San Diego State

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Founded: 1897 Enrollment: 35,500 (2020) Played baseball since: 1926 Team name: Aztecs School colors: Red and black Home ballpark: Tony Gwynn Stadium Conference: Mountain West (NCAA Div. I)

San Diego State University was founded in 1897 as the San Diego Normal School, a name it kept until it was renamed San Diego State Teachers College in 1923. From 1935 to 1972, it was known as San Diego State College. It was briefly (1972 -’74) officially known as California State University, San Diego, and has had its current name since then.

San Diego State fielded its first team in 1926, the year after the school adopted the “Aztecs” name for its athletic teams. In 1936, the team joined the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Ahead of the 1940 season, the Aztecs switched to the California Collegiate Athletic Association, where they stayed until 1968. After one season as an independent, SDSC joined the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. In 1977 and ’78, they competed in the Southern California Baseball Association. The next year, they were invited to join the Western Athletic Conference, where they stayed until becoming a founding member of the breakaway Mountain West Conference in 1999.

In the summer of 2023, SDSU notified the MWC that it intended to withdraw at some point. The MWC responded that this constituted a formal notification of withdrawal, which SDSU denied. It appears SDSU will compete in the Mountain West through the 2023-24 academic year.

San Diego State won the NAIA College World Series in 1958. They have yet to appear in any NCAA College World Series.

For a team with no NCAA CWS appearances, San Diego State has been a fertile source of major leaguers. Baseball Almanac lists more than four dozen former Aztecs who have made it to the Major Leagues.

By far the greatest of all Aztec baseball players was Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who was drafted by the hometown Padres and led the team to its first two (and so far only) World Series appearances. Widely considered the greatest hitter of his generation, Gwynn was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He also returned to coach the Aztecs after he retired as a player, a job he held until he succumbed to cancer in 2014.

Other notables include Graig Nettles, Mark Grace, Bobby Meacham, Travis Lee, Stephen Strasburg, and Bud Black (now managing the Rockies).

Tony Gwynn’s younger brother, Chris, and son Tony Jr., also followed him from the Aztecs’ roster to Major League careers.

In addition, two Major League umpires played their college ball at San Diego State: Hall of Famer Doug Harvey, and Tony Gwynn teammate Kerwin Danley, who had a 23-year Major League umpiring career.

The Aztecs home games are played at Charlie Smith Field at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The new stadium was built around the existing diamond in 1997, and can seat 3,000.