Image courtesy of Southern Digest
This past weekend, former Southern University baseball standout Rickie Weeks was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2021. Weeks became the twentieth member from Southern University and the first since former legendary baseball coach Roger Cador was tabbed in 2019.
Weeks, from Altamonte Springs, Florida was a top collegiate baseball player and 14 year Major Leaguer. He still holds NCAA records for career batting average (.465) and career slugging percentage (.927).
As a freshman, Rickie Weeks hit .422 with 70 RBI and as a sophomore at Southern University in 2002, he won the NCAA batting title with a .495 average and belted 20 home runs. The following year, Weeks won his second straight batting title hitting .479.
In 2003, Weeks was named Baseball America’s College Player of the Year, won the Golden Spikes Award (given annually to the top amateur player), and also won the Dick Howser Trophy as the nation’s top player. He also led the Jaguars to NCAA tournament appearances in each of his three seasons.
The Milwaukee Brewers selected Rickie Weeks second overall in the 2003 MLB Draft and in his first full Major League season of 2005, had 13 home runs and 15 stolen bases in 96 games.
In 2010, playing in all of the Brewers 162 games, Rickie Weeks recorded his finest season as a Major Leaguer. Weeks finished with a career-high 29 home runs and 83 RBIs, a .269 average, and a .366 on-base percentage. He led the National League in at-bats (651), plate appearances (754), and hit by pitch (25), and was second in runs scored (112) and collected his 500th hit as a pro.
Rickie Weeks was voted by the fans to the starting second base position for the National League in the 2011 All-Star Game.
Weeks played 14 years in the majors. Following his playing days in Milwaukee (2003, 2005-14), Weeks played with the Seattle Mariners in 2015, the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2016, and with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2017.
Rickie Weeks had a career .246 batting average with 161 home runs, 474 RBIs and 132 steals. Besides his 2010 season, his top hitting seasons came when he hit .279 in 2006 and .274 in 2014.