UT announces baseball All-Century team

One phone call floored Mike Smithson.

It was Tennessee baseball coach Todd Raleigh, and he had some good news: Smithson had been selected to the UT All-Century team.

“I didn’t know what to say,” recalled Smithson, a former UT standout pitcher who went 11-2 and notched 89 strikeouts during the 1975-76 season.

“A lot of good players have come through this school in the last 100 years. To be named one of them is definitely a great honor.”

Smithson, who played for seven years in the major leagues (1982-89), was among former players honored at the 17th annual Baseball Leadoff Banquet at the Knoxville Convention Center on Thursday night.

For Condredge Holloway, a former UT shortstop, the night served as an opportunity to reminisce with old teammates.

“Some of them I haven’t seen since ‘74 or ‘75,” said Holloway, who batted .351 for UT from 1973-75. “That’s very special.”

But Holloway puts the accolade in perspective. A multi-sport athlete, he was UT’s first black starting quarterback, leading the Vols to three bowls, winning two. He said he’ll always cherish the opportunity he had to play both sports.

“The fact that I got to play the sport I loved, which was baseball, and play the position that I loved, which was quarterback, was fantastic. After that, a game-winning base hit or a game-winning touchdown was secondary,” said Holloway, who c serves as assistant director for player relations at UT.

Raleigh, along with UT athletics director Mike Hamilton, retired the No. 18 jersey in honor of Phil Garner, who played for the Vols from 1968-70 and went on to play and coach in the major leagues for almost two decades.

“Phil Garner has meant so much to the game of baseball both as a coach and player,” Hamilton said in a university release. “I think it’s great we’re able to retire his number and pay tribute to such a legend.”

Garner, along with the All-Century team, will be honored on-field today during the Vols’ season-opener at 4 p.m. against two-time College World Series champions Oregon State at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The 26-man All-Century team was chosen based on fan votes and statistics accumulated while at Tennessee.

THE TEAM:

P – James Adkins

C – J.P. Arencibia

P – Tommy Bridges

UTL (2B/SS) – Chris Burke

OF – Alan Cockrell

P – R.A. Dickey

C – Mike DiFelice

OF – Sam Ewing

SS – Larry Fielder

2B – Phil Garner

OF – Ronnie Hartsfield

3B – Chase Headley

1B – Doug Hecker

1B/P – Todd Helton

P – Luke Hochevar

SS – Condredge Holloway

P/1B – Rick Honeycutt

3B – B.B. Hopkins

P – Jimmy Lee

P– Joe O’Brien

2B – Jeff Pickler

OF – Bert Rechichar

C – George Shuford

P – Mike Smithson

OF – Bubba Trammell

OF – Bobby Tucker