Ron Washington

Starring as an undersized, 130 pound catcher, Ron Washington graduated from John McDonogh High School in New Orleans in 1970. Initially signed by the Kansas City Royals organization, Washington made his major league debut in 1977 for the Los Angeles Dodgers. His big league career went on to last a decade with additional stints playing middle infield for the Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and Houston Astros. Washington finished his major league career in 1989 with a lifetime batting average of .261. After 16 years of serving as a coach for the New York Mets and Oakland A's, Washington became the manager of the Texas Rangers in 2006. In 2010, Washington led the Rangers all the way to their first World Series appearance. He was recently inducted to the New Orleans Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.

Mel Ott

Mel Ott was born in Gretna, on the West Bank of New Orleans, in 1909. He played right field for the New York Giants from 1926 to 1947. At only 5’9” and 170 pounds, Ott led the National League in home runs 6 seasons, finishing with 511 home runs for his career. Known for the way he lifted his front leg when batting, Ott was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951. At the age of 49, Ott died in an auto accident in New Orleans. The park in Gretna that bears his name was a place I often visited as a kid. I'll never forget a particular football game I was playing there being interrupted by the mounumental announcement that the 1982 LSU Tigers football team had defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 20-10.

Tookie Spann

Emmanuel "Tookie" Spann attended Brother Martin High School in New Orleans where he starred as both a football and baseball player. During the 1983-84 school year, Spann led the Crusaders to a Catholic League championship as the quarterback of the football team and then helped the baseball team go on all the way to win what many still consider to be a legendary state championship. Spann went on to play both sports at Tulane University as well. As a defensive back on the football team, Spann served as a team captain during both the 1986 and 1987 seasons under coach Mack Brown. As an outfielder for the Green Wave baseball team, Spann hit .361 for his career with 52 home runs. Leading Tulane to 3 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, Spann was named All-American by Baseball America after each of the 1987 and 1988 seasons. Spann was selected in the 3rd round of the 1988 Major League Draft by the Detroit Tigers, but after 6 seasons of toiling in the minor leagues retired from professional baseball.

Augie Schmidt

Augie Schmidt was once an exhilirating shortstop who played his college ball at the University of New Orleans during the early '80's. Hitting .342 with 30 home runs during his college carerr, Schmidt led the UNO Privateers to 3 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances. In 1982, which was Augie's junior season at UNO, Schmidt was selected as the Golden Spikes award winner as the nation’s top amateur player. That same year, the Toronto Blue Jays made him the 2nd overall selection in the Major League Draft. Unfortunately, Schmidt languished then fizzled out in the minor leagues, never making it up to play in the majors. Schmidt currently coaches the Carthage College baseball team in his hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Louisiana Lightning & the Yankees

Former New York Yankess pitcher Ron Guidry grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana. During his stellar 1978 season for the then world champion Yankees, Guidry won the Cy Young Award posting a record of 25-3 and a mind-blowing earned run average of a mere 1.74. Aptly nicknamed "Louisiana Lighning", Guidry became an iconic figure in his home state. I can clearly recall Louisiana Lightning posters being given away at McDonald's locations in New Orleans.

Attampting to capitalize on the Guidry craze in Cajun country, the New York Yankess played a handful of exhibition games in the Superdome during each of the 1980, '81, '82, and '83 pre-seasons. Here's a photo of Reggie Jackson taking it all in...

Will Clark

Will Clark graduated from Jesuit High School in 1982. then played college baseball at Mississippi State University, then went on to enjoy a 15 year career in the major leagues. Some remember Clark as a member of the 1984 Olympic team. Others recall that in his first major league at bat, Will "the Thrill" hit a home run off of Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan. Then there was the 1989 National League Championship Series in which Clark of the San Francisco Giants collected 13 hits and a .650 batting average in 5 games against the Cubs. In all, Clark became a 6-time all-star, finishing his career with a .303 batting average and 1205 rbi's. Aside from the Giants, Clark also played first base for the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, and St. Louis Cardinals. In 2005, Clark helped finance the building of a new baseball field at Jesuit High School in New Orleans which now bears his name.

Rusty Staub

Rusty Staub attended Jesuit High School in New Orleans, then went on to enjoy a successful 23-year career playing Major League Baseball. First breaking into the bigs with the Houston Colt 45's in 1963, Staub became a 7-time all-star also playing with the Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers, and Texas Rangers. For his career, Staub finished with 292 home runs and 1,466 rbi's.