Hall of Fame
The total of 111 victories posted by the North Central College baseball team from 1984 to 1987 still stands as the most in a four-year period in the school’s history. In uniform for each and every one was Craig Stefan ’87, who stood out as one of the top performers during what could easily be called the most successful era ever for the program.
Stefan was a member of three CCIW Championship teams and was the captain of the North Central squad that made the Cardinals’ first appearance in the Division III College World Series in 1987. He was a three-time First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin selection and 1985 Division III All-American as an outfielder (one of nine All-Americans in the program’s history).
Stefan’s home run in the bottom of the eighth inning of Mideast Regional Championship game provided the Cardinals with a 5-4 victory over Aurora University and punched North Central’s ticket for the World Series in Marietta, Ohio. The season ended there with losses to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Eastern Connecticut State University. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the Mideast Regional Tournament.
“The two losses kind of sting, still,” Stefan says about the 1987 World Series, where the Cardinals placed fifth. “But the road trips, being with the guys, getting to play extra games that other teams weren’t, it was great. It meant everything to be able to achieve so much as a team. It made the experience of being a college baseball player much better, no doubt about it.”
A 33rd-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers following his junior year in 1986, Stefan led the CCIW in home runs three times and twice was the league leader in hits. He graduated as one of the College’s all-time leaders in 10 different categories. Today he ranks second all-time in games played (162), total bases (421), hits (214), home runs (48), runs scored (167), slugging percentage (.749) and triples (13); fourth in at-bats (562); sixth in stolen bases (39); and eighth in batting average (.381). Stefan established a then-school record slugging percentage of .833 in 1985.
Stefan joins former teammate Ken Ritter ’88 in the Hall of Fame and, along with pitcher Matt Richards ’87, the Cardinals had three of their nine All-America honorees on the same team together.
“I was surrounded by a bunch of real good players,” Stefan says. “We had a few great seasons and I had a pretty good career.”
