COLUMBIA, MO. • There will be many great stories to tell about the career that led Max Scherzer to Cooperstown on the day he’s enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. How he got his No. 31 is not one of them.
In 2003, he arrived at the University of Missouri from St. Louis as a college freshman. The story begins and ends there.
More than 15 years later, Scherzer returned to campus Friday night — the place he calls “ground zero” for his pitching career — to receive the latest accolade as one of the most celebrated athletes to wear Mizzou’s black and gold.