Jackson Free Press

This has been one of the best MLB postseasons in a long time. That should mean things are setting up for one of the best World Series in a long time.

Game one of the World Series will be on Tuesday, Oct. 25, and fans have something special to do instead of just sitting on the couch and watching: The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is holding a game one viewing party. But at the event, you can do more than just watch the Fall Classic on the big screen and mingle with other fans.

Former and current MLB players will be on hand before the game starts. Fans will be able to ask questions and get autographs with a great lineup.

Players scheduled to appear are 2017 Hall of Fame inductee pitcher Jay Powell, who won game seven of the 1997 World Series; 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Brantley, who pitched in the 1989 World Series that saw an earthquake hit before the start of game three; current St. Louis Cardinals third base coach Chris Maloney, who played at Mississippi State University; former University of Mississippi and New York Yankees player Jake Gibbs, who is in the College football Hall of Fame; former UM great Joe Gibbon, who won the 1960 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates; former University of Southern Mississippi great, who currently is managing in the minor leagues; former USM pitcher Chad Bradford, who was a major focus of the book and later film “Moneyball”; and former Delta State University star Barry Lyons, who played for the New York Mets.

Other players will be added as their schedule makes them available.

The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with a barbecue dinner, and players will come out at 6:30 before the game starts. Players will discuss their playing days in the majors, answer questions and discuss game one of the World Series.

All proceeds from this event will benefit the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Tickets for the viewing party begin at $50 and must be purchased in advance.

To buy them, go by the museum office or at this link. For more information about this event, call 601-982-8264.

One-sided games are not unusual in college football. Nearly every season has a few games where the score gets lopsided in favor of one team.

In 1916, one of the biggest blowouts in college football took place, and today is the 100th anniversary of that mauling. The game involved the Georgia Institute of Technology and Cumberland College.

Georgia Tech rolled to an amazing 222-0 win over Cumberland. The Yellow Jackets scored 63 points in the first quarter alone.

But why did Georgia Tech pour it on Cumberland? And why was the game so one-sided?

The second question is easier to answer than the first. Cumberland dissolved its football team in 1915 but failed to properly notify Georgia Tech that it was cancelling the game.

Then-head coach of the Yellow Jackets John Heisman threatened to sue Cumberland for $3,000, roughly $65,000 in today’s dollars, if the tiny college from Lebanon, Tenn., cancelled the game.

Instead, a student manager put together a team of 13 players that consisted mostly of fraternity brothers to head to Atlanta and fulfill the contract obligations.

The myth of why Heisman wanted to play the game so badly was that Cumberland beat the Yellow Jacket’s baseball team, which Heisman also coached, 22-0 in the spring of 1915. He even threw in $500 (worth about $11,000 in today’s dollars) and paid the travel expenses for the Cumberland team he was about to slaughter.

Georgia Tech scored on its first play of the game, and Cumberland fumbled on its first play, which the Yellow Jackets recovered for a score. That was how the matchup went—Georgia Tech would need only one to three plays to score and forced Cumberland into 15 turnovers.

The Yellow Jackets led 126-0 at halftime. Heisman showed some mercy, allowing the teams to play the third and fourth quarters at 12 minutes instead of the normal 15 minutes.

Georgia Tech scored on every single one of its possessions, tallying 32 touchdowns. Cumberland had six interceptions, nine fumbles and zero first downs.

The Yellow Jackets racked up 501 yards of total offense on just 29 offensive plays with 20 first downs. Cumberland finished with negative-28 yards, and the team’s main offensive highlight was a 10-yard pass completion on a fourth-and-22 play.

Cumberland has shuttered its football program five times at various points, despite being a college-football powerhouse at one point. In 1903, the team finished with a 6-1-1 record after a spectacular run of beating the University of Alabama, Tulane University and Louisiana State University by a combined 113-0 score in the span of six days. Cumberland’s only loss was a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Sewanee, and its lone tie came in an 11-11 game against Clemson.

That season, Cumberland met Clemson University in the championship game of the former Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which contained teams that later formed the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference. Cumberland now …

None of the universities from our state got into the Division I NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The University of Mississippi was the only close-but-no-cigar team, as they went to the National Invitational Tournament.

That should not be the case with the Division I NCAA Men’s Baseball Tournament. Our state could see as many as four teams get in.

Note: these rankings and standings were as of May 12, 2017.

A lot can change over the last two weeks of the season and in conference tournaments, but Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi seem to be solidly in the field. Jackson State University is in only if it wins the SWAC Tournament, and UM seems to be having some trouble.

One of the biggest things for MSU is it being one of the top eight seeds. In four recent projections (Baseball America, College Sports Madness, Perfect Game USA and D1Baseball), the Bulldogs are a national seed. Baseball America has the team as the No. 7 seed, and every projection has it as a host for a regional.

Over the next two weeks, the Bulldogs can work their way up the projections and earn one of the top eight seeds. MSU can help itself by winning the SEC West title, along with the SEC title, and get help if other teams falter over the next couple of weeks.

Not all of the projections consider Southern Miss as a possible host for a regional. USM is a host in Baseball America, Perfect Game USA and D1Baseball, but College Sports Madness does not see the Golden Eagles possibly hosting. If USM were to win the C-USA regular season title, it should help the team get locked in for hosting a regional.

The Rebels are in the game in every projection but Baseball America, which has the team as one of the first four teams out. Perfect Game has the Rebels as one of the last three teams into the field, and D1Baseball has them as a third seed in a regional.

The good news for UM is the team closes the season hosting Texas A&M University and at Auburn University. Both the Aggies and Tigers are nationally ranked, and taking two-of-three in a three-game series would put the Rebels on solid ground.

The SWAC is only going to get one team in the tournament, and that is the team that wins the conference tournament this week in New Orleans. Jackson State has won the East Division and could be considered the top team in the conference.

If JSU does get into the tournament, there is no consensus on where the Tigers might be headed. Three of the four projections actually place the field in four-team regionals, and Jackson State doesn’t land in the same spot in any of them.

D1Baseball has JSU as the No. 4 seed in the Starkville Regional that Mississippi State is hosting. Baseball America puts the Tigers …