Hall of Fame
James M. Wessinger ’92 – Class of 1996
The Shortstop…
There are few assignments in sports that call for a broader array of skills: lightning-quick reflexes; speed afoot; agility; an arm that can deliver a ball with accuracy and power from across the diamond; the will to stand firm as a base runner intent on breaking up a play draws a bead on your body.
Our minds have a crisp picture of the position’s defining moments…
Crack. Your eye instinctively flashes to left field. But the shortstop, seemingly in motion before the pitch was hit, flags the drive down deep in the hole. Somehow, he finds enough leverage to whistle the ball in the opposite direction of his body’s momentum. Score it 6-3.
The steal is on. Crack. He’s already moving to cover the bag as the batter slaps a grounder behind the runner. The second baseman moves to his left, snags the roller and throws. Without breaking stride the shortstop grabs the ball; touches the bag; and, with his body on a horizontal plane, throws hard to first. The ball’s trajectory forces the runner to hit the deck. But the collision is inevitable…Score it 4-6-3.
He was to be drafted by the Atlanta Braves, move through their system to receive two bids to the AAA All-Star team, and become the first Le Moyne player to reach the Big Show.
His coach recalls him as a “foundation” player during Dolphin baseball’s 1970s renaissance. The shortstop from Utica’s Notre Dame High School was quick, with a rifle arm, the instinct to react as the pitch was on the way and an ability to make solid contact at the plate. But perhaps more important, he simply loved the game and brought to it a flair that elevated the play of those around him.
And though his professional career interrupted his college education after three seasons at Le Moyne, he would return to complete his degree as his ample talents became directed toward a business career and growing family.
In a baseball program with budding aspirations of national prominence, the shortstop became an anchor. He was at the heart of the teams that established Le Moyne as a force to be reckoned with in Eastern Baseball. He established the legitimacy of future Dolphin players’ professional dreams. And, he set a standard for patrolling the left side of the infield that has yet to be equaled.
The shortstop at the heart of Le Moyne’s baseball renaissance, James M. Wessinger ’92 (ex ’77) is inducted into the Le Moyne College Athletic Hall of Fame.
February 3, 1996
