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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, April 27, 2006

Tatsuno falls short in Hall of Fame vote

Advertiser Staff

Derek Tatsuno

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Former University of Hawai'i pitcher Derek Tatsuno, the first collegian to win 20 games in a season, was philosophical about missing out on the inaugural class of the College Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday.

"I think my friends were more excited about it than me," Tatsuno said after the 10-man class was announced. He said a friend called him late Tuesday night as soon as the results were posted on the internet.

Hall of Fame chairman John Askins said he believed Ta-tsuno's vote total was among the top 10 players on the 34-man ballot but that the inaugural class was split equally between players and coaches with five each.

Askins said Tatsuno's nomination "will automatically be carried over to next year's (ballot)." He said the hall expects to induct 10 members each in 2007 and 2008.

"For the first two years we'll probably take 10 because we want to build a nice foundation," Askins said. "After that, we'll probably do it more like the major league hall where there is no guaranteed amount."

Tatsuno, who won 20 games in 1979 as a junior and was 40-6 in three seasons, said, "I was surprised when I was first nominated because there were a lot of (players) with great accomplishments before my time."

The inaugural class will consist of players Will Clark (Mississippi State), Bob Horner (Arizona State), Brooks Kieschnick (Texas), Robin Ventura (Oklahoma State) and Dave Winfield (Minnesota), and coaches Skip Bertman (Louisiana State), Rod Dedeaux (USC), Ron Fraser (Miami), Cliff Gustafson (Texas) and Bobby Winkles (Arizona State).