The viewers might be able to hear Morris’ name or a record that stands today over 65 years. Morris batted. 714 over four contests with Notre Dame in the 1957 College World Series as the Irish placed fourth overall. I did not fear the pitchers Morris said on Wednesday as he posed wearing the Notre Dame T-shirt and hat. “That did not even cross my mind.
Quincy to Springfield
Morris was raised in Quincy and was a student at Quincy Notre Dame High School which was where he earned all-American honors in football and basketball and an all-state selection in baseball. Morris was accepted to the University of Notre Dame on the football scholarship in 1954, and was planning to continue playing baseball after one year. When he was offered a scholarship from other universities, Morris says his decision was easy: It’s Notre Dame.
Things didn’t go as planned However, the knee suffered a devastating football injury. He was able to play baseball, but was a one-sport player. At Notre Dame, he met Susan Eck. After his career in baseball ended, he relocated to Springfield and the couple were blessed with six kids. Morris was a biology teacher for a time at Griffin High School and served as an assistant to any other duties the school needed, he explained. Morris was laid off after 30 years as a processor of data in 1997 at The Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. S by winning 6-1 against Northwestern.
The College World Series
Morris his first season of baseball after high school was 1957. Morris was recovering from a knee injuries, therefore he wouldn’t expect to do much, did he? Wrong.I was a great player,” Morris said. “Some people aren’t able to adjust however I did. Morris was the top player on the team with a the batting average (.386 27-for-70) over the course of 20 games. At the NCAA competition, Notre Dame beat Alma 18-2 and then beat Western Michigan 4-2 before a 9-2 defeat to Northwestern on the 30th of May. The following morning, Notre Dame qualified for the CWS by winning 6-1 against Northwestern.
We’ve never considered (the College World Series),” Morris said. “We only had one pitcher (Chuck Symeon) the coach (Jack Kline) liked. If we didn’t have that pitcher, we were not great. On June 8th, Notre Dame lost its first game in the CWS 13-8 against Iowa State in 10 innings. The following game, Notre Dame hammered Colorado State 23-2, then swept Texas 9-0 before suffering a 5-4 defeat against Penn State to end the Notre Dame’s winning streak. Morris who batted .667 (12-for-18) over six games during the postseason, stated that the third base, which could be the tie-breaking run was in play was in play when Notre Dame made the final out.
Recorded two doubles
Statistics of Notre Dame in 1957 show Morris recorded two doubles and two home runs over those Four CWS games. While his 10-14-for-14 mark during the CWS isn’t enough to reach the NCAA’s standard of 15 minimum at-bats NCAA still believes that Morris is the record holder because the chance of missing in a 15th at-bat would lower the average of his tournament to .667. This would still be the highest mark of John Gall, who hit .611 (11-for-18) for Stanford in 1999.
“The top pitchers played at the College World Series and I was lucky enough to strike them,” Morris said. “I was in an enthralling groove. At first, Morris was a third baseman for the Irish. He was briefly unable to keep his place in the lineup when the team committed four errors in one game. It was a very cold day, and one of my mistakes fell into the batter’s right hand boxes and the catcher yelled at me to come in to pick it up,” Morris said. “It got so cold, I even put on a glove it , and they deemed that an error.
Kline reached out to Morris to ask whether he could play in the outfield. (Kline) required an hitter and was aware that the way I (hit),” Morris stated. “He wanted to know if I wanted to play outfield , and I said”Yes, sure. I’d not played before in outfield.”
“Yaz” Meeting
A fresher joined to the Notre Dame baseball team. As a freshman, they were not permitted to be on teams of varsity at the time, Morris said he could identify the freshman by an initial of Carl Yastrzemski was bound to be a great ball player. Before “Yaz” played for 23 seasons before the Green Monster at Fenway Park for the Red Sox in a hall of fame career, Yastrzemski put on the Notre Dame navy and gold.
“(Yastrzemski) was an pleasant person,” Morris remembered. “He played shortstop back then. He was among the very few players who had an opportunity to attend Notre Dame in baseball. They knew how good he would do and the result was. We were all impressed with his performance.”
The following one, Yastrzemski joined the Red Sox team, as Morris played 59 games with the Auburn Yankees in the New York-Penn League. Morris batted .244 in his professional career (53-for-217) and had 45 RBIs 8 doubles, 10-home runs.
