HATTIESBURG — The first four Southern Miss baseball players to be selected in the MLB Draft all decided against signing with the organizations that first picked them.
Frank Baker turned down the Giants in 1966, Ed Assaf spurned the Royals in 1967 and Wilson Plunkett rejected the Angels in 1973. Pro Football Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy turned down contracts from the Astros in 1971 and the Braves in 1972 before finally signing with the Reds in 1973, the same year he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders.
Roughly 49 years after Guy chose the gridiron over the diamond, Southern Miss' MLB Draft results are trending firmly in the opposite direction.