By John Manuel
June 20, 2002

Khalil Greene

Cal Ripken stood out on a team that won 19 games. Hall of Famers tend to do that.

Carey didn't have quite the same career and went into coaching, eventually becoming head coach at Key West (Fla.) High. Around 1990, he noticed a Little Leaguer in town who stood out almost as much as Ripken had.

"You could see he was different, this little kid who looks about the same as he does now, but who could really, really play," Carey says. "You could see the talent."

Seven years later, Carey was coaching Khalil Greene for Key West High, the little kid having grown up a bit but still standing out from the crowd. Carey had coaxed Ripken to come to the Keys for a fund-raiser, and had his old friend throw out the first pitch before a Key West game.

"You got any good players?" Ripken asked as he came to the dugout.

"Yeah, the shortstop, Greene," Carey replied. "You should watch him."

About then, Greene slammed a 400-foot homer to left field to open the game. By the time Ripken left, Greene had a couple of more hits and a recommendation from the Orioles star, one that wasn't heeded in the 1998 draft.

In fact, no one drafted Khalil Greene out of high school, a fact that seems impossible after his enormous senior season for Clemson. All he did in 2002 was redefine everyone's expectations for him, the way Ripken redefined the shortstop position.

"Nothing Khalil does surprises me anymore," says Clemson coach Jack Leggett, the main benefactor of Greene's gift of a senior season. Entering the College World Series, Greene was hitting .480-26-86. "Whenever we need a hit, he gets a hit. When we need a play, he makes a play. It's amazing."

Greene went from 14th-round pick of the Cubs in 2001 to the 13th overall selection, by the Padres, in 2002. His offensive feats, defensive gems and overall dominance made him an easy selection as Baseball America's College Player of the Year.

Greene, whose first name meaning "gift of God" comes from his Baha'i faith, kept on giving in Omaha. Clemson took the lead in its first game with Greene's three-run homer to beat Nebraska. Then he made a leaping catch to help secure a two-run win against Georgia Tech. Sure, his 34-game hitting streak ended in a rare 0-for-4 performance in the 9-7 victory, but Greene still was the man everyone talked about after the game.

"We finally got Khalil out for once, and he probably saved the game with his glove," Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall said.

To Greene, that wasn't noteworthy. "I could really care less about a hitting streak," he says. "(The catch) was a big part of the game . . . I've always considered myself as apt defensively as I am at the plate. I think I'm an able defender, and I've been doing that for four years."

Greene thought he'd be doing it in pro ball after leading Carey's Conchs to a Florida 3-A title and ending his career as the school's all-time hits and runs leader. Carey says the Cardinals approached Greene with a six-figure bonus offer if he would move to catcher out of high school, but Greene refused. He wasn't drafted at all.

"That's one of the things I respect the most about him--he believed so much in himself as an infielder, he wouldn't accept a move even though he wanted to play pro ball," Carey says. "He was extremely insulted that he wasn't drafted, though."

Scouts who saw Greene in his first two seasons at Clemson marveled at his savvy and instincts, which helped him step right into the lineup as a freshman. Greene started his first two games as a freshman, then didn't start game three but entered the game as a reserve. Entering the CWS, he's started every game since: 267 in a row. That's a Division I record.

Still, little in Greene's first three seasons hinted at such a breakout season, as he came to Omaha slugging .888 and getting on base at a .557 clip. He hit .358-8-69 as a freshman and had a similar season as a sophomore, batting .364-5-64 and drawing 42 walks for a .470 on-base percentage. He was emerging as one of the nation's top third basemen and entered his junior year expecting to get drafted.

But for the first time, baseball didn't come easy for Greene. Leggett asked him to switch positions with 2000 Freshman All-American Jeff Baker, and Greene moved back to shortstop. That wasn't a problem--he fielded at a .965 percentage, breaking the .950 record set in 1987 by future big leaguer Bill Speiers.

He pressed at the plate, though, slumping to the .260s at midseason before finishing with a flourish at .303-12-52. The Cubs drafted him, but Greene says he didn't seriously consider signing.

"When I was drafted that low, it was going to take something special for me to sign," he says. "I just wanted to come back and have a better year than I had as a junior. I wanted to average 100 hits a year, and I only had 73 last year (after 98 in each of his first two seasons)."

Greene had 129 hits entering the CWS and had three hits in the Tigers' opener, making him just the second player in Division I history to pass 400 hits (Phil Stephenson of Wichita State from 1979-82 is the other). His other records include Atlantic Coast Conference marks for hits, doubles (93), RBIs (276) and total bases (664), among others.

His assault on the record books started almost immediately. Greene got off to a monster start that included a 14-game hitting streak, and his consistency has left friends and foes flabbergasted. One coach said Clemson's players talked about their teammate "like he's Ruth or Gehrig." Mike Rikard, the Padres area scout who will try to sign Greene, said of his late-season hit streak, "It's like he's playing PlayStation. He just gets a hit or hits a home run or makes a play whenever he wants."

The last thing Greene wants, those who know him agree, is the limelight. Too bad, Khalil. You're too good to ignore anymore.