While Miller Park might not be filled after this month, fans of the nation's pastime will be glued to their television sets, seeing if this year's postseason could possibly rival last's. And yet, for baseball fans at Madison, there is a void which is nonexistant at every other Big Ten school.
As we watch Big Papi and the Red Sox defend their World Series title, there simply is no Badger equal. While junior Eden Brock will provide excitement this upcoming softball season with her whipping riser, it simply cannot compare to the thrill that comes from seeing a knee-buckling curve.
Now, you have all seen that \Where is the Badger baseball team?"" column before. The problem with those pieces is that the reporters, like myself, cannot describe to you the essence of the Badger baseball team because they were figuring out how to tie their shoelaces in kindergarten when the sport was last played in Madison. However, there were people that were there. There were players, really good ones too.
Paul Quantrill made his Major League debut in 1992 with the Boston Red Sox and has played for five teams since, with an all-star appearance in 2001 with the Toronto Blue Jays. Most importantly, though, he was a Badger and he remembers when Madison was a baseball town.
""Football's always been popular there and that's great,"" Quantrill, who was a Badger from 1987 to 1989, said. ""But baseball was phenomenal.""
Quantrill recalls an excited student fan base at the games that reached up to 2,000 people. The Ontario native reminisced about enthusiastic students with kegs outside the fences, cheering on the team.
""As far as the community goes, the students got really involved and it was awesome,"" Quantrill said.
While the students were in love with the baseball program, the university found it easy to discard. Title IX, an act calling for gender equality in educational programs, including funding and scholarships in collegiate athletics, was the impetus for the removal of the baseball program in 1991. While Quantrill supports the notion of Title IX by remarking that ""you want things to be equivalent,"" the crafty right-hander believes that it was simply a political move.
""We could have sustained ourselves for years. It wasn't a money thing,"" Quantrill said. ""It's the nation's pastime, but you don't have it at a Big Ten school. It's almost laughable.""
Quantrill said that baseball's booster organization, the Dugout Club, offered to privately fund a women's softball team in order to keep their baseball program on the table in 1991. While Ron Krohn, the president of the Dugout Club, an organization that now supports baseball in the Wisconsin community, is not sure about the specific offer, he did reveal that the organization had around $85,000. ""You can decide for yourself if that would have supported a team,"" Krohn said.
Quantrill was very successful in his Badger career. In 1988, he was named Pitcher of the Year at UW, posting a 7-3 record. The following season, Quantrill led the team in wins with nine and strikeouts with 63 and set UW single season records with 116 innings pitched and 11 complete games. However, Quantrill did not live and die with baseball and credits head coach Steve Land for giving him that freedom.
""Land was fantastic,"" Quantrill said. ""He understood that I wanted to go to school there to play ball certainly, but mostly for the schooling. I never took baseball too serious and they allowed me to have a great time with it and still be a student.""
After the 1991 season, Quantrill said that many of his old teammates had to transfer. Because of that, he seldom follows or discusses UW sports except to argue with his teammates in the San Diego Padres locker room.
""It's just very unfortunate, because it was a blast out there,"" Quantrill said. ""It was a good program and it turned out some pretty good players.""
Since the debut of George Davies in 1891 with the Brewers, Wisconsin has turned out 26 Major Leaguers. That number will remain static unless something drastic happens.
Until then, Quantrill's only option is to take pleasure in his memories of Madison.
""The baseball was great, but it was the whole atmosphere of UW,"" Quantrill said. ""It was a lot of fun.\
