This is the 9th and final feature in a series profiling this year's inductees for the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor, which have been posted every week at baylorbears.com.
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
In a lot of ways, Max Muncy was like every other kid growing up, dreaming of being a professional baseball player one day and ultimately winning the World Series.
His just happened to come true.
"You always have doubts, you just never know if you're good enough. You're talking about the best players in the world," said Muncy, who will be inducted into the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame next Friday, Nov. 3, as part of the 2023 class.
"I was a kid that was always like, 'Hey, I know I'm going to get there.' High school, college, I've never known anything else. But I felt like I was good enough to get there at some point."
Not only was Muncy "good enough to get there," the two-time MLB all-star made it to the top three years ago when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series that was played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, less than a half hour from his hometown of Keller.
"It obviously wasn't the ballpark that I grew up going to, it's right next door," Muncy said. "But still, ever since I was a little kid, you're going to Arlington to watch Major League Baseball. I get to win my first World Series in the Texas Rangers' brand-new stadium that they've hardly even played in. That was a pretty cool experience."
A versatile infielder who has played first, second, third base and outfield in an eight-year MLB career, Muncy hit .318 with one homer and six RBIs in helping the Dodgers win their seventh World Series title. In a COVID-shortened 60-game season, Los Angeles won the National League West Division, swept Milwaukee and San Diego and then beat the Atlanta Braves in seven before winning the World Series in six.
"That's the whole reason that you play the game, at least for me," he said. "I know for some people, the whole reason they play is to make as much money as they can. But for me, it was always about winning. For me, that's something I always dreamed about. And that was always the goal. To finally accomplish it, to hold that trophy, it was a very special moment."
A first-team all-state pick and Under Armour All-American as a senior at Keller High School, Muncy showed his versatility there as well, playing first base as a sophomore, catcher as a junior and third base as a senior, shifting over to shortstop when the starter got hurt.
Admitting that Baylor was "never a school on my radar," Muncy had his eye on several bigger college programs. But in summer ball, every time he looked up, there was then-Baylor assistant coach Mitch Thompson scouting from the stands.
"If I played 50 games that summer, he was probably at 40 or 41 of them," Muncy said of Thompson, now going into his second year as Baylor baseball's head coach. "There were other schools, bigger schools that I wanted to go to, but how could I turn down a guy that I can tell wants me so bad? He knows exactly what kind of player I am. He's not seeing just a snapshot of me. For me, it was just a no-brainer to go play for someone that cared about me that much."
Jumping into the lineup as a freshman, Muncy started 59 games at first base and hit .300 with a school freshman-record 11 home runs and 53 RBIs, earning Freshman All-America honors and being named to the Fort Worth Regional all-tournament team.
"Showing up as a freshman, I wasn't sure what to expect," he said. "I was more of a second baseman, third baseman, and opening day I'm in the lineup at first base because that was the only position that was open. It was a shock to me, and then it was even more of a shock to see that I was batting 3-hole in the first game. I don't think you ever really expect that."
A first-team All-Big 12 pick each of his last two seasons, Muncy hit .322 both years with a combined 16 home runs and 100 RBIs. As a junior, he was part of a Big 12 championship team that won 49 games and advanced through the Waco Regional before losing a pair of one-run games to Arkansas in a frustrating Super Regional at Baylor Ballpark.
"It felt like every year, we lost on a bizarre play or just something weird happening," he said. "Same thing that year. We felt like we absolutely dominated (Arkansas) in a three-game series, and we somehow lost two of those games."
Selected in the fifth round of the 2012 MLB Draft by the Oakland A's, Muncy climbed the ranks in the Oakland organization before making his MLB debut on April 25, 2015, when second baseman Ben Zobrist was placed on the injured list.
After splitting the 2016 season between Oakland and the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, Muncy was designated for assignment on Jan. 3, 2017 and released by the A's toward the end of spring training on April 3, 2017.
"I was in a dark place at the time," he said. "And with everything that was going on with me personally, it was actually a relief. I was smiling that that had happened. It was kind of like, 'I don't have to deal with this anymore.' I can go and do something else and be happy about it."
Taking a couple of weeks to think through things, Muncy realized how much he missed the game and signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers on April 27, 2017. Assigned to the Oklahoma City Dodgers of the Pacific Coast League, he hit .309 with 12 homers and 44 RBIs.
"I kind of needed that to give me the motivation to turn things around," he said. "It really turned my life around at that point."
Making his first All-Star game appearance in 2019, Muncy hit .251 that season with 35 homers and a career-high 98 RBIs and also received two MVP votes. During the shortened 2020 season, he hit only .192 with 12 homers and 27 RBIs, but hit a grand slam off Grant Dayton in an 11-run first inning in Game 3 of the NLCS versus the Braves.
"When you show up every single year, the only goal is to win the World Series," he said. "And obviously we've fallen short of that multiple times, but the Dodgers are one of the few organizations where it's a realistic goal in spring training.
"I know people talk about it being a 60-game season and all that. But to us, it was real. To the fans of L.A., it was real. We've seen videos of just how much that meant to a lot of those people that were stuck at home with everything that was going on and not sure what was going to happen in their life. Just to give them a little piece of that, that's as real as it gets to me."
For his career, Muncy has hit .227 with 180 homers and 489 RBIs, becoming a fan favorite in Los Angeles.
"I hope I've still got several more good years in me," he said. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm not planning on hanging them up anytime soon. My dream, obviously, would be to end my career with the same organization that I was able to break out with."
Married to a fellow Baylor grad in 2018, Max and his wife, Kellie, have a 2-year-old daughter, Sophie; and a son, Wyatt, who was born this year.
"Me and my family, we try to make it back at least once a year to Waco," Muncy said. "And every time we go down there, it just feels as special as ever. This trip, getting inducted into the Hall of Fame, I'm sure it will be pretty emotional for us."
Joining Muncy in the 2023 Baylor Hall of Fame class are football's J.D. Walton and Ken Quesenberry, track and field's Stan Curry, Sandy Forsythe Massey and Tiffany Townsend, former tennis All-American Denes Lukacs and longtime men's basketball radio and TV analyst Pat Nunley.
Also, former men's tennis player and longtime trial lawyer George Chandler will be added to the Wall of Honor.
The Hall of Fame banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. next Friday, Nov. 3, at the Cashion Building Banquet Room on the Baylor campus.
