(Left Photo) Former Sooner Pitcher Bob Shirley Cuts Loose For The New York Yankees (Right Photo) Bobby Witt Fires A Fastball For The Sooners During The Big 8 Tournament

Editor's Note: Baseball Todd graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1992 with a degree in journalism. While you won't find him at every OU football, basketball, or baseball game, he does follow his beloved Sooners closely. Above are photos of Bobby Witt and Bob Shirley, two of the all-time Sooner greats who also did pretty well after getting to the major leagues. Following is Baseball Todd's top former Sooner baseball players who have played major league baseball.

1. DALE MITCHELL: Mitchell in my opinion is the greatest former OU player who played major league baseball. Mitchell holds the Sooner record for the highest career batting average with a .467 mark from 1942 to '46. During his senior season for the Sooners, Mitchell hit an unbelievable .507! I don't care if you're playing T-ball, hitting over .500 in any league is awesome. After graduating from OU, Mitchell took his baseball skills to the Cleveland Indians and became an American League All-Star outfielder. In 1948, Mitchell hit .336 and garnered 204 hits while helping the Tribe to the World Series. In 1949, Mitchell hit .317 and led the American League with 203 hits and a whopping 23 triples to earn a spot on the AL All-Star team. In '52, he hit .323 and again made the All-Star squad. In 11 major league seasons, Mitchell hit .312. In 1956, he wound up his major league career with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the last out in Don Larsen's perfect game during the 1956 World Series. OU's baseball field is named after him - Dale Mitchell Park. Now, that's quite a resume!

2. RUSS ORTIZ: Ortiz has quickly jumped to No. 2 on this list simply because he has been one of the winningest pitchers in the majors since his major league career started in 1998. Ortiz began his career with the San Francisco Giants, going 18-9 in 1999, 14-12 in 2000, 17-9 in 2001, and 14-10 in 2002. Ortiz went 21-7 in 2003 during his first year with the Atlanta Braves, leading the National League in wins. The only other Sooner in history to win 20 games at the big league level was Danny Jackson with the Reds in 1988 with a record of 23-8. Ortiz played on the 1994 OU squad which won the College World Series. He walks quite a few batters but he's a workhorse and pitches a lot of innings usually. After going 15-9 with Atlanta in 2004, Ortiz pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2005 and went 5-11 (he went on the disabled list with a strained rib cage muscle in late August.) Still, he's one of my favorites and should bounce back in 2006. He has a 108-71 career record (an impressive .603 winning percentage) with a 4.23 ERA.

3. BOBBY WITT: Witt was a flamethrower as evidenced by his 231 career strikeouts (in only 196 2/3 innings) that he logged while at OU for two seasons (1984 and '85). He was 17-6 with a 3.76 ERA during his tenure in a Sooner uniform. During the '85 campaign, Witt struck out 17 batters in a game against the Texas Longhorns - a game that I watched in awe on local OKC television. After leading the Big 8 Conference in strikeouts (113) in 1984 and earning All-American honors in '85, Witt went to the Texas Rangers where he struggled with his control at times but also was overpowering, too. His best season in the majors was in 1990, when he was a part of a rotation that featured Nolan Ryan. In '90, Witt went 17-10 with 221 strikeouts and a 3.36 ERA. In all, Witt pitched 14 seasons with the Rangers, Oakland A's, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Cleveland Indians, and (most recently in 2001) the Arizona Diamondbacks. Oh, and he was on the 1984 Olympic team - pretty impressive by any standards! For his 16-season big league career, Witt was 142-157 with 1,955 strikeouts and a 4.83 ERA

4. EDDIE FISHER: Fisher was very stingy during his college years at OU while on the mound. In 1957, he had a microscopic 1.20 ERA for Jack Baer's Sooners. During his college career at OU which spanned 1956-58, Fisher had a very low 2.13 ERA. Following college, Fisher broke into the majors with the San Francisco Giants in 1959. Soon, Fisher developed into one of the top relief pitchers in the game. With the Chicago White Sox in 1965, Fisher had his best pro season as a workhorse out of the bullpen. That year, he went 15-7 with 24 saves and a 2.40 ERA in a league-leading 82 appearances. Fisher spent 15 years in the majors pitching for the Giants, White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and California Angels. His career ERA was 3.41.

5. DARRON COX: If you ever watched Cox as a catcher, you'll know why I rank him so high on this list. The guy simply had the best arm of any catcher I've ever seen - maybe as good as Pudge Rodriguez. In a game against Northern Iowa in 1989, Cox collected five hits and scored five runs to tie school records. Three of the hits were homers. In '87, Cox had a 19-game hitting streak for the Sooners - as a freshman. He had 196 hits, 153 runs scored, 317 total bases, and 23 homers during his OU career. Cox was the first OU player ever to gain Big 8 Player of the Year honors in 1989. In the minors, Cox was hindered by his hitting but still held on because of his defense. In 1999, he finally made it to the majors with the Montreal Expos, hitting .240 in 15 games. In 2000, Cox played a few games with the Colorado Rockies and remained with their Triple A affiliate in Colorado Springs for the 2001 campaign. In high school, I was privileged to play against Cox. When Cox was a senior at Mustang High School and I was junior at Putnam City North, we played Mustang in a tournament in Guthrie, Okla. Cox was pitching and I was nervous as heck. But, I stepped to the plate my first trip and rapped a solid single to left field. I couldn't believe I pulled the ball on him. While PC North was certainly not a powerhouse, we won the game (I don't remember the score, though.) This remains one of my proudest moments as a baseball player - since I never played beyond the high school level. Now, I can always say that I got a hit off a future major leaguer and college stud.

6. JOHN RUSSELL: When I went to a baseball camp as a youth at Oklahoma City University one winter over Christmas break, Russell was a guest instructor. The guy had the biggest legs I've ever seen - powerfully built with lots of muscle. It showed, too, because for several seasons, he held the career home run record for the Sooners with 48 from 1980-82. In 1982, Russell hit a then-OU season record 20 homers. He had 138 career RBI as a Sooner. In the majors, Russell caught 10 years for the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, and Texas Rangers. His best season came with the Phillies in 1986, when he hit 13 homers with 60 ribbies. In 1990, he caught Nolan Ryan's sixth career no-hitter as a member of the Rangers. Currently, Russell is the manager for the Triple A Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League.

7. BOB SHIRLEY: Shirley was a prodigy of head coach Enos Semore in the early 1970s. He had 11 wins in 1974 and another 13 wins in '75 as he helped OU make three College World Series. He still holds the career win record at OU with 31 and he also struck out 271 batters as a Sooner hurler. He pitched 11 years in the majors with the San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, and Kansas City Royals. His best year as a major leaguer occurred in 1980 with the Padres. That season, he went 11-12 with seven saves and a 3.55 ERA.

8. JACKSON TODD: Besides having a great last name, Todd was also a mainstay for the Sooner pitching staff in the 1970s. He won 12 games for OU in 1972 and had 25 career wins as a Sooner. In both 1972 and '73, Todd completed 13 games. After his OU days, Todd pitched four years with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets. He is also a former Sooner pitching coach.

9. JACK ARMSTRONG: Armstrong was a starter for OU in 1987, when he struck out a then-Sooner record 129 hitters in one year. In the pros, Armstrong received the starting assignment in the major league All-Star Game in 1990 at Wrigley Field. That year with the Cincinnati Reds, Armstrong went 12-9 with a 3.42 ERA while helping the Reds win the World Series.

10. MARK REDMAN: Redman pitched his last season for the Sooners in 1995 - so many OU fans remember his awesome pitching exploits. In 1994, he helped lead the Sooners to a College World Series title with 14 wins and 136 strikeouts. In '95, he had 15 victories along with a school-record 158 strikeouts. Redman ranks No. 2 behind Shirley with 29 career victories as a Sooner. In 2000, Redman gained consideration for Rookie of the Year honors with the Minnesota Twins after going 12-9 in his first full big league campaign. Since then, he has kept his suitcase packed, playing for the Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Oakland A's, Pittsburgh Pirates and (for 2006) the Kansas City Royals. He won the World Series in 2003 with Florida, going 14-9 for the world champs. For his career, he's 53-66 with a 4.47 ERA.

11. RYAN AND DAMON MINOR: At OU, Ryan Minor was known more for his basketball skills as an all-conference forward. He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, but elected to play professional baseball after helping OU win the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in '94. As a professional, Minor will always be the answer to a popular trivia question. Who replaced Cal Ripken in the Baltimore lineup when the Hall of Famer elected to end his major league record consecutive games played streak at 2,632 during the 1999 season? Yes, it was Ryan Minor, who in 2001 played for the Montreal Expos in his last big league season. Damon Minor, meanwhile, was also an instrumental cog in the Sooners' march to the CWS championship. As far as I know, he's still a first baseman for the San Francisco Giants system. GO SOONERS!