By Brittany Burke
The CCSU Alumni Association just inducted five new members into the Blue Devil Hall of Fame. Among the inductees were a former Olympic athlete and professional basketball player for a European league.
Those Blue Devil athletes didn’t have their numbers retired, but they have become infamous in Blue Devil history. In fact there have been two athletes to have their numbers retired at CCSU, Bill Detrick for basketball and Ricky Botallico, a former relief pitcher for the Blue Devils who spent 12 seasons in the major leagues.
With the latest Blue Devil graduate to make his major league debut one can’t help but ask, should he follow suit and have his number retired, is it too early to think of such things or should he just bide his time until he one day gets the nod to become a Blue Devil Hall of Fame inductee?
On April 25 former CCSU pitcher Evan Scribner was called up to the major leagues by the San Diego Padres to take the spot of the injured Wade LeBlanc. While Scribner didn’t see any field action in his first day, he’s been put in twice by the Padres since.
The day he was called up and the days after there were Facebook posts and multiple tweets reposting the news and proclaiming excitement because a CCSU graduate made it up to the big leagues.
It was the most Blue Devil pride I have seen on a social media site all season, and perhaps all year, so is news like this something that the school should capitalize on?
Seeing that someone has come out of CCSU and excelled on such a national level is something that should excite CCSU students. Something of this caliber gives the students another thing to build a community around.
Botallico spent his 12 seasons in the major leagues splitting his time with a handful of teams, and even made an appearance in the 1996 All-Star game representing the National League. So while Scribner has a ways to go before his number is worthy of retirement, the idea is something that should be kept in mind, and his career is one that should be followed by current CCSU students and alumni.
Not many numbers have been retired in CCSU’s history, but doing so will make the students even more proud to be a Blue Devil.