Mike Christ ’83 is recognized for his stellar play on the baseball diamond, both at Keystone and at the professional level.
Christ was a two-tear member of the Keystone baseball program, having played for 2007 Keystone Hall of Fame inductee, Dr. Michael Mould.
A First Team All Region selection and NJCAA All-American in 1983, he totaled 14 wins with the program, twirling a perfect mark of 14-0, the best two season mark in program history. After going 5-0 during his freshman campaign, Christ racked up nine victories the following season. Those nine wins during his sophomore year are the most all-time in a season during the junior college era at Keystone and second all time for a single season at the College. That same season he compiled a 1.15 earned-run-average, while striking out 71 in 64 innings pitched.
Highly recruited out of Keystone, Christ continued his career at Jacksonville University. During the 1984 season with the Dolphins he went 9-3 with a 2.92 earned-run-average, striking out an impressive 129 in 104.2 innings. He appeared in 17 games for Jacksonville that year with 14 starts and 10 complete games. He compiled a 4-2 record in the Sun Belt Conference with an ERA under 2.00. Christ was an All-Sun Belt Conference selection that same year.
The summer of 1984 was an exciting one for the Scranton native, as he was selected by the USA Baseball Federation to play on the USA Baseball team. Christ had the opportunity to play with future Major League notables, such as Barry Larkin, Will Clark, Norm Charlton and Mark McGwire.
That same year he was drafted by the Seattle Mariners, selected in the second round as the 30th overall pick. Christ played professionally for five years, advancing as high as Triple A. In his first professional season with Seattle’s Class A team in California, he led the league with an ERA of 2.69, while striking out 77 in 127 innings.
After his playing days ended Christ began coaching his children’s baseball and softball teams and for the past ten years he has been a coach in Little League Baseball’s Challenger Division. His 2009 team had the privilege of playing at the Little League World Series in Williamsport.
