Hall of Fame
"It is the biggest rape in the history of baseball." Those were head baseball coach Gordie Gillespie's exact words upon hearing that catcher Alex Fernandez was not selected in the 1992 draft and the numbers back up Gillespie's claim. The greatest catcher in the history of the program and one of the top two in Gillespie's 45 years of coaching baseball, Fernandez threw out an incredible 65 would-be basestealers in 131 attempts during his career, or one peg shy of the .500 mark. Add to that another 16 pickoffs during his final two seasons, an overall .980 fielding percentage, a .311 lifetime batting average and no doubts remain as to how the two-time honorable mention all-american could have been overlooked so badly. Fernandez began his reign of terror on enemy baserunners in 1989, the same season in which that particular Saint team recorded the best-ever NAIA World Series finish at that time (2nd place) and the most victories in any season previous to it or after, 52. One year later, CSF was back in the Series finishing third with Fernandez going on to claim all-district, all-area and all-america accolades courtesy of a .316 batting average, a .987 fielding mark and gunning down 22-of-42 baserunners. Still, his best was yet to come. Two seasons later, in a campaign in which he repeated the honors of his sophomore year, he reached base safely 45.7 percent of the time due, in part, to a career-high .350 batting average and, defensively, authored a school-record 12 pickoffs. A three-time all-conference selection, Fernandez was also a member of the 1991 NAIA all-star team which ventured to Seoul, Korea. An all-state choice on the diamond at Washington High School-Chicago, he becomes the second Minuteman graduate to enter the Hall joining Mick Kocinski, an inductee last summer. A Social Work major who graduated in 1992.
