Mike Shipulski, you are WPI's only All-America baseball player.
You achieved this honor at the end of the 1986 season, the year you
led the NCAA Division II in runs-batted-in per game, and the year
you led your team to a 16-13-1 record. A dedicated and committed
baseball player, you were an All-New England selection in your
junior year and were chosen to play in the collegiate All-Star
game, which was played at historic Fenway Park.
But mere statistics were never your major concern. In fact, you
were rarely aware of your standing unless someone told you how you
were doing. And no matter how much you achieved, you always felt
you could do better. "I know there's more in me than what I'm
showing," you once said.
As team captain during your senior year, you taught the finer
points of the game to the younger players on the squad and inspired
them to do their best.
Your coaches at the time, Jim Culpepper and Whit Griffith, saw
special qualities in you from the beginning. "I believed all along
that Mike was a bona fide All-America candidate," Culpepper says.
"He could hit for power, hit for distance, and pop a single if you
needed one."
Griffith adds a comparison to a Red Sox legend. "He sees the
ball so well and fouls off the corner strikes while looking
for the pitch he wants. When he's called out on strikes, it's
probably only because he has a better eye than the umpires do. He's
like Ted Williams in that respect."
Mike Shipulski, for your history-making accomplishments on the
baseball field, it is an honor to induct you into the WPI Athletic
Hall of Fame.
