Why not? A quick look at Auburn and Oregon's baseball programs

Monday night's the big night for the BCS title game between Auburn and Oregon. While I won't be watching as a form of personal protest — Death To The BCS! — I was interested in seeing what contributions each school's program has made to the sport of baseball.

A few notes after using a slow news day to look at a few reference materials:

• It should probably come as no surprise that Auburn's history on the diamond is a little bit richer than Monday night's rivals from the Pacific Northwest. Though it first began in 1877, Oregon's baseball program was killed in 1981 and was only resurrected in 2009. From 1982 to 2008 — a period that saw in-state rival Oregon State win back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007 — the Ducks were the only Pac-10 school without a baseball team and their trophy case reflects the absence. Oregon has never won a conference championship, though a 40-24 record in 2010, a top-10 preseason ranking for 2011 and plenty of Nike money shows hope for the future.

• That's not to say that Auburn has taken advantage of its uninterrupted existence to build a perennial powerhouse. The Tigers baseball program has six SEC championships to its name and only four College World Series appearances, the most recent coming in 1997.

• Auburn has sent its fair share of players to the majors, though. The famous pair of two-sport stars from the mid-'80s — Bo Jackson and Frank Thomas, of course — top the list, but they're joined by guys like Mark Bellhorn, Tim Hudson, Scott Sullivan, Clete Thomas, Josh Hancock and Gregg Olson.

• Oregon's list of alumni who played in MLB isn't long, but until the Big Hurt gets the call, it does feature the only Hall of Famer that played at either school. Joe Gordon played two years of baseball (plus one year of football) in Eugene during the mid-1930s before heading east to star with the New York Yankees. Other Ducks who reached the show include Earl Averill Jr. (son of Hall of Famer Earl Sr.), Dave Roberts (who played for a few teams, including the Padres and Rangers, in the '70s) and some guy named Dick Whitman (Mad Men, anyone?)

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