- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Coaching Changes
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
0
Posted on 4/22/23 at 8:20 pm to PenguinPubes
Heck, LSU baseball used to be even worse than Ben's story. Jim Smith was the LSU baseball coach in the 70's. He was also the equipment manager for the football team at the same time.
Posted on 4/22/23 at 8:22 pm to PenguinPubes
While impressive, I dont believe LSU could not afford baseballs....
This post was edited on 4/23/23 at 2:33 pm
Posted on 4/22/23 at 8:31 pm to oldskule
quote:
I dont believe could not afford baseballs....
The program (if thats what you want to call it) was in bad shape. Im sure there was enough in the account to cover a few new balls but thats not what I think was being implied. No money was spent on baseball until Skip showed that it could be successful. This story along with countless others, show how in tuned he was with EVERY small detail that would help progress the program into what it is today. He didnt have social media to get the message out or GoFundMe to raise money. No, he had the #1 pick in the draft signing bp balls to help save a couple bucks to put it toward something else.
This post was edited on 4/22/23 at 9:01 pm
Posted on 4/22/23 at 8:37 pm to Lsudave89
quote:
Makes me realize, although I was here and pulling for each championship team skip had, just how much of an impact he and his time had on college baseball overall
In Skip's first season as HC in 1984, average attendance was 918 per baseball game (22k attendance in 24 home games), growing to 1630 average attendance in his second year.
lsusports.net bottom of link has attendance figures per year.
Posted on 4/22/23 at 8:41 pm to PenguinPubes
I loved the story (Ben told on today’s broadcast) about when Bianco was catching Ben at LSU and how Bianco, during a catcher’s trip to the mound, would make Ben stand at the bottom the mound while Bianco stood at the top! Helped them see eye to eye! ??
Posted on 4/22/23 at 8:43 pm to PenguinPubes
Skip was such a tight arse, and honestly pretty unethical when it came to $. I had a buddy who played in the late 90’s. I asked hey man I know y’all get a crap ton of gear from Nike, can you get me a tshirt or pair of shorts? He said skip only let them take 1 of everything and all the rest was sold at his baseball camps. You know skip pocketed that $. Then the players were basically forced to live in the ghetto apartments that skip owned in the gardere/gsri/jasper area. No way that any students would have lived there, it was the hood. He had guaranteed good tenants in his ghetto apartments.
Posted on 4/22/23 at 8:46 pm to oldskule
quote:
While impressive, I dont believe could not afford baseballs....
The article below will give you some perspective on LSU baseball prior to and just after Skip was hired. The article is a bit hokey (written from the point of view of the stadium) and it comes from Bleacher Report, but it does paint an accurate picture of reality of LSU baseball in the early to mid 1980s.
Article on the Old Alex Box Stadium
Posted on 4/23/23 at 9:06 am to PenguinPubes
How about this. Long beore Skip , Jim Smith had a chicken wire fence built on the stadium roof. It was there to catch foul balls the went over the top of the stands. He would reward the kids a quarter for each ball they returned.This was in the late 1960s and 70s.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 9:20 am to PenguinPubes
Funny & great story. I was waiting for BM to say he and Springer use to also go around with their hats in their hands and sell raffle tix for the 50-50 drawing in the 7th inning. Good ole days at the ballpark.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 10:12 am to Springlake Tiger
quote:
Springlake Tiger
Yeah a lot of truth to this and I’ve heard similar stories from friends who worked camps and such and others from back then.
Still need to keep the focus on how great Skip was for LSU overall. You can’t put a dollar figure on what he meant and how good he was.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 10:17 am to WylieTiger
quote:
It’s up there with the SEC tourney game that finished at like 2am. The broadcast group was delirious and saying off the wall commentary. It was gold!
Todd Walker was funny as frick that night
Posted on 4/23/23 at 11:09 am to PenguinPubes
I remember those days well. The bat girls would come into the stands to retrieve foul balls. They would also take them from you if you retrieved foul balls in the parking lot across the street from the old box. My dad tells stories of Skip coming up into the stands during games to ask if you were having a good experience, how were concessions, etc. I didn’t get an autographed ball from Big Ben.
This was when Alex Box was general admission seating. You could get a family book of tickets for $25 for the whole season.
This was when Alex Box was general admission seating. You could get a family book of tickets for $25 for the whole season.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 11:51 am to PenguinPubes
Where there is a will, there is a way.
That’s why we all pulled for Wade.
Dude wanted to do anything to win.
That’s why we all pulled for Wade.
Dude wanted to do anything to win.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 12:01 pm to armytiger96
quote:
My dad tells stories of Skip coming up into the stands during games to ask if you were having a good experience, how were concessions,
I bet he did ask about the concessions. He got a very large cut - if not all - of the concession sales.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 12:14 pm to PenguinPubes
The best line of the day was “Cajun Confirmation”. That was a tremendous bit they did.
This post was edited on 4/23/23 at 12:16 pm
Posted on 4/23/23 at 12:15 pm to armytiger96
Not sure of the exact time frame; there use to be a hole in the chain link fence on the third base side which allowed you access to the train tracks to chase foul balls. Not sure when they fixed that.
Posted on 4/23/23 at 1:59 pm to Curtis Lowe
quote:
Delluci's story about the mimeographed copy of the offer to walk-on and earn book money from LSU was funny. Just a reflection of the talent that Skip had coming in the door during the early 1990s.
Delucci is probably the most bummer miss for me because you just know how badly he would have wanted to be here.
Page 2 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News