Former Dick Howser trophy winners, Zunino, Prior make waves in 2020 WS

October 29, 2020

By Bo Carter

Howser Trophy Committee

ARLINGTON, Texas – Two more previous winners of the coveted Dick Howser Trophy (presented by The Game Headwear annually to the standout NCAA Division I baseball student-athlete who best exemplifies the ideals of the late Florida State All-America shortstop and manager of the 1985 world champion Kansas City Royals) were making waves in the 2020 World Series – the first ever played on a neutral site at Globe Life Field.

The 115th Fall Classic between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays featured Rays catcher Mike Zunino (2010 recipient as a standout for the Florida Gators) and LA pitching coach Mark Prior (2001 winner at USC after transferring from Vanderbilt).

Zunino’s career has been interesting with several challenges in the batting average department but a history of power hitting (cracking 22 home runs with Seattle in 2014, 25 in 2017 and 20 in 2018) en route to 108 career homers in six full seasons and parts of two others. The Florida native also has provided valuable defensive catching skills for the Rays over the past two seasons.

Prior, a second overall selection in the 2001 draft by the Chicago Cubs, paced the Cubs to the 2003 National League Playoffs with a career-best 18-6 record and 245 strikeouts but encountered multiple injury problems that limited him to a six-year MLB playing career.

He later worked in the front office of the San Diego Padres from 2013-17 and was hired by the Dodgers in 2018 as bullpen coach. That led to him replacing 21-year MLB pitching veteran Rick Honeycutt prior to the ’20 season, and the rest is history. Prior has to exercise major pitching decisions over one of the most talented and highest-paid mound corps in the majors.

While former Howser winners Zunino and Prior faced off in the World Series, 2005 Howser Trophy recipient Alex Gordon had a nostalgic final season – his 14th MLB campaign and all with the Kansas City Royals, including the KC World Series winner in 2015. The three-time American League All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove Award winner as an outfielder closed his tenure with 190 home runs, 749 RBI and a .259 all-time average, which dipped a bit in his final four seasons.

The Nebraska alumnus and longtime Royals and Omaha AAA farm club fan while growing up in Lincoln, Neb., had one of the largest contingents of media and friends at his ’05 Howser Trophy ceremony, which was televised nationally and hosted by sports media celebrity and longtime Howser Trophy fan Carter Blackburn with Howser Trophy committee chair David Feaster doing the presentation honors.

Though there was an intermission in the Dick Howser Trophy presentation in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and shortened collegiate schedules, the trophy will go on with its 32 all-time winners over 33 years (Brooks Kieschnick of Texas repeated as the 1992 and ’93 winner).

The 30 other winners of the Howser Trophy also have resumes, which stretch from Los Angeles to New York, and the active players in 2020 MLB abbreviated season chalked up another solid, overall performance.

Several of the recent winners were on the verge of making their debuts in the bigs in ’20 before the entire minor league schedule was cancelled, and they have been laboring hard in the offseason to hone their skills and advance to the top level in ’21.

The active Dick Howser Trophy winners are scattered worldwide from Texas’ Taylor Jungmann (2011, now pitching in Japan) to the 10 current active DHT recipients on 2020 MLB rosters. The next stop for many of these legends likely will be the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The penultimate award for NCAA Division I Baseball and based on performance on the field, leadership, moral character, and courage, qualities which were exemplified throughout Dick Howser's life when he starred at shortstop at Florida State and later managed the New York Yankees and Royals (with Kansas City winning its first World Series in 1985 under his tutelage) continues to be most revered honor in college baseball.

The 32 winners also honour the memory and values of the late Dick Howser with their heroics both on and off America’s playing fields.

For everything you want to know about the Dick Howser Trophy, including a list of its winners, click on this link.