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Amazin69 · 09-04-2012, 03:45 AM

Remington was a large RHP (6'3", 225) out of LaPorte, Iowa. He attended Parsons College in Iowa, briefly an athletic powerhouse of the time.

For most of its history Parsons had been a quiet, liberal arts college. But, with the flamboyant Rev. Millard G. Roberts installed as President in 1955, things changed.

Roberts had a mission to grow the school (which had nearly shut down during World War II, and lost its accreditation for two years in the late 1940s) and he set to do just that. In 10 years, enrollment soared from 357 students to over 10,000. Parsons liberalized its transfer policy (and lowered its academic standards) and led the nation in enrollment increases (as a percentage) for 10 straight years.

New dorms and stadiums were built, and the athletic program flourished. The football team got two (minor) bowl game bids, the basketball team was a consistent winner, and future major leaguers like Rich Folkers, Don Mason and Dick Mills made the baseball team a national powerhouse by the mid-1960s.

And then…the bottom fell out. Roberts's administration had been under attack on several fronts, from professors who had filed a formal complaint (resulting in the school spending 1963 on probation) and from rival schools who didn't like Roberts "raiding" their faculties by paying top dollar for professors. (In 1966, Parsons had the highest-paid faculty in the country.) And, despite the expansion, the school was taking on debt steadily, as all that building came with a price.

1966, Life magazine ran a critical profile of Roberts, calling him "The Wizard of Flunk-Out U". The phrase was both an attack on Parsons enrolling so many transfer students (although Parsons had always dedicated one-third of its enrollment to the "academically challenged") and a critique of the school's poor retention rate, as most enrollees didn't even complete two years at Parsons, much less four.

The negative publicity from the Life article had a snowballing effect; the NCA (the regional accrediting authority) revoked the accreditation again, citing "administrative weakness" and the spiraling debt. Enrollment crashed from over 10,000 to 2,500 in just one year.

(The wiki article doesn't mention this, but I would bet that this had something to do with the Viet Nam war, as you probably needed to be at an accredited school to get those oh-so-precious student deferments. Parsons had probably done a nice job of keeping the not-too-studious away from Uncle Sam's reach, but that was on hold when the accreditation was pulled.)

Despite all this, the baseball team was better than ever. In 1967, they went 31-2, and finished ranked #2 in the country. But they were not given an invitation to the NCAA tournament, because of the non-accredited status. This 1968 article wondered if that year's squad (led by Remington, Charlie Williams, and Tom Heintzelman) would suffer the same fate, despite starting 13-0 and reaching #1 in the poll. As it turned out, the 1968 Warriors slumped to 33-5, so the second straight snub was not a surprise, after all.

Roberts had been ousted by the Board of Trustees and accreditation was regained in 1969, but it was too late. Enrollment continued to drop, the athletic programs folded after the 1970 season (Jim Todd was the final future major leaguer to play for Parsons) and the school went bankrupt and closed (with the property sold to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi) in 1973.

By then, of course, Remington had moved on. He was the 19th-Round pick of the Twins in the 1969 June draft, and had a decent half season (6-5, 3.40; 2/1 K/W ratio) at Wisconsin Rapids in the Midwest League. The Twins generously gave him an invite to Spring Training for 1970, and a wandering Topps photog snapped a couple of pictures:

(I know, I know, I made you wait for them. Sorry.)

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Remington was assigned to Lynchburg (Carolina League) the next year, but posted a disappointing mark of 4-7, 4.10. In addition, he pitched barely more than he did the previous year in his half-season at Wisconsin Rapids, so he may have suffered an injury. (Although I found no mention of that; just a guess.)

In 1971, the Twins tried to make Remington a reliever (because of the [hypothetical] injury?) and promoted him to AA Charlotte. But he bombed in 12 outings (9.00 ERA, more walks than strikeouts) and was released. Only 23, but he was out of business two years before Parsons College was. (Albeit, I would hope, not quite so deeply in debt.)

09-04-2012, 03:45 AM	#268
Amazin69 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Palmetto Pride! Posts: 4,034 Infractions: 0/2 (2)	Ted Remington 1969 Remington was a large RHP (6'3", 225) out of LaPorte, Iowa. He attended Parsons College in Iowa, briefly an athletic powerhouse of the time. For most of its history Parsons had been a quiet, liberal arts college. But, with the flamboyant Rev. Millard G. Roberts installed as President in 1955, things changed. Roberts had a mission to grow the school (which had nearly shut down during World War II, and lost its accreditation for two years in the late 1940s) and he set to do just that. In 10 years, enrollment soared from 357 students to over 10,000. Parsons liberalized its transfer policy (and lowered its academic standards) and led the nation in enrollment increases (as a percentage) for 10 straight years. New dorms and stadiums were built, and the athletic program flourished. The football team got two (minor) bowl game bids, the basketball team was a consistent winner, and future major leaguers like Rich Folkers, Don Mason and Dick Mills made the baseball team a national powerhouse by the mid-1960s. And then…the bottom fell out. Roberts's administration had been under attack on several fronts, from professors who had filed a formal complaint (resulting in the school spending 1963 on probation) and from rival schools who didn't like Roberts "raiding" their faculties by paying top dollar for professors. (In 1966, Parsons had the highest-paid faculty in the country.) And, despite the expansion, the school was taking on debt steadily, as all that building came with a price. 1966, Life magazine ran a critical profile of Roberts, calling him "The Wizard of Flunk-Out U". The phrase was both an attack on Parsons enrolling so many transfer students (although Parsons had always dedicated one-third of its enrollment to the "academically challenged") and a critique of the school's poor retention rate, as most enrollees didn't even complete two years at Parsons, much less four. The negative publicity from the Life article had a snowballing effect; the NCA (the regional accrediting authority) revoked the accreditation again, citing "administrative weakness" and the spiraling debt. Enrollment crashed from over 10,000 to 2,500 in just one year. (The wiki article doesn't mention this, but I would bet that this had something to do with the Viet Nam war, as you probably needed to be at an accredited school to get those oh-so-precious student deferments. Parsons had probably done a nice job of keeping the not-too-studious away from Uncle Sam's reach, but that was on hold when the accreditation was pulled.) Despite all this, the baseball team was better than ever. In 1967, they went 31-2, and finished ranked #2 in the country. But they were not given an invitation to the NCAA tournament, because of the non-accredited status. This 1968 article wondered if that year's squad (led by Remington, Charlie Williams, and Tom Heintzelman) would suffer the same fate, despite starting 13-0 and reaching #1 in the poll. As it turned out, the 1968 Warriors slumped to 33-5, so the second straight snub was not a surprise, after all. Roberts had been ousted by the Board of Trustees and accreditation was regained in 1969, but it was too late. Enrollment continued to drop, the athletic programs folded after the 1970 season (Jim Todd was the final future major leaguer to play for Parsons) and the school went bankrupt and closed (with the property sold to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi) in 1973. By then, of course, Remington had moved on. He was the 19th-Round pick of the Twins in the 1969 June draft, and had a decent half season (6-5, 3.40; 2/1 K/W ratio) at Wisconsin Rapids in the Midwest League. The Twins generously gave him an invite to Spring Training for 1970, and a wandering Topps photog snapped a couple of pictures: (I know, I know, I made you wait for them. Sorry.) Remington was assigned to Lynchburg (Carolina League) the next year, but posted a disappointing mark of 4-7, 4.10. In addition, he pitched barely more than he did the previous year in his half-season at Wisconsin Rapids, so he may have suffered an injury. (Although I found no mention of that; just a guess.) In 1971, the Twins tried to make Remington a reliever (because of the [hypothetical] injury?) and promoted him to AA Charlotte. But he bombed in 12 outings (9.00 ERA, more walks than strikeouts) and was released. Only 23, but he was out of business two years before Parsons College was. (Albeit, I would hope, not quite so deeply in debt.) Last edited by Amazin69; 09-04-2012 at 03:49 AM.