by Sam Brean

Created on: March 15, 2009

The annual College Baseball World Series Most Outstanding Player Award is presented to the NCAA Division I player determined to have had the best individual performance during the series. College baseball ranks low on the hierarchy of sports fan interest, but once a year its College World Series (CWS) manages to attract attention to the games, their best players, and Omaha, Nebraska.

College baseball's finest moments are played out in legendary Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, home of the CWS since 1950. The road to Johnny Rosenblatt for college nines begins by earning a spot in the 64 team field; then competing in 4-16 team Regionals; next is 8-2 team best of 3 series, the Super Regionals; and finally, 8 Super Regional winners show up in Omaha for the World Series.

Attending media members form the selection committee for the CWS Most Outstanding Player (MOP) award. Balloting begins during the fifth inning of the championship game, ends after the eighth inning, and is announced following presentation of the championship and runner-up trophies. The award is a distinguished honor for the winners and history suggests some awfully good ballplayers have been selected.

Through the 2008 CWS, and since inception of the award in 1949, sixty players have been named MOP; although underclassmen frequently win, no one has won more than once. Two trophy holders are still playing college ball; Jorge Reyes (2007-Oregon St.) and Tommy Mendonca (2008-Fresno St.) Will either be able to get to the dance again and repeat their outstanding performances?

Of sixty MOP award winners, forty-eight have played professional baseball. Three others are currently playing minor league ball and still have a chance to make the big show, and of course, Reyes and Mendonca have their futures ahead of them.

Twenty-three of the forty-eight MOP players who became professionals made it to the major leagues. One young man, 1968 winner Bill Seinsoth from the University of Southern California, was unable to fulfill his baseball dream; he died at age twenty two in an automobile accident.

How many of the twenty-three major leaguers had successful careers? Ambiguity enters into the determination of "successful." It is extremely difficult to become a pro ballplayer, a small percentage of minor leaguers earn their way to the majors, so none of those guys should be considered "unsuccessful."

There is one Hall of Fame member on the list of CWSMOP's: Dave Winfield, the 1973 winner. Winfield never spent a day in the

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