By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
“Who’s on first?” is perhaps the most famous question ever asked about baseball.
It comes from the “Who’s On First” skit from minstrel, word-play sketches of 125 years ago, but made famous by Abbott and Costello comedy routines in the 1930s. Recordings of it are in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and in the Library of Congress.
For fans of college baseball history, and in particular, LSU baseball history, a question as pertinent is:
“Who was on third when Warren Morris hit the most famous home run in college baseball history and one of the most famous in all of baseball history?”
“It doesn’t seem like 30 years, that’s for sure. The memories are still fresh.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 2, 2026
-Warren Morris, who is being honored at Alex Box today with his teammates during 30-year reunion weekend.https://t.co/7cdJYGPIcu
That happened on June 8, 1996, when Morris hit a two-out, two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to give LSU a 9-8 victory over Miami for the national championship in the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.
But without a Tiger on base, that home run would have just tied the game, 8-8. And had that runner on third base not reached on a double to lead off and instead was an out, Morris would never have batted. And LSU would have lost 8-7 on an RBI single by Miami shortstop Alex Cora in the top of the ninth.
But designated hitter Brad Wilson, a senior from Pittsburgh batting sixth in the lineup, led off the LSU ninth with a screaming line drive off All-American reliever Robbie Morrison’s first pitch down the left field line. That said “double” to Wilson, who ran well and had six stolen bases in eight attempts that season.
But as he took his third step around first base, he noticed left fielder Eddie Rivero had just thrown the ball toward second base.
“My dad said later he watched videos of it and told me, ‘Your eyeballs got big,'” Wilson said at the Tigers’ 30-year reunion of the 1996 title on Saturday at Alex Box Stadium.
It was more than that. He almost used the bathroom. But he didn’t consider running back to first base.
“No, I was committed,” he said. “I wasn’t going back. My perspective was. If it’s down the line like that between the third baseman and the line, you’ve got a double.”
The throw beat Wilson to the bag, but an expert hook slide avoided the tag.
“Brad did a backdoor slide and threw his hand in the air,” LSU coach Skip Bertman said years later. “I still thought the ump would call him out because the throw beat him. But he called him safe. It’s just crazy how it all unfolded. If he doesn’t lead off by getting on base, Warren never comes up to the plate. And if the ump calls him out at second, we don’t win.”
A year later when Bertman saw Wilson before a game at Alex Box Stadium, the Skipper was still wondering about the play.
“He was showing the 1997 team the play, and Skip did ask me why I didn’t do the usual head-first slide into second base,” Wilson said. “I told him the throw was going to beat me, and I had to figure something else out.”
And Bertman smiled, knowing he had coached Wilson well because Wilson showed expert HWA – How to Win Awareness.
“Thank God for an ump being in the right position to see the play accurately,” Wilson said. “I’ve looked at that video a bunch of times. It was close, but I was safe.”
Bertman had also given Wilson a vote of confidence just as the bottom of the ninth was about to start. And Wilson, who was 0-for-4 at the time and 1-for-16 in World Series, needed it.
“You got this. Get on base,” Bertman told him.
“It was a great team,” Morris said. “We had a lot of great players on that team who just knew how to win and knew how to play the game because of Skip. If Brad doesn’t get that hit, nobody knows who I am.”
Wilson reached third because Justin Bowles hit behind the runner, grounding out to first base for the first out. When Tim Lanier, who was batting .416 in the World Series with six RBIs that included a grand slam in LSU’s 9-8 win over Wichita State in the opener, struck out, it brought up Morris. And Lanier told him, “Pick me up.”
And that focused Morris on his team. Never mind that he was the ninth batter and still trying to come back from hamate bone surgery in his wrist that made him miss several weeks. And he had no home runs on the season.
A left-handed hitter, Morris also went for Morrison’s first pitch and nailed it toward right field.
“That’s going to be off the wall,” Wilson said to himself. “So, we’ll tie it. But it just kept going and going.”
And it was gone. And Morris raised up his right hand as he rounded second just like Wilson did.
“Then it was all just pictures,” Wilson said. “I really don’t remember what happened after that. There was a picture the next day of me jumping up with my waist about at the head of the Miami catcher (Jim Gargiulo). The adrenaline was absolutely flowing.”
The many players who returned to Baton Rouge for the reunion over the weekend and Bertman watched a replay of the last inning at first baseman Jeramie Moore’s house, which is near Bertman’s home.
“It was great,” Wilson said. “A lot of the wives and kids were there, too. And Skip came over. It’s still hard to believe. It’s still so exciting, watching it again. It really was. There’s never been a walk-off to win it all like that with two outs in the last game to end the game.”
The team was honored before the second game of LSU’s doubleheader sweep over South Carolina on Saturday.
“Skip was still telling stories about it that we hadn’t heard,” Wilson said. “I mean, he’s 87, but he just remembers everything.”
Bertman remembered that Wilson slide again and how close the play was.
“I still have people come up to me and tell me I was out at second,” Wilson said. “And I just show them my ring and say, ‘Nope, I was safe.’ That was just a bunch of veteran guys who were so team oriented. We just knew we could win no matter what. That was the mentality. Even when we were down one against the premier reliever in the country in the bottom of the ninth. And I was 1-for-16, but it didn’t bother me.”
That’s Brad Wilson.
He was on third.
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