Tim Laudner, All-Big Eight catcher, 1988 American League All-Star, Minnesota Twin, and a 1987 World Series champion. Laudner is all of these things, but most importantly, he is, and always will be, a Tiger.
Laudner is one of six former University of Missouri athletes selected to be inducted into Mizzou's Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.
“It’s overwhelming, certainly unexpected,” Laudner said. “It’s something that I certainly don’t in any way, shape or form take for granted.”
Laudner saw his beginnings in the sport when he was playing catch with his dad for one of the first times.
“My father was stationed in Japan during the Korean War and was a pitcher on the baseball team,” Laudner said. “And at that time, he had developed a knuckleball and we went out one of the first few times, probably the first time we ever went out in the yard to play catch, he threw me a knuckleball and it hit me right in the mouth. It could’ve been a deal breaker, but for whatever reason it wasn’t. I was able to persevere through that and baseball has been a huge, huge part of my life ever since.”
Laudner played for Mizzou for three years. He was a first-Team All-Big Eight selection in 1979. He was also a member of the All-Big Eight Tournament team in both 1977 and 1978.
He had never stepped foot on the University of Missouri’s campus before deciding he wanted to play for the Tigers. Laudner tells the story of his recruitment.
“Bob Todd called me on Thursday night, and he said ‘I understand you want to come to the University of Missouri’ and I said yes sir, I do. And he said ‘do you want to visit here first?’ and I said no I don’t think that’ll be necessary. And then he said, ‘well I have a three-quarter scholarship, would that work?’ And I said that’s going to work just fine. And he said, ‘you mean if I send you the papers you’ll sign them?’ And I said yes sir, I will.”
Laudner describes his time at Mizzou as “probably really close to the best three years of my life.”
He led Mizzou in batting in 1979 with a .378 batting average. He recorded a team-best 65 hits and also led the team with 19 doubles, seven home runs, 54 runs batted in and 40 walks.