19th birthday.
“That was an unbelievable day and the one I'm sure everyone would associate with me,” Wilkerson said this week when asked to recall his definitive UF highlight. “It jumpstarted my notoriety.”
But that's not the moment Wilkerson holds nearest and dearest to his orange-and-blue heart.
Instead, he cites a photograph that hangs in the Florida clubhouse that shows Wilkerson, that familiar No. 12, mere inches from tapping his left foot on home plate after teammate Derek Nicholson's bases-loaded single plated him with the winning run in the 11th inning of their NCAA regional title game to send the Gators to Wilkerson's second CWS.
“I think of that moment and I think of my teammates -- and how happy we all were, how energized that stadium was,” Wilkerson said of a game the Gators trailed three times, including in the eighth and 11th, before rallying for one of the most dramatic victories in school history. “When I think about my career at Florida, I think about what we accomplished as a team, what we built there together. Really, that's what it's all about.”
Maybe so, but those Gators teams would not have ascended to such ridiculous heights without Wilkerson, the most decorated player in Florida history who is two months from being immortalized among the best ever to play the college game.
Wilkerson, the only three-time All-American in UF history, will be inducted June 29 into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in Lubbock, Texas. As the first Gator to enter the hall, the 1998 Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year will return Friday night to McKethan Stadium to be honored in a ceremony -- complete with video highlights -- before Florida's opening series game against Southeastern Conference foe Georgia.
Should be an emotional night for one of the most dominant athletes ever to wear a Gators uniform.
“We're looking forward to having Brad come back and be recognized for everything he did here,” said senior associate athletic director Chip Howard, who oversees baseball. “His career at Florida is legendary and his accomplishments speak for themselves.”
They do, but for those who weren't around:
- Wilkerson, a native of Owensboro, Ky., set UF records for career average (.381), home runs (55), RBI (214), runs (239), walks (224) and slugging percentage (.714), breaking seven individual batting records along the way. Three of those aforementioned marks still stand; he now ranks second in the rest.
- He pitched 265 2/3 innings (eighth in school history) and recorded 10 saves (ninth).
- Wilkerson reached base safely in 141 consecutive games at one point in his career, and 190 of 195 games over his three seasons.
- He was the first player in NCAA history to hit 20 home runs, win 10 games pitching and steal 20 bases in the same season (23 HRs, 10 wins, 21 SBs in 1998).
- Wilkerson was a first-round draft pick of the Montreal Expos (33rd overall) in '98 and reached the majors in 2001. He remained with the Expos organization through the relocation to Washington in 2005 and after one season with the Nationals went on to play for the Texas Rangers ('06-7), Seattle Mariners ('08) and Toronto Blue Jays ('08) over an eight-year career in the majors.
And yet Wilkerson, now 34, is both humbled and floored at what lies ahead in June during ceremonies honoring a seven-member Hall of Fame class that also includes Lou Brock and Nomar Garciaparra.
“In my wildest dreams, I would never have thought this was going to happen,” Wilkerson said. “You go through the process of recruiting, and you make a decision to go to college -- I chose Florida late -- and there were some struggles during the fall season, with Coach Lopez trying to break us down, but then it all kind of clicked after that. ... To be in the [Hall] conversation was one thing, but to be inducted ... .”
Repeat: Humbled and floored.
“I've said this all along,” Wilkerson continued. “Everything that I received, all the honors -- and you're going to say this sounds cliche, but it's not -- is a tribute to my teammates, the coaches and everybody who helped build what we were able to build at Florida.”
Wilkerson, along with his wife, Dana, and three children Ella (8), Ava (6) and Max (3), live in Palm Beach, where he's currently working on the final 15 hours toward a degree in sports management. Wilkerson, who left UF after his junior season, is pondering a future as a coach.
Friday will be about recalling his past as a player.
The best Gator ever on the diamond.
And a soon-to-be Hall of Famer.
“I have so many incredible memories,” said Wilkerson, who is about to add to that memory list. “Like I said, some of the best times of my life.”
