[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[September 15, 1995]
[Pages 1360-1361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Honoring the 1995 NCAA Champion California State University at 
Fullerton Baseball Team
September 15, 1995

    Thank you very much. Thank you. Please be seated. Dr. Gordon, Coach 
Garrido, Assistant Coach George Horton, Congressman Royce, to my friend 
Roger Johnson and to all the members of this championship team: Now, I 
knew that Cal State-Fullerton had won the national baseball championship 
because I keep up with it. But some of the less schooled people here in 
the White House, when they heard that Cal State was coming today and it 
was about baseball, they thought that someone had given Cal Ripken a 
whole State. [Laughter] And when they said that, I said, ``Well, I hope 
he'll share it with me next year.'' [Laughter] Think about that.

[[Page 1361]]

    Coach Garrido, Coach Horton, to all the student athletes who are 
here, I want to congratulate you on a remarkable baseball season and on 
your national championship.
    Baseball is both a team sport and a collection of individual 
players. Most important of all, it's a team sport, but I think it's 
worth noting that four of these players were selected to the College 
World Series All Tournament Team: Brian Loyd, the catcher; the third-
baseman, Tony Martinez; Ted Silva, the pitcher; and the series MVP and 
the college player of the year, the outfielder, Mark Kotsay.
    I also want to compliment the coach and the players on complete 
honesty and full disclosure. They told me when I was in there that one 
of their pitchers, Tim Dixon, who had a perfect season, 13 and 0, played 
last year at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I'm glad we can 
make some contribution to some national champion this year, since we 
didn't quite make it in basketball.
    You have been called college baseball's dream team: an 18-game 
season ending winning streak, the world series sweep, the best-ever 
season record for the school of 57 wins and 9 losses. You know, a lot of 
your success, I'm sure, has the same roots as the remarkable success 
that we celebrated just a few days ago when I joined a lot of other 
Americans in Camden Yards, and others watching all across America, when 
we saw Cal Ripken break Lou Gehrig's record.
    It really takes a commitment to hard work and dedication and 
teamwork and basically doing it every day. One of the things that I like 
about baseball is that there are a lot of games in the season. 
Sometimes, being in politics, I wish we had more than one game every 4 
years. But it's very important in baseball to have that daily 
discipline, that daily awareness, that daily readiness, that steadiness 
that so many Americans bring to other aspects of their lives.
    And I think that America has kind of fallen back in love with 
baseball again the last few weeks, and I hope it gets a lot more 
attention. And I hope the qualities required for real success and 
excellence in baseball will become more and more appreciated by all of 
our people, because they're qualities that we can all use in our 
everyday lives, no matter what else we do.
    So I want to join your Congressman and the entire State of 
California in expressing to all you young men my pride in you and your 
achievement. Congratulations for a job well-done. And I hope you will 
take the spirit and the values that brought you to the national 
championship with you throughout the rest of your lives, no matter what 
you do.
    Good luck, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:04 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Milton A. Gordon, president, and 
Augie Garrido, baseball coach, California State University at Fullerton; 
and Roger Johnson, Administrator of General Services.