Go Back

 

Umatilla Native Piling Up Post Baseball Career Honors

    Umatilla High School baseball legend Jonathan Lucroy is having a busy stretch.  The 2014 UHS graduate and former major league ball all star is in the proc process of receiving two separate honors in Louisiana.  On Saturday, May 2, Lucroy saw his jersey be retired at the University of Louisiana, where he played his college baseball, and in June, he is set to be initiated into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
    Lucroy was a three-year letter winner at Louisiana, starring as a catcher from 2005-07.  He batted .356 over his career at the university, and remains the school’s all time leader in doubles (54) runs batted in (184), and total bases (414).  In 2017, he was inducted into the school’s athletics hall of fame.
    After being drafted in 2007 by the Milwaukee Brewers organization, Lucroy went on to a 12-year professional baseball career highlighted by being named an all star in 2014 and 2016.  In 2014, he hit a record - for a catcher - 53 doubles, and finished fourth in the National League MVP voting. In 2017, he won a gold medal participating in the World Baseball Classic.
    During Saturday’s ceremony, where Lucroy was joined by his family including parents Steve and Karen Lucroy, he became the third player to have his jersey retired from the program joining Ron Guidry and Tony Robichaux.
    In prepared comments for the event, Lucroy voiced surprise at the honor and felt his contributions fell short of program legends Guidry and Robichaux.
    “I showed up in Lafayette as a skinny kid from Umatilla, Florida, who had been passed over by almost everyone.  Coach Robe was the only head coach who believed in me enough to give me a chance at this level.”  
    “Today, as number 21 goes up on the wall…I want everyone to know that it’s about every lesson Coach Robe poured into me and every young man who ever wore this uniform. It’s proof that if you show up with humility, work hard, and let your character define you, this place will change your life.”
    Lucroy announced his retirement from professional baseball in 2022, after stints in Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, Colorado, and Texas.
    Lucroy has previously been honored in Umatilla, where the high school baseball field is named after him and where the town’s welcome signs include notation of being his hometown.  Today, Lucroy lives with his wife and two children in