Dubois: The Box, the Blatt truly special

• By CARL DUBOIS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jun 15, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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OMAHA, Neb. — The last time LSU played a baseball game, the Tigers closed out Alex Box Stadium, which was reluctant to bid us farewell.

Tonight, LSU plays at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, which will cede its role as home of the College World Series to a new downtown stadium in 2011.

It’s fitting these Tigers, who gave The Box its sendoff represent LSU’s, return to Alex Box North after missing three College World Series.

This team will experience firsthand the deep LSU-Rosenblatt connection, a bond rooted in folklore — some of it factual, some of it urban legend.

Some fans think the statue at Rosenblatt is of Warren Morris. The sculptor says it’s not.

Some fans think the song “Back Home in Omaha” was written about the Tigers by a Cajun. The songwriter, Todd Thibaud, grew up in Vermont and was living in Boston in 1999 when ESPN commissioned him to write a neutral song about the College World Series.

It’s OK to imagine the ties stronger than they are. When the wind blows out, it’s as if both ballparks were built for LSU power.

In the mind’s eye, a shot to left field could leave the Box and be carried by a super wind, north by northwest, on a direct line to Rosenblatt.

No doubt, Morris provided the most dramatic moment in CWS history, and LSU and the long ball will forever be associated with Alex and Johnny.

The most homers LSU hit in a game, eight, came at Rosenblatt in 1998 vs. a USC team coached by Mike Gillespie. In the final game at The Box, LSU matched its record there, seven, vs. a UC Irvine team coached by Gillespie.

The Box and the Blatt each grew from a single grandstand. LSU baseball and the College World Series, always special to a select and proud few, exploded nationally in the 1990s after important steps in the ’80s.

LSU can thank Skip Bertman. The CWS can thank cable television.

The Tigers move into a newer Alex Box Stadium next season. A management group will settle naming rights for the next home of the CWS.