Mesa Sports Memories: Mickey Hatcher: Two-sport All-American
Becoming an All-American is pretty much the ultimate for a college athlete. Add to that becoming an All-American in two sports, playing on a national championship team and reaching the highest level in one sport, winning a world championship along the way and you have the career of Mickey Hatcher.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1955, his family moved west and Hatcher graduated from Mesa H.S.
At MCC, he was named a first team NJCAA football All-American as a sophomore when MCC won the national championship in 1975.
But it was baseball where his future seemed to lie.
He earned All-American honors in his freshman season and then was a first team choice as a sophomore.
His combined skills earned him a spot at the University of Oklahoma where he also played both sports. He helped lead the Sooner football team to the Fiesta Bowl, a homecoming of sorts, where the eighth-ranked squad beat Wyoming, 41-7, to cap an 9-2-1 season.
Hatcher was first selected in the major league draft in the 14th round by the Houston Astros after his senior year of high school, but elected to attend MCC instead. After his two seasons at Mesa the New York Mets took him in the second round of the 1976 January draft, regular phase, but he still held out. He finally signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977 in the fifth round.
After just two years in the minor leagues, Hatcher made his major league debut on Aug. 3, 1979, as a pinch hitter for Ron Cey and drew a bases loaded walk to begin a 12-year career in the majors.
It was in 1988, however, when he became a Dodger legend.
Filling in for injured super-star Kirk Gibson, Hatcher went on to hit .368 in the World Series with two home runs and five RBIs, helping LA to its last world championship.
After his playing career Hatcher served as a major league coach for both the Texas Rangers and Anaheim Angeles for well over a decade.
Hatcher was chosen to the MCC Hall of Fame in 2007.
