March 24, 2005
The Baylor "B" Association has continued recognizing the accomplishments of former student-athlete standouts this year by honoring five former baseball players as 2005 Baylor Baseball Legends. The recognition ceremonies will take place at upcoming home conference games. The list of 2005 Baseball honorees includes: Luke Prestridge (1B, '76-'78), Jonathan Perlman (P, '77-'79), Eric Nelson (P, '98-'02), Marty Crawford (LF, '90-'93), Mickey Sullivan (RF, '53-57).
The honor schedule is as follows:
March 19 - BU vs. Texas, 6:00 p.m. - Luke Prestridge (1B, '76-'79)
March 20 - BU vs. Texas, 1:00 p.m. - Jonathan Perlman (P, '77-'79)
April 10 - BU vs. Kansas State, 6:00 p.m. - Eric Nelson (2B, '96-'99)
April 30 - BU vs. Texas Tech, 6:00 p.m. - Marty Crawford (2B, '93-'96)
May 13 - BU vs. Texas A&M, 7:00 p.m. - Mickey Sullivan (LF, '52-54)
The recognition ceremonies will take place just prior to the start of the ballgames.
While at Baylor, Luke Prestridge earned an amazing seven letters in two different sports (3 in football and 4 in baseball. As a first baseman for the Bears, Prestridge recorded 1312 putouts during his career, which is the second highest total in Baylor history. He was also a member of the 1977 and '78 teams that advanced to the College World Series, and for two consecutive years (1977 and 1978), he was selected to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team. In his final two seasons at Baylor, Prestridge led his teams in three different batting categories: In 1978, he led the team with 62 hits while posting a team best .332 batting average. In 1979, he led the team in RBIs with 30. Luke concluded his baseball career that same year after being drafted as a punter by Denver Broncos in the National Football League. He played six seasons in the NFL, leading the league in punting in 1980.
Jon Perlman pitched for the Bears from 1978 -1979, earning a spot on the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team in 1979. He also earned All-Southwest Conference honors in '79. During the '79 season, Jon earned 12 wins for the season which was 7th in the NCAA for that year, and ranks second most in school history for a single season. He is currently ranked 9th on Baylor's list of career ERAs with 2.92. Jon was a first round pick (12th overall) of the Chicago Cubs in 1979. Jon also had stints with the San Francisco Giants, and the Cleveland Indians.
Eric Nelson played second base for the Bears form 1996-1999. He was selected to the All-American team in 1999, and earned Academic All-District Honors, All Region Honors, as well as Big XII All-Conference, and Big XII Academic All-Conference Honors. That same year, Eric was presented with the Larry Isbell Most Valuable Player Award for his outstanding play. While at Baylor, Eric set several batting records including, the highest batting average in a season batting .417, most hits in a season with 58, most hits in a career with 147, most RBIs in a career with 82, and the overall best slugging percentage of .744. Eric was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 8th round of the 1999 Major League Baseball draft.
Marty Crawford played second base for the Bears from 1993-1996, earning All-Region and All-Conference honors in '95 and '96. He received back to back NCAA Player of the week honors during the 1996 season. Marty was also a two-time winner of the Larry Isbell Most Valuable Player Award in '95 and '96. He is currently ranked in the top five of seven individual player categories including career batting average, career hits, career triples, and career RBIs.
Mickey Sullivan was an All-American out-fielder who lettered for the Bears from 1952 to 1954. In 1954, he set a school record with a .603 batting average and he concluded his career with a slugging percentage of .731, which is the 2nd highest percentage in Baylor baseball history. Twenty years after he left Baylor as a player, Mickey returned to his alma mater to become the head baseball coach, a position he held until 1994. During that time, he accumulated 649 wins, 233 of which were conference wins. He led the Bears to the College World Series in 1977 and again in 1978. Mickey was name Southwest Conference Coach of the Year five times and was inducted in the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982.
The Baylor Legends program is designed to bring former letterwinners and coaches back to campus to celebrate their athletic success at Baylor and their post-collegiate endeavors. Baylor Legends who have been honored in other sports this year were: Micheal Williams, Terry Teagle, and Jerry Mallet, in men's basketball and Lynnell Pyron Pilgrim, Maggie Stinnett and Suzie Snider in women's basketball. During the 2004 football season, Grant Teaff, Santana Dotson, Gerald McNeil, David Sledge, Stanley Williams, and Neal Jeffrey were honored as legends in football.
