MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team welcomes former Georgia Bulldog and current Chicago White Sox third baseman Gordon Beckham as the featured speaker of the First Pitch Classic, to be held Jan. 25, 2010 in Mercer’s University Center. The dinner begins at 7 p.m., preceded by an autograph session starting at 6:00 p.m.
This is the second annual celebration of the First Pitch Classic event, sponsored by Macon Occupational Medicine, and it is also the second-straight season that a notable Georgia native has come to speak. Beckham hails from Atlanta, Ga. while last year’s key note speaker Jeff Francoeur is a Lilburn, Ga. product.
"We are certainly very pleased to have Gordon come to Mercer to kick off the opening of our 2010 season,” head baseball coach
Craig Gibson said. “Gordon is one of best young players in the game today and his message will be one of great inspiration and motivation for all who attend."
Beckham has established himself as one of the top young players in the MLB very early in his career. Beckham was a superstar at the University of Georgia, where he still holds the records for most home runs hit in a single-season (26) and in a career (53). Beckham was selected eighth overall in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Chicago White Sox and was called up on June 3, 2009, after just 45 games in its minor league system. Beckham made the most of his opportunity becoming the everyday third baseman for the White Sox while hitting .270 with 14 home runs and 63 runs batted in. For his efforts, Beckham was named the Sporting News 2009 AL Rookie of the Year.
Tickets for the autograph session and the dinner are sold as separate events. Tickets for the autograph session are $25, while tickets for the dinner are $50. All proceeds go to Mercer baseball.
For more information on the event or to make a reservation, please contact Mercer associate head coach Tim Boeth, at (478) 301-2738.