Hall of Fame baseball inductees Morris, Lucroy treasure wearing U-S-A across their chests
By JASON PUGH, Written for the LSWA
NATCHITOCHES – They’re known for other tremendous baseball accomplishments. One provided the greatest moment in College World Series history. The other played in two All-Star Games and set a Major League Baseball record.
But behind that glory, Warren Morris and Jonathan Lucroy share a common bond that is overlooked by most who read their credentials. Both won medals competing for Team USA in international competition, and they’re very proud of it.
That shined through as they were among the 12 people inducted Saturday night into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in front of 700-plus at the Natchitoches Events Center and a live statewide TV audience on LPB.
A month after delivering the 1996 College World Series championship to LSU with his game-winning, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, Morris – along with his LSU coach Skip Bertman – was part of the 1996 USA Olympic baseball team, which won a bronze medal in the Atlanta Games as Morris led the team in hitting.
“Just incredible,” Morris said of the Olympic experience. “It doesn’t get talked about enough. I still get goosebumps thinking about it, walking out on the field in Atlanta with 50,000 people chanting, ‘U-S-A.’ I’m as proud of representing my country as anything I ever did in athletics.”
Lucroy is one of the few who truly can understand what Morris means. Both provided items from their international experiences for display at the Hall of Fame museum.
A Florida native whose No. 21 jersey was retired this past spring at UL Lafayette, Lucroy was part of the gold-medal-winning Team USA squad in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He was the team’s starting catcher in 2013 and 2017.
“We’ve got rivalries everywhere,” Lucroy said. “There are rivalries in colleges. You have Astros-Rangers and Yankees-Red Sox. In my opinion, when you play under one umbrella, our country’s colors, it all goes away. Whenever you put your country’s name on your chest, the pride is hard to explain.”
Morris, an Alexandria native who played at Bolton High School before heading to LSU, delivered perhaps the most iconic moment in College World Series history when he launched a first-pitch curveball from Miami closer Robbie Morrison over the right-field wall at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, for the first CWS-clinching, walk-off home run in history on June 8, 1996.
“Coach (Skip Bertman) used to tell us you can’t be afraid to fail,” Morris said. “Tim Lanier (who had struck out against Morrison the at-bat prior) looked at me and said three words, ‘Pick me up.’ As a team, those are the words you have to hear. No one’s always going to come through in the clutch or always be the guy. Someone else is there to pick you up. All I can do is the best I can do. I’m going to be aggressive. That’s why I hit the first pitch.”
Morris was honored with the Hall’s Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award, joining national sports broadcaster Tim Brando of Shreveport and legendary Grambling baseball coach Wilbert Ellis as the only winners of that accolade since it was created six years ago.
“Warren embodies everything you want a citizen to be as far as work ethic, integrity and compassion,” legendary LSU baseball SID Bill Franques said.
He’s made countless appearances not only around central Louisiana, but throughout the state and beyond in the past 30 years, once his professional career ended after five big league seasons.
Morris’ home run embodied what it meant to meet the moment.
While it ended on the highest of high notes, Morris’ 1996 season was interrupted by a hamate bone injury that limited him to 22 games – all of which resulted in LSU victories.
Morris enjoyed a nine-year professional baseball career following his LSU tenure. He finished third in the 1999 National League Rookie of the Year voting after hitting .288 with 15 home runs and 73 RBIs for Pittsburgh.
The son of a basketball coach, Morris collected baseball cards as a child. In his mind, all of those players hailed from major metropolitan areas. Today, Morris carries a few of his own cards when he speaks to children.
“No one from Alexandria at that time was at that level,” Morris said. “That was for someone else. I have some cards with me whenever I talk to kids know. I turn it around and show them Alexandria, Louisiana. If I can do something like that, there’s no reason they can’t achieve whatever it is their dream is.”
Lucroy had only one Division I offer to play college baseball, and it came after a UL Lafayette assistant coach was in Florida scouting another prospect and saw a catcher with some pop in his bat.
In three seasons with the Ragin’ Cajuns, Lucroy helped deliver two Sun Belt championships and a regional-final appearance. He did so by hitting .356, slugging .612 and setting school records for RBIs (184), doubles (54) and total bases (414).
Lucroy became a third-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers where he teamed with fellow Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Rickie Weeks and became a two-time All-Star, starting the 2014 Midsummer Classic.
Lucroy’s introductory video Saturday included the voice of his late college coach, 2022 Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Tony Robichaux.
“You don’t have to be the man, just be a man,” Robichaux’s voice echoed.
“I’ve said this before, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have made it to the big leagues,” Lucroy said. “He was a great man of character. He had a couple of thousand people at his wake in Lafayette at the Cajundome. His funeral was packed out. It was insane. Having that kind of impact is huge. I hope I can have that effect one day.”
Lucroy’s effect on the teams he played on was clear.
He is a member of the Brewers Wall of Honor, having established several club records and the major league record for single-season doubles by a catcher (53 in 2014).
In a fashion befitting Robichaux’s constant preaching on work ethic, Lucroy became one of the game’s top defensive catchers – an area he admitted needed work when he came to the Cajuns.
“Jonathan worked really hard to make sure he was a good catcher,” said Ron Roenicke, who managed Lucroy in Milwaukee. “He was a great man of character, a hard worker and a great teammate.”
While Lucroy’s work ethic made him a seamless fit on the field with the Cajuns, he fit in seamlessly in the state that honored him Saturday night in other ways.
“It’s a privilege,” Lucroy said. “I can’t even say any more than that – an honor and privilege. I’m a Florida kid, but I’m a redneck, so I fit in. I seamlessly integrated when I moved here. We were hunting and fishing. I was a natural. I married a Cajun girl. I’m very privileged to be a small part of it.”
Contact Jason at pughj@nsula.edu