With the gloves tucked away and many Major League diamonds covered with snow, much of the nation's attention will be on the gridiron Monday for the NCAA College Football Playoff. But while the final four schools -- Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma -- are known mostly for their pigskin prowess, each of them boast some baseball heritage as well.
From former MVP Award winners to Cy Young Award finalists to Hall of Famers, these four southern powerhouses have been well represented through the decades in Major League Baseball. Combining the best of what each university has to offer, below is an "All-CFP" roster from baseball history.
STARTING PITCHERS
Spud Chandler, Georgia
Career line: 109-43, 2.84 ERA (132 ERA+), 1943 American League MVP, four All-Star selections
Chandler was a big-game pitcher whose name graced the roster of six World Series championship teams. A native of Franklin County, Ga., Chandler went 20-4 with a microscopic 1.64 ERA -- still a single-season record for any Yankees starter -- to capture the 1943 AL MVP Award. Chandler's career .717 win percentage is the highest of any pitcher in history who tallied at least 100 career decisions.
Jimmy Key, Clemson
Career line: 186-117, 3.51 ERA (122 ERA+), four All-Star selections
A two-time World Series champion, Key had three top-five finishes in AL Cy Young Award voting, including runner-up finishes in 1987 and '94. A foundational member of the Blue Jays' late-1980s turnaround, the lefty pitched the final two innings of Toronto's decisive Game 6 victory over the Braves in the 1992 Fall Classic -- the franchise's first world championship.
Frank Lary, Alabama
Career line: 128-116, 3.49 ERA (114 ERA+), two All-Star selections
Lary ranked among the AL's best pitchers during the latter half of the 1950s, winning an average of 17 games per season from 1955-61. The Tigers' righty owned a career 28-13 record against the Yankees and finished third in the '61 AL Cy Young Award voting. Arm troubles cut Lary's productivity short.
Bobby Witt, Oklahoma
Career line: 142-157, 4.83 ERA (91 ERA+)
Witt was one of baseball's most entertaining young pitchers when he entered the Major Leagues, striking out 334 batters in his first 300 innings with the Rangers from 1986-87. He was also wild, walking about as many hitters as he struck out with his high-90s fastball. Witt's best season came with Texas in 1990, when he went 17-10 with a 3.36 ERA and 221 strikeouts. Arguably his greatest moment came at the end of his career, when he went 4-1 in late summer to help the 2001 D-backs to the franchise's only World Series title.
Russ Ortiz, Oklahoma
Career line: 113-89, 4.51 ERA (93 ERA+), one All-Star selection
Ortiz will forever be remembered as a member of the Sooners' 1994 NCAA College World Series champions, and he went on to have a successful big league career, too. It's hard to imagine the Giants' ascendance to an early-2000s National League power without Ortiz, who went 63-40 for San Francisco from 1999-2002. The righty enjoyed his best season with the Braves in 2003, going 21-7 with a 3.81 ERA -- amid a high-octane offensive era -- and placing fourth in the NL Cy Young vote.
Honorable mentions: Chase Anderson (Oklahoma), Kris Benson (Clemson), Carl Morton (Oklahoma), Jimmy Nelson (Alabama), Tilly Sparks (Georgia), Alex Wood (Georgia)
RELIEF PITCHERS
Player Page for David Robertson, Alabama
Career line to date: 45-29, 2.83 ERA, 1.158 WHIP, one All-Star selection
Yankees fans are fully aware of Robertson's value after the righty came back to the Bronx this past summer and helped lead them to within a game of the World Series. Robertson has proven to be elite as both a setup man for Mariano Rivera (1.08 ERA over 70 appearances in 2011) and a closer in his own right. Teams place plenty of trust in his nasty knuckle-curveball to get out of a tight situation.
Lindy McDaniel, Oklahoma
Career line: 141-119, 3.45 ERA, 1.272 WHIP, one All-Star selection
"I'd prefer to face a number of [left-handers] rather than Lindy McDaniel," said Hall of Fame slugger Willie McCovey. McDaniel's diving curveball gave a lot of hitters trouble, particularly as a Cardinal in 1960 when he became the first reliever to ever garner Cy Young Award votes en route to a third-place finish. The righty also placed fifth in NL MVP Award voting that year after going 12-4 with a 2.09 ERA and 27 saves over 116 1/3 innings. When McDaniel retired, only Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm had tallied more total appearances, relief appearances and relief victories.
Honorable mentions: Eddie Fisher (Oklahoma), Tommy Hunter (Alabama), Billy O'Dell (Clemson), Al Worthington (Alabama)
POSITION PLAYERS
Catcher
Alex Avila, Alabama
Career line: .243/.351/.401, .752 OPS (105 OPS+), 87 HR, 342 RBI
Avila owns a career .351 on-base percentage and put a Silver Slugger Award on his mantle in addition to an All-Star Game nod in 2011. The backstop is coming off one of his best offensive seasons in 2017, during which he recorded an .834 OPS and finished with the fourth-highest hard-hit rate (i.e. batted balls struck with exit velocities of 95 mph or higher), per Statcast™, out of 334 MLB players who put at least 150 balls in play.
Honorable mention: Luke Sewell (Alabama)
First base
Glenn Davis, Georgia
Career line: .259/.332/.467, .800 OPS (123 OPS+), 190 HR, 603 RBI
Davis came up with the Astros in the mid-1980s and made an immediate impact. He finished fifth in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 1985, then led Houston to the NL West title in '86. Davis made his first All-Star team that season, slugged 31 home runs and drove in 101 runs, won the Silver Slugger at first base and finished as the runner-up for the NL MVP Award. In the postseason, he homered off Mets ace Dwight Gooden in his first at-bat in Game 1, accounting for the game's only run in a 1-0 Astros win. Davis averaged 30 homers a season from 1986-89, made a second All-Star team in '89 and finished in the top 10 of MVP voting in '88 and '89.
Honorable mention: Dave Magadan (Alabama)
Second base
Del Pratt, Alabama
Career line: .292/.345/.403, .748 OPS (112 OPS+), 1,996 H, 117 3B, 43 HR, 979 RBI, 247 SB
Pratt was a star second baseman for the St. Louis Browns at the tail end of the Dead Ball era. He averaged 29 stolen bases over his six seasons with the team, including 37 in 1913 and '14 and 32 in '15. Pratt led the Majors in RBIs with 103 in 1916, and he finished in the top 10 in the AL four other times. He had three five-homer seasons during the Dead Ball era, which all ranked in the top 10 in the AL. Pratt finished 13th in AL MVP Award voting in his rookie year with the Browns in 1912, 10th in '14 and 13th in '22 with the Red Sox.
Honorable mentions: Tim Teufel (Clemson), Brad Miller (Clemson)
Shortstop
Joe Sewell, Alabama
Career line: .312/.391/.413, .804 OPS (108 OPS+), 2,226 H, 49 HR, 436 2B, 1,054 RBI
Sewell is the only Hall of Famer from these four schools. In a 14-year career from 1920-33, he was a two-time World Series champion -- in 1920 with the Indians and '32 with the Yankees -- finished in the top 10 of MVP voting four times and placed in the voting seven times. Sewell had an amazing ability to make contact. He struck out only once every 73 plate appearances for his career, the best mark in MLB history. He had just 114 career strikeouts (compared to 842 walks) -- his most K's in a season was 20 -- and he finished his career with nine straight seasons of less than 10 strikeouts. Sewell also led AL shortstops in fielding percentage three times.
Honorable mentions: Jason Bartlett (Oklahoma), Khalil Greene (Clemson)
Third base
Magadan, Alabama
Career line: .288/.390/.377, .767 OPS (112 OPS+), 1,197 H, 42 HR, 495 RBI
Magadan is more than just the honorable mention at first base, he also slots in as the starter at third, where he played 709 games (compared to 593 at first). Magadan started his career with a cup of coffee with the 1986 Mets, and although he debuted too late to be eligible for the postseason, he did get three hits in the Mets' NL East clincher. He played seven seasons in New York and 16 in the big leagues, with his best season coming in 1990. That year, Magadan hit .328/.417/.457 with six homers and 72 RBIs for the Mets, finishing third in the NL batting race and second in on-base percentage, while placing 22nd in the MVP Award voting.
Honorable mentions: Jim Tabor (Alabama), James Beckham (Georgia)
Outfield
Bobby Murcer, Oklahoma
Career line: .277/.357/.445, .802 OPS (124 OPS+), 1,862 H, 252 HR, 1,043 RBI, 127 SB
Murcer was Mickey Mantle's eventual successor in center field for the Yankees, and while no one could equal Mantle's legacy, Murcer did put together an admirable seven-year run in New York after returning from military service in the late 1960s. That included five straight All-Star seasons from 1971-75, during which Murcer finished in the top 10 of AL MVP Award voting three times and won a Gold Glove Award. He led the AL in on-base percentage and OPS in 1971 and led in runs scored and total bases in '72. Murcer would play 17 years in the Majors, including a return to the Yankees for the final 4 1/2 seasons of his career. He finished with 252 big league home runs, the most of any player from the four schools.
Dale Mitchell, Oklahoma
Career line: .312/.368/.416, .784 OPS (114 OPS+), 1,244 H, 41 HR, 403 RBI
Mitchell played 11 Major League seasons from 1946-56, with almost the entirety of his career spent with the Indians. As Cleveland's left fielder and leadoff man in 1948, he helped the club win its second World Series, the last title the club has won. That year, Mitchell hit .336 and recorded 204 hits and finished third in the AL batting race behind Ted Williams and Lou Boudreau. In the Fall Classic, he doubled and scored the first run of the clinching Game 6 win over the Boston Braves. The next season, Mitchell again notched over 200 hits, leading the AL with 203, and also led the Majors with 23 triples. In his career, Mitchell would make two All-Star teams and place in the AL MVP Award voting four times.
Riggs Stephenson, Alabama
Career line: .336/.407/.473, .880 OPS (129 OPS+), 1,515 H, 63 HR, 773 RBI
Although much of his career from 1921-34 was spent as a part-time player, Stephenson compiled a .336 batting average and a .407 on-base percentage over more than 5,000 plate appearances and 4,500 at-bats. His career batting average ranks 22nd all-time, and his on-base percentage ranks 42nd. Stephenson finished fifth in NL MVP Award voting with the Cubs in 1932 and in the top 25 of voting in 1927 and '29. In an impressive four-year run from 1927-30, he played over 100 games each season and hit .347 with a .422 on-base percentage. Stephenson played in two World Series, and although the Cubs lost both, he hit .378 with a .410 on-base percentage in his nine career postseason games.
Honorable mentions: Denny Walling (Clemson), Ike Boone (Alabama), Mickey Hatcher (Oklahoma)
The roster above is the best squad all four schools can combine to offer, but which playoff finalist boasts the best alumni base on the diamond? With these players spanning eras and vastly different styles of play, there's no easy way to determine that. But in looking at each school's 10 best players by their career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at the Major League level, from Baseball-Reference, here's how the bracket panned out.
Rose Bowl
Oklahoma def. Georgia
Sugar Bowl
Alabama def. Clemson
National Championship Game
Alabama def. Oklahoma
Led by the Hall of Famer Sewell (53.7 bWAR) and Pratt (45.6), the Crimson Tide simply featured too much top-end talent to overcome in our hypothetical tournament. Alabama and Oklahoma were also the most represented schools in our all-CFP team above, so it's fitting it came down to those two at the finish. In the end, as has been the case on the gridiron in recent years, the Tide rolls.