WICHITA, Kan. — The Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame has announced its newest Hall of Fame class, which will be inducted on January 27, 2024 at the LaVela in Wichita. For more information on purchasing tickets for the event, click here.
Hutchinson native, Haven High School graduate and former HutchCC Blue Dragon, Andy Dirks will be inducted in the class of 2024.
The class of 2024 features Andy Dirks, Aaron Crow, Ron Gardenhire, Braden Looper, Ted Power, Ronn Reynolds, Joe Ruocco, and the 1887 Topeka Golden Giants.
Information below courtesy of the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame
ANDY DIRKS
Born in Hutchinson, Andy Dirks graduated from Haven High School in 2004 after lettering four years each in football, basketball and baseball. He was all-state in baseball three times and was named the Male Athlete of the Year by the Hutchinson News in 2004.
Dirks went on to play at Hutchinson Community College for two seasons, then Wichita State. At WSU, he hit .354 over two seasons and twice received the team’s Charlie Hustle Award. In his senior season, Dirks hit .388 with a thirty-game hitting streak. His on base percentage was .498 and he slugged .697. Dirks was named the Shockers’ Most Valuable Player and Most Inspirational Player, in addition to being named third team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Selected in the eighth round of the 2008 MLB draft by Detroit, Dirks made his major league debut with the Tigers in May of 2011. He appeared in 78 games for the American League Central champions, hitting .251 with seven home runs as a rookie.
In 2013, Dirks was the Tigers’ regular leftfielder, hitting .256 with nine home runs and was a finalist for a Gold Glove award. He missed the entire 2014 season after back surgery. A second back surgery in 2015 ended his playing career.
Dirks and his family live in the Detroit area where he is a real estate broker and part-time member of the Tigers broadcast team.
AARON CROW
Aaron Crow was born in Topeka, grew up in nearby Wakarusa and graduated from Topeka’s Washburn Rural High School in 2005. He went on to pitch at the University of Missouri, where he went 23-8 in three years and was Big 12 Pitcher of the Year in 2008.
Following his junior season, Crow was drafted ninth overall by Washington. He did not sign with the Nationals and pitched for the independent Fort Worth Cats in 2009. He was again drafted in the first round, this time by Kansas City with the twelfth overall pick.
Crow made the Royals roster as a reliever in 2011 and was selected to the American League All-Star team. Between 2011-2014, Crow was a workhorse out of the Royals bullpen, appearing in 254 games from 2011-2014. He was 20-11 with a 3.43 earned run average, striking out 208 hitters in 233 innings.
Following the 2014 season, Crow was traded to Miami for former Wichita State pitcher Brian Flynn. Before the 2015 season, Crow hurt his arm and had Tommy John surgery. He would pitch only three innings of professional ball in 2016-17. Unable to regain his full velocity, Crow’s final season was with the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican Baseball League in 2018.
RON GARDENHIRE
While playing for Wichita Coors in the summers of 1977 and 1978, Ron Gardenhire played in the NBC World Series and met his future wife at Pogos, a legendary Wichita disco. The couple made their home in Wichita for several years.
Born on an Army base in West Germany, Gardenhire played high school baseball in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Recruited by Wichita State, Gardenhire instead played collegiately at the University of Texas.
He was a sixth-round draft pick of the New York Mets in 1979 and played five seasons for them. A middle infielder, Gardenhire was the Mets’ starting shortstop in 1982 in which he hit .240 with three home runs.
After his playing career ended in 1985, Gardenhire managed teams in Minnesota’s minor league system. He was promoted to become the Twins’ third base coach in 1991, the same year in which the Twins won the World Series.
After 11 seasons as a coach, Gardenhire succeeded Tom Kelly as manager. The Twins won 90+ games in four of Gardenhire’s first five seasons. All told, he led the Twins to six American League Central titles and 1,039 wins in 13 seasons, ending in 2014. He was named American League manager of the year in 2010 and was runner-up five times for the award.
In 2017, Gardenhire served as bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks. During that season, he battled prostate cancer and was given a clean bill of health.
The following year, Gardenhire took over as manager in Detroit. He led the Tigers for three seasons, retiring with 1,280 career managerial wins.
Gardenhire and his wife, Carol, make their home in Florida.
BRADEN LOOPER
After a promising freshman year at Wichita State, Braden Looper became a dominant relief pitcher as a sophomore, saving thirteen games with a 1.77 earned run average.
A preseason All-American as a junior, Looper lived up to the billing, recording twelve saves with a 2.09 ERA on a Shocker team that made the College World Series field. Looper was a consensus All-American and pitched for the bronze medal-winning Team USA in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Drafted third overall by St. Louis, Looper signed with the Cardinals after his junior year. He made his major league debut in 1998 but was traded to Florida after just one season.
Looper quickly established himself in the Marlins’ bullpen, appearing in 70+ games for five straight seasons. He assumed the closer role in 2002 and had 28 saves for the World Series Champions in 2003.
In 2004, Looper signed with the New York Mets and saved 29 games in his first season, followed by 28 saves in 2005.
In 2006, he went back to the Cardinals as a set-up man. In 2007, he became a starter for the first time in his career. He started 30 games, posting a 12-12 record with a 4.94 ERA. He again won twelve games in 2008, then fourteen games in his final season, pitching for Milwaukee.
In twelve major league seasons, Looper appeared in 670 games, winning 72 and saving 103.
Originally from Mangum, Oklahoma, Looper and his family make their home in Chicago.
TED POWER
Ted Power graduated from Abilene High School, which did not field a baseball team while he was in school. Still, Power went on to set strikeout records at Kansas State University and pitched thirteen years in the major leagues.
Power joined the K-State rotation as a freshman, starting nine games and striking out 48 in 43 innings of work. The 1974 Wildcats won 31 games and were runners-up in the Big 8, their highest conference finish until the 2013 team won the Big 12. Besides Power, the 1974 team had future big league pitcher Andy Replogle and future College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Lon Kruger.
After arm injuries limited his sophomore year, Power won six games the next season with a 2.34 earned run average. He struck out a then-season record 99 batters, including a still-standing record 19 against Wayne State. Power was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth round of the 1976 MLB draft.
Power broke in with the Dodgers in 1981 and was traded to Cincinnati following the 1982 season. He pitched out of the Reds bullpen and led the National League in appearances in 1984 with 78. In 1985, he saved 27 games. In 1986 and 1987, Power moved to the rotation and won ten games each season.
Following the 1987 season, Power was traded to Kansas City, along with Kurt Stilwell in return for Danny Jackson and Angel Salazar. He was a reliever and spot starter for one season for the Royals and pitched for six teams in seven years. Power pitched in the National League Championship Series for Pittsburgh, starting game six.
Over thirteen major league seasons, Power won 69 games. For nearly two decades, he served as a minor and major league coach for Cincinnati. In 2023, he was the pitching coach for the collegiate summer league Bristol (VA) State Liners.
In 2000, Power was named to the K-State All-Century baseball team.
RONN REYNOLDS
Born in Wichita, Ronn Reynolds caught and led Southeast High School to a state championship in 1976. From there, he attended Garden City Community College on a football scholarship and would later become the first Broncbuster to play in the major leagues.
After Garden City, Reynolds went to Arkansas and led the Razorbacks to a runner-up finish in their first-ever College World Series. On a team that included future major leaguers Kevin McReynolds and Johnny Ray, Reynolds hit .347, was named all-Southwest Conference and All-American. He was drafted by Oakland in the fifth round but elected to return to Arkansas for his senior season.
After his senior year, Reynolds was again drafted in the fifth round, this time by the New York Mets. He signed with the Mets and made his major league debut with them in 1982. Reynolds served as a back-up to John Stearns and, later, Hall of Fame member Gary Carter.
While with the Mets, Reynolds took part of one of the most famous and elaborate pranks in sports history. In George Plimpton’s Sports Illustrated story on April 1, 1985, Reynolds is quoted and pictured with his hand in pain from catching the 168-mph fastball of Sidd Finch. Finch was concocted by Plimpton as an April Fool’s joke.
Reynolds played for Philadelphia, Houston and San Diego over the final three seasons of his career. In all, he played in 143 games over six major league seasons.
Reynolds began working in the construction industry following his baseball career. He held project manager and business development positions with Key Construction in Wichita.
JOE RUOCCO
There is hardly a sports fan who grew up in Wichita in the past 40 years who hasn’t visited – and delighted in – Rock’s Dugout and its owner, Joe Ruocco.
Ruocco grew up in The Bronx as a Yankees fan collecting baseball cards. He left New York to attend college at St. Mary’s of the Plains in Dodge City. He planned to return to New York but was offered a job while student teaching in Wichita. Ruocco taught elementary school in Wichita from 1969 until he retired in 2003.
In 1977, Ruocco, a lifelong bowler, opened Rock’s Dugout in the basement of Rose Bowl East in Wichita. His original inventory was his own personal collection.
In 2003, Rose Bowl East closed so Rock’s Dugout moved to another bowling alley, Northrock Lanes. Like its predecessor, Rock’s Dugout has bats, balls and sports gear hanging from the ceiling. Memorabilia adorns every wall with one wall dominated by a photo collage that once hung in Yankee Stadium. And, most of all, there are hundreds of thousands of sports cards.
Known for his honesty and integrity, Ruocco regularly hosts card and memorabilia shows. He hired national sports figures – like Stan Musial, Phil Rizzuto and both Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca – to come to Wichita to sign autographs.
In 2022, Ruocco retired a second time, this time from Rock’s Dugout after 45 years of business. He sold Rock’s Dugout to a long-time customer, so it continues to be the oldest-running card shop in Kansas.
Ruocco and his wife, Cathy, live in Wichita.
1887 TOPEKA GOLDEN GIANTS
Led by a remarkable ten future major league players, the Topeka Golden Giants dominated the Western League in 1887. The Golden Giants finished with a 90-25 (.785) record, easily finishing 15 games ahead of the Lincoln Tree-Planters.
They also beat the defending World Series champion St. Louis Browns, 12-9, in an exhibition game.
In Western League play, the team batting average was .390, led by Jimmy Macullar’s league-leading .464 and Dan Stearns’ .438. Stearns led the team in hits and runs. Outfielder Bug Holliday hit 16 home runs to lead the league.
Pitcher Tom Sullivan led the Western Association with 36 wins.
Besides Macullar, Stearns, Holliday and Sullivan, major league players from that team were player-manager Walt Goldsby, Joe “Old Hoss” Ardner, Jim Conway, Perry Werden, Joe Gunson and Buster Hoover.