By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Until getting a call from Baylor Associate AD Walter Abercrombie a few months ago, Josh Ludy didn't even know there was such a thing as a Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame, "let alone expect to ever get inducted into it."

            "Honestly, it completely caught me off guard," said Ludy, an All-American catcher and Big 12 Player of the Year as a senior in 2012. 

            Elected in his first year of eligibility, Ludy will be inducted Nov. 18 as part of the 2022 Hall of Fame class that includes Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III. 

            "It was a pretty big honor to see some of the names on the list," he said, "and knowing I'm going to be next to them."

            A native of Portland, Ind., Ludy said the reason he originally came to Baylor was one man: Mitch Thompson. An assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the time, Thompson returned to Baylor this season as the head baseball coach. 

            "He saw me down on the field in East Cobb, Georgia, ended up going up to my house for a visit and then got me down on a visit," Ludy said. "Once they had me down there, it was love at first sight. That was pretty much it for me."

            Stuck behind Gregg Glime his first two years at Baylor and playing on a torn meniscus in his left knee as a junior, Ludy was a .287 hitter with five career home runs going into that magical 2012 season. 

            "Most of the time, it wasn't too bad," Ludy said of the knee injury. "But, I definitely couldn't bend it nearly as well as I needed to, especially catching a little bit, so I had to alter my stance and obviously there was a lot of soreness with it. 

            "But, having that surgery in the summer, instead of going to play, and then doing the rehab is what really got my legs stronger than they had ever been. That helped me quite a bit my senior year with my swing and everything, just being able to use my legs so much more."

            The historic 2012 season didn't exactly start out that way. Losing three in a row, the Bears fell to 9-6 on March 7, getting shut out by Michigan State, 4-0. 

            Then, the beaver showed up and everything changed. 

            First spotted in the Baylor Ballpark parking lot, scavenging for food, the furry creature became the unofficial team mascot and sparked a Big 12-record 24-game winning streak and 18-0 start in conference play with the rallying cry, "Feed the Beaver!"

            "At one point, we had it on a leash, and we were walking it like it was a pet," Ludy said. "After Max Muncy hit a home run one game (pitcher Josh) Michalec stood up and yelled, 'Feed the Beaver!' From then on, every home run we hit, we fed him. It just kind of grew into what it was from there."

            Ludy's surge began even later. Through the first 25 games of the season, he had not hit one home run all year.

            "I remember we were playing Texas Tech, and Coach (Trevor) Mote came up to me and said, 'Hey, if you get a single or a walk, are you scoring from first right now?''' Ludy said. "And I was like, 'Probably not.' So, he said, 'All right, hit the ball in the air and drive people in.' I went out and hit two doubles that game, and then I hit my first home run down at Houston. Honestly, that was the moment when it started clicking for me."

            In a 14-5 road win over Houston on March 27, Ludy went 4-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored, four RBI and a stolen base, starting a stretch that saw him hit 16 home runs over the last 41 games. 

            What convinced him about how special that team was, though, came a month later when Ludy struck out with the potential winning run on base in the eighth inning of a series-opening game at Texas A&M. 

            "They brought in a righty to throw to me, and he actually struck me out. And then, Logan Vick came up and drove in the go-ahead runs right after me," he said. "Even when I failed, or somebody else failed, there was always somebody there to pick us up. That was the kind of thing that had been going on for 24 games. But, that was the biggest moment – at least for me – where it was like, no matter what happens, somebody's got you."

            Knocked out of the Big 12 tournament by Oklahoma, the Bears began the NCAA Waco Regional with a 4-2 loss to Oral Roberts. But, they came back to win four in a row, beating Dallas Baptist, 8-2, in the region final at Baylor Ballpark. 

            "We just never really had a chance to catch up in that first game, but I don't think any of us felt like we weren't going to win it from Day 1," he said. 

            With Baylor two outs from sweeping Arkansas in the Super Regional and going back to the College World Series, shortstop Jake Miller mishandled a potential game-ending double-play grounder. The Razorbacks scored the tying and winning runs on hit batters to rally for a 5-4 win in Game 2, then came back to win the decisive Game 3, 1-0, in 10 innings. 

            "Game 3 was just a dogfight," Ludy said. "We had two good pitchers going, and Tyler Bremer probably threw the game of his life. And (Arkansas is) bringing out guys that are future Major League hitters. It was just an all-around great game and, unfortunately, we came up a little short."

            Ludy finished his monster senior season hitting .362 with a Big 12-best 16 home runs and 71 RBI, helping the Bears win the Big 12 regular-season championship and finish one shy of the program record for wins (49-17). He was a consensus All-American (first team by Baseball America) and Big 12 Player of the Year. 

            Drafted in the eighth round by Philadelphia, Ludy played two seasons in the Phillies' organization and part of a third season with Oakland's Class A team before hitting 42 homers in four seasons with the independent River City Rascals. 

            A player/coach his last two years in River City, Ludy is managing a gun shop in the St. Louis area, but would like to get back into coaching at some point. Josh and his wife, Erin, have a 4-year-old daughter, Laurel, and 2-year-old son, Josh or "JJ."

            "Getting to take them down there is probably what I'm most excited about," Josh said of the Hall of Fame weekend, "for them to see where my wife and I met and get to take my kids down to the stadium and everything and see where I got to live out my college years."

            Joining Ludy and RGIII in the 2022 Hall of Fame class are Doak Field (football), Quentin Iglehart-Summers and Gary Kafer (track and field), Jeremy Alcorn (men's golf), Taylor Barnes Fallon (volleyball) and Tweety Carter (men's basketball). 

            The Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, in the Cashion Building Banquet Room on the Baylor University campus. Tickets are $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available at the green ($600) and gold ($800) levels and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at tammy_hardin@baylor.edu.