BOWLING GREEN — In the grand history of our national pastime, Orel Hershiser has performed one of the greatest feats (59 straight scoreless innings) and been there for one of the greatest moments (Kirk Gibson’s home run in the 1988 World Series).
The Dodgers legend is no stranger to baseball magic.
But when it comes to not believing what he just saw — to adapt Jack Buck’s famed call of Gibson’s blast — not a whole lot has anything on the storybook his college alma mater is authoring this season.
It feels straight out of Hollywood.
Four years after Bowling Green eliminated baseball, a program that was crowdfunded back to life — and picked to finish eighth in the Mid-American Conference this season — is the runaway league champion and one of the most prolific teams in the country?
Are you kidding?
“This could be a movie,” Hershiser said, before adding with a laugh, “You just have to get the right actors that actually look like baseball players, and add in a love triangle on the team, hopefully. You always have to have a girlfriend that wouldn’t date you until you’re a star. I don’t know what Hollywood would do with it, but it’s a great script.”
And, better yet, it’s not finished.
I caught up with Hershiser this week as he looked forward to the next scene Thursday, when the top-seeded Falcons (32-18, 24-6) will begin postseason play at the MAC tournament in Avon.
If we’re staying with the showbiz theme, you might call him an executive producer, one of the many alums who tossed their old program a life raft and continue to help float a production that just keeps getting better.
Hershiser, 65, could not be prouder.
Or more fired up.
“Both sides are feeding each other,” he said. “The team is saying they’re being fed by the alumni, and for the alumni … they’re causing excitement and camaraderie, and renewing old friendships. I’m on two of three major group text threads of old alumni and friends. It starts with, ‘How are we going to raise money?’ and turns into ‘Can you believe these guys?!’”
The synergy is beautiful.
So is Hershiser’s reconnection with Bowling Green.
It’s no secret that he kept his alma mater at a distance for many decades, the school representing a complicated memory.
Hershiser would just as soon forget the better part of his time at Bowling Green. His first two seasons, the broomstick of a right-hander from New Jersey was not on the travel roster and let his frustration spill into the classroom, at one point losing eligibility.
But in recent years, he came to appreciate those trials in a new light.
They were not a failure but a tribute to his persistence and determination.
From that low, his career took off. Hershiser went 6-2 with a 2.26 ERA as a junior in 1979, his season highlighted by a no-hitter against Kent State.
He was then selected by the Dodgers in the 17th round of the MLB draft, and you may know the rest of the story.
Hershiser went on to win a Cy Young Award, a World Series title, and 203 games — more than any of the 194 pitchers drafted ahead of him in 1979 — and he’s remained a popular figure in Los Angeles, where he has spent the past 10 seasons as a Dodgers broadcaster.
When BG shuttered the baseball program in 2020 and Hershiser learned his former teammates were part of a fundraising campaign to reverse the decision, he was ready to give back.
“They were friends and I said, ‘Yeah,’ sensitive to the fact that there is no me without Bowling Green,” he said. “It was time.”
And, before long, what at first felt like an “obligation” became something deeper. He has since made several trips back to campus, including for the Toledo-Bowling Green football game in November and a fundraising dinner in January. In June, he’s even bringing the BG community to him in Los Angeles, joining university president Rodney Rogers and athletic director Derek van der Merwe for an alumni event at a Dodgers game in June.
“Any feelings that were mixed (about BG) was my own fault, because I was immature,” Hershiser said. “What I found out in going back there was how unbelievable the people are. I’m excited to go back now because it’s salt-of-the-earth people, midwest values, and it’s just fun. I can see why Bowling Green made an impact on me that maybe I didn't realize until this has all happened to bring me back.”
Coach Kyle Hallock called Hershiser’s support a blessing.
The Falcons’ most prominent baseball alum is more than a check writer — part of a swath of donors that ultimately aspires to build a new stadium. He has become an all-in billboard for what is possible at Bowling Green, to say nothing of one of its biggest fans. “I see ESPN-plus is going to carry all the (MAC) tournament games,” Hershiser said, “so I’ve got that on my schedule.”
“He's the catalyst, he's the front-line starter,” Hallock said. “He's the guy you put out in front to represent your program.”
Hershiser, meanwhile, deflects any credit, saving it for all the alums who got the ball rolling and, of course, this indomitable Falcons team.
The ones writing this magical script.
“It could be an unbelievable movie like Hoosiers if they go on to Omaha,” Hershiser said, nodding to the home of the College World Series. “But it’s amazing already.”
First Published May 22, 2024, 7:31 p.m.
