Thanks again coach!
Texas A&M Baseball
* He’s moved back to College Station since retiring from coaching. He had problems selling his house when he moved to Huntsville, so he ended up leasing it while he was at Sam Houston State and is now back in the same house he left. He will always be grateful of the College Station community for helping bring up his boys in a good school system.
* He and Coach Childress are good friends. He was concerned about leaving the guys in good hands when he left, and after meeting with Childress, he wasn’t worried about that anymore. He and Childress have always had a good relationship and has been welcomed back to watch practice and be around the team on multiple occasions. He loves watching the Aggies play, and when teams can run like A&M can, it’s a fun thing to watch.
* Childress has done a great job of honoring those who have come before him, and you can see that in all of the murals at the new baseball park. He told him once that A&M baseball was founded on integrity and character and hoped that Childress would continue that, which he has.
* The new stadium is beautiful and they did a great job with it. It’s almost a disadvantage for the home team because every visiting team is excited and amped up to play at Blue Bell Park. He would rank the game atmosphere up with the likes of Mississippi State and LSU. The beauty of the stadium is the two-tiered stadium that they were able to keep from old Olsen Field.
* The group from the late 90’s was a great group to coach. He knew those teams from that era were going to be great well ahead of when they actually were. When the majority of them were freshmen, he knew that by their junior and senior years, the team would be pretty special.
* When he was recruiting Scheschuk, he went to his home and sat down with his mother. After talking a while, he figured out that Scheschuk’s deceased father played baseball against him in high school in southern New Mexico. After looking through an old scrapbook, he discovered a picture of him and Scheschuk’s father standing next to each other on an all-tournament team.
* The teams from the 90’s were great because they had the pitching and outstanding hitting and defense. Scheschuk was one of the leaders on the team, and even took over some practice duties that he would normally do.
* He remembers a lot of the wins he’s had, but he remembers all of the losses. In 1987-1989 the team went to regionals with a chance to go to Omaha and lost the final game three years in a row. The losses stay with you more than the wins, but he still has a great recollection of the great victories he had in his career.
* He gets a chance to go to Omaha every year because he is on the Board of Directors and thinks it is unbelievable how many mistakes are made by the players in the first two days because of nerves. If you can go to Omaha in back-to-back years, and relieve some of those nerves by being familiar with the scene, you have a chance to do some damage.
* He recaps the 1999 regional game against Clemson in which Steven Truitt hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth inning, eventually sending A&M to the College World Series that year.
* He remembers the athleticism that Truitt brought to the table and thinks that the home run was very deserving after the amount of work he did and the talent he brought to the team.
* Leadership comes in all sorts of packages and not everyone is a leader. Body language and tone of voice are greater than the words that are being said when it comes to being a vocal leader. As a coach, you have to allow different personalities and different leaders to step up in order to be successful.
* The numbers from the 1999 team will never be duplicated again because it’s harder to put that much talent together on one team these days. There weren’t as many good programs at the time, so all of the great players jumped onto just a few teams instead of being spread across the country. The bats were also really alive during that time which helped the power and hitting numbers across the board.
* He recaps the series against Baylor at the end of the regular season in 1998 that A&M won to give them the regular season Big 12 title.
* He’s enjoyed watching the current A&M team and thinks the team is very good at playing the short game because they are so fast. He enjoys watching the pitchers do their job too because they are so dominant. The team is well coached and can run so well which makes them a very fun team to watch.
John Scheschuk
* Coach Childress reached out to him when he was first hired and he was humbled by Childress’ attempt to bridge the gap between former and current players.
* The new park is incredible and it’s amazing that baseball at the college level has all of the amenities of major and minor league parks. A&M did a great job of stepping up and leveling off the field with the competitors.
* The A&M job is one of the top jobs in the country. SEC baseball is much more of an event that Big 12 baseball and it’s going to be tough transitioning to that league. In 1998 when Mississippi State came to College Station, they brought a lot of fans which can be said for all of the teams in the SEC.
* There is no doubt that Johnson assumed the role of a father figure for him while he was around the college age. At the time, it’s hard to know that is what was happening, but looking back on it, Johnson was without the biggest father figure for him during that time.
* He thinks that if the team would have gone to Omaha in 1998 that they would have won the national championship in 1999. The 1998 team could have also won a national title had they made it to Omaha because of how dominant they were on the mound. The loss in 1998 to Mississippi State still hurts to this day and if he had one game back in his career, it would be that one.
* The home run that Truitt hit in the 1999 regional game is the best sports memory of his life. Truitt was very good under pressure and delivered in that scenario. The fans don’t understand the amount of pressure that the players feel when the game is on the line.
* If the 1999 team was playing now, they would still win a lot of games and hit a lot of home runs just because there was so much power throughout that line-up. They would not hit the 128 home runs they hit that year, but they would still make the ball fly and have decent power statistics.
* The teams he played on still have a very tight bond to this day and still talk all the time. In the past two weeks, he’s talked to at least 10 different players from either the 1998 or 1999 team. The day when A&M beat Baylor in 1998 to give them the regular season Big 12 title was very special to him and he will always remember it.
* Coach Childress retired Johnson’s number last year and he is completely deserving of that because of the legacy he had while at A&M.
* The one thing that concerns him with the current A&M team is the lack of power because there will be scenarios down the road where a big-time home run is about the only thing that will be able to bail you out of trouble. The team is good enough on the mound however, that it will be equally as hard for other teams to get that massive game-opening hit off of them.
Steven Truitt
* He recaps the 1999 regional game against Clemson from his perspective and talks about the mountainous home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning that eventually sent A&M to Omaha.
* He’s headed up to Blue Bell Park this weekend to see the new stadium for the first time and is really looking forward to it. A&M has a great team this year and it should be a fun time.
Mark Johnson & John Scheschuk tell great A&M baseball stories
Notes from interview w/ Johnson & Scheschuk (w/ cameo from Steven Truitt)
Mark Johnson* He’s moved back to College Station since retiring from coaching. He had problems selling his house when he moved to Huntsville, so he ended up leasing it while he was at Sam Houston State and is now back in the same house he left. He will always be grateful of the College Station community for helping bring up his boys in a good school system.
* He and Coach Childress are good friends. He was concerned about leaving the guys in good hands when he left, and after meeting with Childress, he wasn’t worried about that anymore. He and Childress have always had a good relationship and has been welcomed back to watch practice and be around the team on multiple occasions. He loves watching the Aggies play, and when teams can run like A&M can, it’s a fun thing to watch.
* Childress has done a great job of honoring those who have come before him, and you can see that in all of the murals at the new baseball park. He told him once that A&M baseball was founded on integrity and character and hoped that Childress would continue that, which he has.
* The new stadium is beautiful and they did a great job with it. It’s almost a disadvantage for the home team because every visiting team is excited and amped up to play at Blue Bell Park. He would rank the game atmosphere up with the likes of Mississippi State and LSU. The beauty of the stadium is the two-tiered stadium that they were able to keep from old Olsen Field.
* The group from the late 90’s was a great group to coach. He knew those teams from that era were going to be great well ahead of when they actually were. When the majority of them were freshmen, he knew that by their junior and senior years, the team would be pretty special.
* When he was recruiting Scheschuk, he went to his home and sat down with his mother. After talking a while, he figured out that Scheschuk’s deceased father played baseball against him in high school in southern New Mexico. After looking through an old scrapbook, he discovered a picture of him and Scheschuk’s father standing next to each other on an all-tournament team.
* The teams from the 90’s were great because they had the pitching and outstanding hitting and defense. Scheschuk was one of the leaders on the team, and even took over some practice duties that he would normally do.
* He remembers a lot of the wins he’s had, but he remembers all of the losses. In 1987-1989 the team went to regionals with a chance to go to Omaha and lost the final game three years in a row. The losses stay with you more than the wins, but he still has a great recollection of the great victories he had in his career.
* He gets a chance to go to Omaha every year because he is on the Board of Directors and thinks it is unbelievable how many mistakes are made by the players in the first two days because of nerves. If you can go to Omaha in back-to-back years, and relieve some of those nerves by being familiar with the scene, you have a chance to do some damage.
* He recaps the 1999 regional game against Clemson in which Steven Truitt hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth inning, eventually sending A&M to the College World Series that year.
* He remembers the athleticism that Truitt brought to the table and thinks that the home run was very deserving after the amount of work he did and the talent he brought to the team.
* Leadership comes in all sorts of packages and not everyone is a leader. Body language and tone of voice are greater than the words that are being said when it comes to being a vocal leader. As a coach, you have to allow different personalities and different leaders to step up in order to be successful.
* The numbers from the 1999 team will never be duplicated again because it’s harder to put that much talent together on one team these days. There weren’t as many good programs at the time, so all of the great players jumped onto just a few teams instead of being spread across the country. The bats were also really alive during that time which helped the power and hitting numbers across the board.
* He recaps the series against Baylor at the end of the regular season in 1998 that A&M won to give them the regular season Big 12 title.
* He’s enjoyed watching the current A&M team and thinks the team is very good at playing the short game because they are so fast. He enjoys watching the pitchers do their job too because they are so dominant. The team is well coached and can run so well which makes them a very fun team to watch.
John Scheschuk
* Coach Childress reached out to him when he was first hired and he was humbled by Childress’ attempt to bridge the gap between former and current players.
* The new park is incredible and it’s amazing that baseball at the college level has all of the amenities of major and minor league parks. A&M did a great job of stepping up and leveling off the field with the competitors.
* The A&M job is one of the top jobs in the country. SEC baseball is much more of an event that Big 12 baseball and it’s going to be tough transitioning to that league. In 1998 when Mississippi State came to College Station, they brought a lot of fans which can be said for all of the teams in the SEC.
* There is no doubt that Johnson assumed the role of a father figure for him while he was around the college age. At the time, it’s hard to know that is what was happening, but looking back on it, Johnson was without the biggest father figure for him during that time.
* He thinks that if the team would have gone to Omaha in 1998 that they would have won the national championship in 1999. The 1998 team could have also won a national title had they made it to Omaha because of how dominant they were on the mound. The loss in 1998 to Mississippi State still hurts to this day and if he had one game back in his career, it would be that one.
* The home run that Truitt hit in the 1999 regional game is the best sports memory of his life. Truitt was very good under pressure and delivered in that scenario. The fans don’t understand the amount of pressure that the players feel when the game is on the line.
* If the 1999 team was playing now, they would still win a lot of games and hit a lot of home runs just because there was so much power throughout that line-up. They would not hit the 128 home runs they hit that year, but they would still make the ball fly and have decent power statistics.
* The teams he played on still have a very tight bond to this day and still talk all the time. In the past two weeks, he’s talked to at least 10 different players from either the 1998 or 1999 team. The day when A&M beat Baylor in 1998 to give them the regular season Big 12 title was very special to him and he will always remember it.
* Coach Childress retired Johnson’s number last year and he is completely deserving of that because of the legacy he had while at A&M.
* The one thing that concerns him with the current A&M team is the lack of power because there will be scenarios down the road where a big-time home run is about the only thing that will be able to bail you out of trouble. The team is good enough on the mound however, that it will be equally as hard for other teams to get that massive game-opening hit off of them.
Steven Truitt
* He recaps the 1999 regional game against Clemson from his perspective and talks about the mountainous home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning that eventually sent A&M to Omaha.
* He’s headed up to Blue Bell Park this weekend to see the new stadium for the first time and is really looking forward to it. A&M has a great team this year and it should be a fun time.
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