If any of you get an item related to Whit Merrifield, please be aware of his major place in college baseball history. He delivered the "last at-bat at the Blatt", the 11th-inning walk-off hit that won the College World Series for South Carolina over UCLA in 2010. That ended 61 years of College World Series games at old Rosenblatt stadium, which was then demolished.

It's ironic that Whit then played many games for Omaha's minor-league team. Sadly, the ball from that famous hit was picked up by a UCLA outfielder, who failed to do anything to establish its provenance. Supposedly, that player later sent it to a South Carolina student he knew, who tried to sell it to the gamecocks. But they declined to accept it because of unprovable provenance.

I managed to buy two game-used balls from Merrifield's early games with Kansas City last year, giving me a nearly complete collection from MLB games in which ten gamecock alumni have played in the last three years. (Seven of them still active). The gamecocks have on display in our stadium four seats from old Rosenblatt. Fans often sit in them briefly as they enter.