Tim Raley finished his career as one of the top offensive baseball players in Shocker history and helped build the Shockers into a perennial power in college baseball. The former Shocker outfielder was at Wichita State from 1984-1987 and will be inducted into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame this weekend.

Raley was caught off guard when he got the news that he would be joining three other former Shocker athletes in the 2011 Hall of Fame class.

"It felt odd, just something I wasn't thinking about or expecting but it was great to get the news," Raley said.  "Being honored with the induction into the Shocker Hall of Fame caps off my career, but I never played for the awards or the honors."

Raley's arrival to Wichita was anything but normal.  He played high school baseball in Triangle, Va., which is about an hour south of Washington D.C.  Usually limited to the Midwest for recruiting because of budget and a strong regional name presence, WSU head coach Gene Stephenson was able to recruit the Virginia native with a tip from a former WSU graduate assistant, Rick Younger.

Younger had spotted Raley, who at the time was a hard hitting catcher at a high school baseball camp in Missouri, and told Stephenson about him.  The Shockers continued to watch his progress and decided to recruit him after hearing many good things about him as a player, a student and a person. When Stephenson came calling, Raley was ready to be a Shocker despite other offers from schools closer to home.

"I wanted to come to Wichita State from the beginning," Raley said.  "I watched them on television in the College World Series in 1982 against Miami and liked the way they played.  It was pretty amazing, Stephenson started the program in 1978 and to be in the CWS in 1982, it was a program that was started from the ground up and I wanted to be a part of it."

Once Tim set foot at Wichita State, he wasted little time showcasing his playing abilities his freshman season in 1984, even with a position switch from catcher to left field.  He led the team in batting average (.384) on his way to being named a first team Freshman All-American by Baseball America.  He would go on to earn numerous individual awards during his career at WSU including being named a first team All-American in 1987 as well as being named Missouri Valley Player of the Year that year and MVP of the MVC tournament.  His name can still be found in numerous WSU career offensive records such as third in hits (370), third in triples (24), fourth in runs scored (305) and fourth in walks (221).

Raley though was all about helping his teams win games and he helped the Shockers win plenty during his four years.  Wichita State won the Missouri Valley regular-season and tournament titles in 1985 and 1987 and participated in the NCAA Tournament in 1985 and 1987.  WSU was 212-80 during Raley's career.

Even with all of the personal awards he won in his career, the amazing opportunities Raley had traveling the country with the team and the friendships he had with his teammates are what really matter to him.

"The opportunities that came from baseball were amazing," Raley said.  "We were able to travel all over to places I had never been to or have never been back to.  Going to Hawaii and winning the Easter Tournament was amazing and so was getting to play summer ball in Alaska."

One of the friendships that Raley had with one of his teammates had been established years before he came to Wichita State as his younger brother Dan joined the Shockers in 1985.  Dan was a third baseman and possessed the same left-handed hitting abilities as his older brother and was a key recruit for the Shockers.

"Both Dan and Tim started immediately when they got here and both had amazing work ethics," Stephenson said.  "Their parents instilled great discipline in them and always pushed them to be the best they could be.  They committed to being ball players and their parents did everything they could for them including taking them all over the country growing up and later driving to watch their games all over when they were at WSU."

Dan was also named a Freshman All-American and it was special for them to have the opportunity to play together for three seasons.

"Getting to play with my brother (Dan) was great," Raley said.  "We both really appreciate it now looking back and anytime we get together and start talking about Wichita State it brings back great memories from our time there."

Even with all of Tim's accomplishments and the team's accomplishments there was one thing that Dan got to do his senior year in 1988 that Tim didn't during his Shocker career.  Dan got to play in the College World Series, the ultimate goal for all college baseball players. 

The closest one of Tim's teams came was 1985 when WSU was one game away from the CWS but they were defeated by Oklahoma State in a closely contested Midwest Regional Championship.  The loss was made even more painful for Raley because he missed both the 1985 MVC tournament and all of the NCAA Regional after he suffered a broken arm during warm-ups prior to the semifinal game of the MVC tournament against Indiana State.

"Missing the regionals in '85 against Oklahoma State because of my injury was very tough because we were one win away from making the College World Series," Raley said.  "Their team was very good with future Major Leaguers Robin Ventura and Pete Incaviglia, but we matched up well with them and it was terrible to have to watch it from the bench and not to be out there with my teammates."

While at Wichita State he meet his wife Christie, who was a Golden Girl for the Shockers.  They have two sons, Patrick and Danny, and Patrick is a freshman catcher for the Charlotte 49ers baseball team.  Patrick's head coach at Charlotte, Loren Hibbs, was a teammate of Tim's at Wichita State. 

Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987 in the 27^th round of the Major League Baseball draft, Tim played five seasons of professional baseball.  He and his family live in Franklin, Tenn., and he works in upper management in the construction and home floor covering industry.  Raley has helped coach his son's baseball teams and is also a volunteer high school baseball coach in the springtime.

The relationships he made and the opportunity to play college baseball are something that Tim Raley cherishes and will always have.

"Being honored by Wichita State brings back great memories from my four years in Wichita and being on the team," Raley said.  "There was nothing better than playing four years of college baseball."

 

John Meyer, WSU Media Relations

- Wichita State -