PIHoF Inductee: Casey McGrew of Wright State

On Friday, May 29th, I went to Game 2 of the NCAA Regionals that were hosted by TCU in Fort Worth. This was the first time TCU had ever hosted a Baseball Regional, so I was excited and bought tickets to all the games just to be sure I could see all the TCU games.
The first game was between Texas A&M and Oregon State. I wasn't interested so I gave my tickets to some Aggie fans. Game 2, however, was between my beloved Horned Frogs and the Raiders of Wright State (Dayton, Ohio). I had never heard of Wright State before this tourney but thanks to Casey McGrew, I'll remember them forever.
TCU had a 1 run lead going into the 3rd when #22, Jr. OF Casey McGrew came to the plate with two on. We had noticed the first time he came to bat (in the 2nd), but he has a really weird ritual before each pitch... I'm talking like crazy bird mating dance weird.
From outside the batter's box, he takes a big step with his left leg and stomps it firmly into the box. Then, he leans backward almost parallel to the ground holding the bat at his waist and parallel to his chest and face. He then comes back up and moves his shoulders in a circle and sets himself for the pitch. He does this before every pitch. Eventually the TCU fans started to notice and we started yelling "STOMP! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" in sync with his movements. It became really intense as McGrew was fighting off pitches and the at-bat just kept going and going.
And then, just when we were all having a grand old time mocking the kid, he smacked the heck out of a pitch and sent it over the right field fence for a 3-run homer and a 3-1 lead. Boy was there egg on our faces!
But, the Frogs scored 3 in the bottom of the 3rd and then never let up another run, eventually winning 6-3. We mocked McGrew every time he came to the plate, regardless of the statement he made in the third.
I hope he makes it to the majors one day, though. He's a solid player and an entertaining one as well.

I was hoping Wright State would win some games so that TCU could play them again and I could get some pictures or video of this guy's crazy ritual, but they lost their second game to the Aggies and were out of the tournament.

So, why is McGrew going to the PIHoF? Because he, like Inky, will be forever burned in my memory for 2 key things - hitting home runs and looking goofy while doing it it.

Congrats, McGrew!

Casey McGrew photo from the Wichita State Athletics Webpage:http://www.wsuraiders.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/mcgrew_casey00.html