MSU, Major League Standout Del Unser To Be Honored Friday At Dudy Noble Field
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Del Unser, who earned All-Southeastern Conference and all-America honors as an outfielder at Mississippi State prior to embarking on a highly-successful 15-year major league career, will be honored Friday night prior to Mississippi State's 6:30 p.m. series-opening game against the Florida Gators. During the pre-game salute, MSU will present Unser with a replica of his retired Mississippi State baseball jersey and formally unveil signage on the outfield fence at Dudy Noble Field.
Unser helped power the Paul Gregory-coached Bulldogs to Southeastern Conference championships in both 1965 and 1966, hitting a Southeastern Conference-leading seven home runs each season. He was named to the 1966 Sporting News All-America team and would later become a first-round selection of the Washington Senators in the June draft.
His 15-year major league career (1968 to 1982) included stints with the Washington Senators, the Cleveland Indians, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos. Noted as one of the game's top pinch-hitters, the left-handed hitting Unser set the major league record with three consecutive pinch-hit home runs in 1979. The bat used by Unser to set that record is among Phillies artifacts on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The Decatur, Ill., native later served for nine years as the Philadelphia Phillies' Director of Player Development (1990-98). Unser resides in California and continues to serve as a major league advance scout in the Phillies organization.
