Tiger baseball also is a big draw outside Baton Rouge. Throughout the South, LSU's road trips attract fans like the Yankees do in the major leagues. Bertman has no need to, but he takes his team on a season-long Louisiana road show, playing small schools like Northwestern State, where the home team and local fans wait all year to see the national champions. Bertman also has changed the way universities look at baseball, which has long been considered a money drain compared to basketball and football. Bertman was one of the few people in the 1980s to realize the sport didn't have to be a loser at the college level.
Good players help, too.
Albert Belle, Mike Sirotka, Ben McDonald, Chad Ogea, Jeff Reboulet, Todd Walker and many more players left Bertman's program and ended up in the majors. And his fellow coaches say Bertman's influence ensures that Louisiana will continue producing strong baseball talent in its youth leagues, high schools and colleges. All rights reserved. Produced by Journal Interactive .