SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASEBALL

South Carolina’s outfield wall got a facelift this offseason, but there is always room for more additions in the future.

And, Friday night, Mark Kingston said there is one thing he’d still like to see plastered on the outfield wall to honor Gamecock greats.

“We want to retire numbers as well,” Kingston said. “Obviously there’s one out there and we’d like to add a lot more because there are a lot of deserving people that have been on our program that deserve to be up on that wall as well. That has to go through different channels, but that’s something you’ll see as well.”

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So far Ray Tanner’s number—No. 1—is the only number retired in a program history that includes All-Americans and National Player of the Year winners.

But it’s a little more complicated than just putting a number up on the left field wall at Founders Park.

To have a number retired, a player must have graduated from South Carolina or be in good academic standing with the university, and also have been out of school for at least five years as part of a waiting period.

The candidate also must check one or more of these boxes: school record holder, All-American, National Player of the Year winner, Olympic medalist while a student or a three-year All-Conference selection.

Candidates are then voted on by a board that ultimately decides if a number is retired, and Kingston would like to see a few more numbers added next to that of Tanner, who won two national titles at South Carolina.

“Any time we can honor the people that built this program,” Kingston said, “I’m all for it.”

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The Gamecocks have made major upgrades to the facilities at Founders Park, adding a few new decals to each bullpen, and placards memorializing the team’s back-to-back titles along the centerfield wall.

They also added one of the cooler pieces to the Gamecocks’ great teams, honoring national runner-up, College World Series, Super Regional, tournament and conference championship teams along the right field wall.

The upgrades, while installed this year, were something Kingston wanted to do in his time at South Carolina.

“I think the tradition of our program is so great, and I want to honor it every chance we get,” Kingston said. “It’s a chance to really honor every great team, player and coach that’s ever played here and see it every single day for our players, for our fans.”

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The Gamecocks are less than a week away from opening day, starting the season at home against Liberty Feb. 15.

In Kingston’s first season, South Carolina started off slow but won its final five SEC series of the year and steamrolled through a regional before finishing one game away from the College World Series in Omaha.