NOTE: This story first appeared in the March/April issue of unlimited, the official online magazine of Tennessee Tech athletics. Click here to view the original story and the complete edition
By Dylan Vazzano, Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- .000013. That razor-thin number is the approximate percentage of Major League Baseball games that have featured one player playing all nine positions in one game. Four times in the over 135-year history of the sport.
At the collegiate level, the percentage is just as miniscule. And yet, even though the scarcity of the occurrence has proven to be nearly as rare as the sighting of Halley's Comet, the anomaly on the diamond struck Cookeville a mere 25 years ago.
"He was just one of those kids who looked like an athlete," the simple sentiments of Tennessee Tech Hall of Fame baseball coach David Mays, as he recalls the fabled afternoon.
The "kid" was Kevin Caroland, and what an athlete he was. Named the winner of the M.P. Quillen Most Valuable Player award as a senior in 1990, Caroland led the Golden Eagles in seven batting and four pitching categories that season. The Sewanee, Tenn. native wrapped up a stellar career in Tech purple and gold that saw him hit a team-best .367 as a senior to go along with 14 doubles, four home runs, and 48 RBIs. On the mound, the numbers were equally as impressive with a club-leading six wins and 65 strikeouts.
For all the accolades and statistics that Caroland carried, it was his majestic voyage from position to position in a game against Cumberland University on April 26, 1990 that turned his Tennessee Tech tenure into the stuff of legends. Caroland joined an exclusive club that has MLB All-Star and three-time World Series champion, Buster Posey, as part of its membership after playing all nine positions in one single game (shown below left at catcher).
From the hot corner to behind the dish. From toeing the slab to the depths of right field. From the bag at first to the stop at short. Caroland did it all; doing so in a 13-3 victory over the Bulldogs to exact revenge after a 14-8 loss just two weeks prior in Lebanon.
"It was one of those games that could have put you to sleep," Caroland claimed shortly after the contest, weary on his excursion across the yard as he reflected on his slice of baseball history.
"To be honest, I don't really know how the idea came up, but I knew that Kevin would be a good kid to highlight," Mays said, still beaming with pride 25 years after one of his star pupils took to the gravity of the moment. "I knew he would be able to play all nine positions because he was already a natural at shortstop and centerfield, which are two of the hardest positions to play. He also pitched for us, which shows you how good he really was."
Caroland started the game at first base, before moving around the infield through the fourth inning. The fifth presented the afternoon's tallest task…the tools of ignorance.
"He asked what do I do when I'm catching?" chuckled Mays. "I told him to just shut your eyes and catch it."
Evidently that's exactly what Caroland did, helping sophomore right-hander Don Maness blank Cumberland in the top of the fifth to keep Tech ahead 3-1 in what Mays remarked was a "great inning behind the plate." Caroland's most challenging assignment served as the game's turning point as well, with the Golden Eagles putting up an eight-spot in the bottom of the inning to essentially put the game on ice with an 11-1 edge.
Caroland trekked around the outfield in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, before smacking an exclamation point next to the historic afternoon with a scoreless ninth inning on the mound to secure the victory.
"That was actually the first and only time I had ever witnessed something like that," Mays said, conjuring up 25 years of head coaching experience to answer the question. "We had some kids over the years that were probably capable of doing something like this, but like I said before, Kevin was just so athletic that I knew he could handle it."
Caroland also went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and three RBIs in the game. Handled indeed.
