Jimbo Green (1976) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Jimbo Green

Induction:
1976

Jimbo Green will also be remembered as one of the truly great second basemen to have ever played for the Southern Miss baseball team. He will be remembered for many different reasons and for many different contributions to the squad during his tenure, but his picture perfect swing at the plate, his ability to deliver the clutch hit and hit the long ball, in addition to his slick fielding at second, make him hard to forget.
   As the son of Southern Miss athletic director and fellow Hall of Famer Reed Green, Jimbo was one of the finest athletes ever produced at Hattiesburg (Mississippi) High School. Baseball was his first love and although he had attracted the attention of professional and college scouts alike following his high school career, Green elected to attend Southern Miss.
   There wasn't any doubt that Green would move into the Southern Miss starting lineup and he was there on opening day of the 1961 season. He didn't waste any time, banging out a hit and driving in a run in his very first game, a 13-2 win over Spring Hill. Green would go on his freshman year to hit a solid .254 and rank second on the team in doubles. Although just a freshman Green opened more than a few eyes with his defense at second base, teaming that year with shortstop Billy Dickson to give Southern one of its best double play combos ever. That 1961 team finished 12-7.
   In 1962 Green really began to come into his own. He would finish second on the team in hitting that year with a .322 mark, tie for the team lead in home runs, finish second on the team in runs batted in and total bases and tie for the team lead in triples. Green established himself that season as one of the best young hitters in the South. Hitting normally in the cleanup spot in the batting order, teams tried to pitch away from Green, preferring to walk him, rather than let him come to the plate and swing away. The 1962 team would finish the year with just an 8-7-1 record, but one of the highlights of the year was a sweep of the Alabama Crimson Tide in Hattiesburg.
   Green was under extreme scrutiny his junior season in 1963 from professional scouts, and that pressure plus the focus placed on him by the opposition, put the spotlight on him. That's why what he accomplished that year was so incredible. He turned in his best season ever, finishing second on the team with a .324 batting average, led the team in triples and runs batted in, and finished tied for second in doubles. The team would finish the year 10-12-1, but Green's performance that year, would thrust him even more into the spotlight of the professional scouts.
   He was a highly touted signee of the New York Yankees following the 1963 college baseball season, receiving a $100,000 signing bonus, one of the highest at the time. But after a short stay in the minor leagues, Green decided he would rather attend medical school, and in an unprecedented move returned his signing bonus to the Yankees. He is now one of the most highly respected orthopedic surgeons in the country.
   He was a hitter you loved to watch swing and he hit himself into the Southern Miss Sports Hall of Fame.