30 Seasons of LSU Baseball - The Tiger Rag Years: 1979-2008

Looking back at three decades of LSU Baseball: 1979-2008

by Matt Deville
Tiger Rag Senior Editor

(At left) The mastermind behind “The Program of the Decade,” Skip Bertman served as LSU’s baseball coach from 1984-2001 winning five national championships. (LSU)

Tiger Rag published its first issue on Sept. 1, 1978.

Can you name the coach of the LSU Baseball team at the time?

Well, you can probably look it up, but you can’t think of his name right off hand.
Following the 1978 season, coach Jim Smith was fired after the Tigers went 12-34. Newly-hired athletic director Carl Maddox made what was then considered a great hire bringing in Jack Lamabe from Jacksonville University.

Nicknamed “Tomatoes,” Lamabe was a former big league pitcher, who was a member of the 1967 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. While Lamabe’s résumé was impressive when he arrived in Baton Rouge, it caused little stir on the LSU campus.

Football was king in Tiger Town, and despite being mired down in the twilight years of the Charles McClendon era, Tiger Stadium was still the most important thing in Baton Rouge at that time.

“Daddy” Dale Brown was building the LSU basketball program into a national power and the golden age of the 1980s would draw attention to the LSU Assembly Center and even less from Alex Box Stadium.

(At left) Jack Lamabe played seven seasons in Major League Baseball (1962-68) and was a member of the 1967 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. He later served as LSU’s head baseball coach from 1979-1983. Lamabe died in 2007 at age 71.

Speaking of “The Box,” LSU’s baseball stadium, which even in those days was an old structure, seated only about 2,000 fans in the original grandstand. That wasn’t an issue, however, as only a couple hundred fans would turn out for each game.

Lamabe brought immediate success – for those days anyway – and turned around the Tiger program that went 12-34 in 1978 to a 34-20 record in 1979.

The 1980s brought forth one of the most volatile periods in the history of LSU athletics.
LSU hired the controversial Bob Brodhead to lead the athletic department and under the regime of “Bottom Line Bob,” no one was safe.

Lamabe went 28-21 in 1983 and seemed to be safe as the Brodhead era dawned in Tiger Town.

That is until one morning when he was sitting at his breakfast table in the summer of 1983 and his wife called out, “Jack have you seen this!”

Right there in the classifieds section The Baton Rouge Advocate, Lamabe saw where LSU was taking applications for a new baseball coach. Brodhead had fired Tomatoes and failed to even mention it to him.

While no one should read about their termination in the newspaper, the move by Brodhead set into motion one of the greatest stories in collegiate athletics.

Miami Hurricane assistant coach Stanley “Skip” Bertman was hired to lead the LSU Tigers – and his arrival marked the dawn of new era at Alex Box Stadium.

Bertman’s initial goal was to attract fans to Alex Box Stadium.

(At left) Bertman made “The Box” a household term across the nation. (Photo by Steve Franz/LSU)

Reduced season ticket prices, promotional gimmicks including free Big Macs from McDonalds when a Tiger hits a home run, you name it and Bertman tried it.

And by the way, he could also coach.

The 1975 team, coached by Jim Smith, had been the program’s most successful squad to date. That year, LSU went 40-16, won the SEC championship and advanced to the program’s first-ever NCAA Regional.

In his second season (1985), Bertman had the Tigers in NCAA Regional action and in 1986, the Tigers compiled a 55-14 record and reached the program’s first-ever College World Series.

It would be a sign of things to come.

Over the next 14 seasons, the Tigers made 11 CWS appearances under Bertman. And in 1991, the Tigers were on top. LSU topped Wichita State 6-3 in winning the program’s first-ever national championship.

Two years later, LSU was hoisting its second national title with an 8-0 victory over the Shockers of Wichita State.

With football in the tank and the Shaquille O’Neal era ending, LSU Baseball was the hottest ticket in town.

The legend and lore grew and in 1996, the LSU program experienced its’ crowning moment.

(At left) The Shot Heard ‘Round the Bayou. Warren Morris’ walk-off home run gave the Tigers the 1996 national title and remains the only game-winning home run in College World Series history. (Photo by Steve Franz/LSU)

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the final game of CWS and LSU trailing Miami by a single run, Warren Morris slapped a two-run home run over the right field wall as the Tigers claimed their third national championship. The moment is celebrated annually at Rosenblatt Stadium and is widely considered the greatest moment in college baseball history.

LSU followed with another national title in 1997. The Tigers compiled a 57-13 record, the greatest mark in school history, but it wasn’t nearly as impressive as LSU’s NCAA record 188 home runs.

Bertman made one last curtain call before Rosenblatt’s adoring masses in 2000. While some people felt the game might have passé Skip by, his Tigers compiled a perfect postseason record of 13-0 en route to the program’s fifth national title in 10 seasons. The Tigers beat Stanford 6-5 with a ninth-inning rally, capped by Brad Cresse’s game-winning single.

Bertman called it quits after the 2001 season. In a move he would likely later regret, Bertman, who was promoted to athletic director, hired former longtime assistant coach Smoke Laval from Louisiana-Monroe.

Laval started strong and made back-to-back CWS appearances in 2003 and 2004.

But by 2005, it was apparent Laval wasn’t getting the job done. Following the 2006 season, Bertman fire his successor when LSU missed postseason play for the first time since 1989.

(At left) Laval, who made two trips to Omaha in 2003 and 04, had plenty of critics in his five seasons (2002-06) as LSU’s head coach. (Photo by Steve Franz/LSU)

Bertman rectified his mistake shortly thereafter tapping Notre Dame coach Paul Mainieri as the Tigers new coach.

A former LSU player, Mainieri promised to return LSU to national prominence. It took him a year to get his bearings, but by year two, Mainieri made believers of everyone.

After a slow start in 2008, the Tigers won an SEC record 23 games in a row, captured the SEC Western Division and Tournament titles and roared through regional and super regional play all the way to the College World Series.

Although LSU won only one game in Omaha, the Tigers’ ninth-inning win over Rice in their final at bat was Bertman-esqe and gave LSU fans a sign of things to come.

The Tigers open the 2009 season ranked No. 1 in the nation.

A timeline of LSU Baseball over the last 30 years.

1978 - Coach Jim Smith is fired and is replaced by Jack “Tomatoes” Lamabe.

1979 – Lamabe opens his LSU tenure with a 34-20 record and compiles four winning seasons in the next five seasons.

1983 – Despite going 28-21, Lamabe is fired by athletic director Bob Brodhead. Stanley “Skip” Bertman is hired from Miami.

1984 – Bertman goes 32-23 in his first season at LSU.

(At left) Ben McDonald was an All-American, the first player taken in the 1990 Major League Draft and arguably the greatest player in LSU Baseball history, but he never won a national title. (LSU)

1986 – After reaching NCAA Regional action in 1985, Bertman leads the Tigers to their first-ever College World Series appearance. The SEC Champion Tigers finish fifth in Omaha.

1991 – The Tigers made return trips to the College World Series in 1987, 1988 and 1990, but finish no higher than third. But in 1991, LSU beats Wichita State 6-3 winning the program’s first-ever national title.

1993 – After one-year hiatus from the CWS, the Tigers were back in Omaha in 1993 and won another national title beating Wichita State 8-0.

1996 – The Shot Heard Round the Bayou. Warren Morris’ two-out, two-run, ninth-inning home run catapults the Tigers to their third national title. The home run remains the only national championship-winning homer in CWS history and is the signature moment in the 50-plus years of the CWS.

1997 – Behind Brandon Larson’s 40 home runs, the Tigers compiled the program’s best record ever (57-13) en route to LSU’s fourth national title. The Tigers smashed an NCAA record 188 home runs in 70 games.

(At left) Trailing 5-2 heading after seven innings, LSU rallied for three runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to upend Stanford 6-5 for the 2000 College World Series title. Ryan Theriot is shown here scoring the winning run after Brad Cresse’s game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth. (Photo by Steve Franz/LSU)

2000 – After coming up short in 1998 and 1999, LSU won a fifth national championship in 2000 in dramatic fashion. Brad Cresse laced a ninth-inning, two-RBI single pushing LSU past Stanford 6-5.

2001 – The Tigers did everything to send Bertman out in Omaha, but LSU came up short in a super regional loss to Tulane. Bertman retired from LSU with a 870-330-3 record.

2002 – The Smoke Laval era opens with a 44-22 record. The LSU Baseball community is stricken with grief when All-American third baseman Wally Pontiff died in his sleep of a unknown heart ailment in mid-June.

(At left) No. 31 Forever - Wally Pontiff

2003 – Playing in honor of Pontiff, the Tigers win the SEC title and advance to the program’s first CWS since 2000.

2004 – LSU makes a return trip to Omaha, but Laval goes 0-2 again.

2006 – The Tigers slump to a 35-24 record and miss the postseason for the first time since 1989. Laval is fired a week after the season ends. Paul Mainieri is introduced in July.

2007 – The Mainieri era opens with meager beginnings as the Tigers compile a 29-26-1 record.

2008 – After a slow start, Mainieri’s Tigers win an SEC record 23 games in a row, capture the SEC Tournament title and advance to the College World Series. Ground is also broken on the new Alex Box Stadium, where the Tigers are expected to move for the 2009 season.

2009 – The Tigers are ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll, the Tigers’ first preseason No. 1 ranking since 1996.

Paul Mainieri (LSU)

LSU COACHES OF THE TIGER RAG ERA: 1979-2008

Jack Lamabe - 1979-1983 - 134-115 - .538
Skip Bertman - 1984-2001 - 870-330 - .724
Smoke Laval - 2002-2006 - 210-109 - .658
Paul Mainieri - 2007-Present - 78-45-2 - .632

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LSU BASEBALL
ALL-TIGER RAG TEAM

PICTHING STAFF
Ben McDonald - 1987-89
Paul Byrd - 1989-91
Chad Ogea - 1989-91
Lloyd Peever - 1992
Brett Laxton - 1993-96
Scott Schultz - 1992-95
Eddie Yarnell - 1994-96
Patrick Coogan - 1995-97
Kurt Ainsworth - 1998-99
Lane Mestepey - 2001-05

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CATCHER
Brad Cresse - 1997-2000

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INFIELD
Eddy Furniss - 1995-98
Todd Walker - 1992-94
Warren Morris - 1994-96
Russ Johnson - 1992-94
Brandon Larson - 1997
Brad Hawpe - 1999-2000
Blair Barbier - 1997-2000
Mike Fontenot - 2000-01
Ryan Theriot - 1999-2001
Wally Pontiff - 2000-02
Aaron Hill - 2001-03

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OUTFIELD
Albert “Joey” Belle - 1985-87
Lyle Mouton - 1990-91
Wes Grisham - 1989-90
Cedric Harris - 1998-2000
Jon Zeringue - 2002-04
J.C. Holt - 2002-04
Ryan Patterson - 2003-05

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This article can be found, along with many others, in Tiger Rag’s 2009 LSU Baseball/Softball Preview edition, which hit newsstands on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009. To subscribe to Tiger Rag Magazine, CLICK HERE or call 1-888-32-TIGER for more details. (Cover design by J. Sam Frake)