Baseball pro values education
Second baseman and outfielder Justin Baughman ’01 could have joined baseball’s professional ranks before earning his first college credit.
In 1992, Baughman was a decorated shortstop who was coming out of a suburban San Jose, Calif., high school and was drafted in the 42nd round of baseball’s amateur draft by the Chicago Cubs. But he chose to continue his schooling and to play collegiate baseball at Lewis & Clark.
Even after he turned pro following his junior year, Baughman returned to the classroom enough times during the off-season and while nursing injuries to earn his bachelor’s degree this spring.
The choice to go to college "was pretty easy," says Baughman. "Education has always been important to me and my family."
Once enrolled at Lewis & Clark, Baughman, who played shortstop for the Pioneers, found the College to be a stark contrast to the all-boys Catholic high school he had attended.
"It was a shock to me at first," says Baughman, whose uneasy transition culminated in a sophomore-year transfer to San Jose State University, which offered him an athletic scholarship.
One semester later, dissatisfied with his experience, he returned to Lewis & Clark with a newfound appreciation. Today, he says, he is more attuned to contemporary social issues because of the school’s liberal arts tradition.
"My success in baseball has a lot to do with the maturity I achieved at Lewis & Clark," says Baughman, who today lives in Portland with his fiancée, Serena Talcott ’98.
Baughman waited to turn pro until after his junior year, when the Anaheim Angels picked him in the fifth round of the June 1995 draft. After more than three years in the minors, he was bumped up to the division-leading Angels in May 1998.
In two and a half months with the major-league club, Baughman played in 63 games, hit a respectable .255, drove in 20 runs and stole 10 bases.
"It was exciting," says Baughman. "I didn’t expect to be in the majors because I was still young, still learning."
This season, before a stress fracture in his ankle landed him on the injured list, he had compiled a commendable .290 batting average and had stolen a team-leading 12 bases for the Triple-A Salt Lake Stingers, the top minor-league affiliate of major-league baseball’s Anaheim Angels.
Since his professional baseball career began in 1995, Baughman has enjoyed several stints in the major leagues. But his prospects dimmed the winter following his big-league debut when he shattered his leg in an on-field collision while playing in a developmental league in Mexico. He missed an entire season while undergoing 16 months of rehabilitation and has not seen significant action in the majors since.
Baughman still hopes to enjoy a long and distinguished major-league career, but he realizes there’s life beyond his playing days. He’s interested in someday pursuing a job in the business side of baseball.
"If my playing career ended today," he points out, "I can write on my résumé that I have a degree from Lewis & Clark."
—by Dan Sadowsky 
Even after he turned pro following his junior year at Lewis & Clark College, Justin Baughman '01 returned to the classroom enough times during the off-seasons and while nursing injuries to ear his bachelor's degree this spring.Photo credit: The Anaheim Angels | 
