The phone call did not seem destined to highlight Shocker baseball folklore. It left coach Gene Stephenson unsure about the subject – a shortstop described as not very big, not very fast, not a power hitter – playing in Alaska in the summer of 1981.
Stephenson remembers the conversation well. If the story of the 1982 College World Series Shockers starts there, it is a humble beginning, but one full of baseball sense.
Sometimes you simply need someone who can catch and throw.
Shockers Phil Stephenson (Gene's brother and first baseman), pitcher Don Heinkel and second baseman Jim Thomas played for the Goldpanners in Fairbanks.