Fifteen years removed from his stellar collegiate baseball career, Brad Lincoln got an unexpected call from Conference USA. The former University of Houston standout had been selected to the five-person C-USA Hall of Fame Class of 2020. The call may have caught Lincoln by surprise, but to those who are familiar with his journey from little league to college to the big league, the honor is befitting.

Lincoln was the conference’s first Dick Howser Trophy winner in 2006, given to the nation's top Division I baseball student-athlete. He led the Cougars to a berth in the 2006 NCAA Tournament and was the earliest MLB Draft selection in league history at No. 4 overall.
 
The Clute, Texas, native earned All-Conference USA First Team honors and was selected to the 2004 All-Freshman Team. In his final season at UH, he won five player of the year awards, including the C-USA Co-Male Athlete of the Year.
 
In just three seasons, Lincoln struck out 293 batters for the third highest career total in school history and his 286.1 innings pitched rank fifth. In 2006, Lincoln pitched the Cougars to 12 wins with a 1.69 ERA. He also recorded 152 strikeouts in 127.2 innings. A dual threat, Lincoln also saw action at the plate, turning in a career .316 batting average and 21 home runs. He finished his collegiate career with 14 home runs and a team-best 53 RBIs while ranking among the C-USA individual leaders in five of the six Triple Crown categories in 2006.

Lincoln not only made his mark on Conference USA, but also in the area outside of Houston where he grew up, played little league and returned after a 10-year stint in major league baseball. Shortly after his retirement from pro baseball, he was named to UH Athletics of Honor in 2016. These days, his job (he works for Dow Chemical as a turnaround coordinator) and his family (a wife and two children) keep him very busy. Our call to tell him about his selection into the C-USA Hall of Fame was a great opportunity to look back on his time at Houston as a student-athlete.

Current UH head coach Todd Whitting, an assistant coach with the Cougars from 1996-2003, was instrumental in recruiting Lincoln who grew up in nearby Lake Jackson. While he had plenty of offers, Whitting and the chance to be close to home so his parents could attend his games, were the main reasons he chose to attend Houston. Family still is an important part of his life. Lincoln acknowledges his parents when asked about who had an influence on his baseball career.

“My dad realized at a very early age that I had what it took or a little bit more experience at the upper levels of playing in little league so I could compete with an older group,” said Lincoln. “He and my mom put me in programs and got me exposure in summer leagues, and spent their money to get me in front of scouts and college teams. They pushed me a lot and I had to give up a lot of things as a kid to do that – there were no spring breaks, there were no vacations with friends. They put me in a position to get better and excel.”

Lincoln described his college student-athlete experience as one of the best of his life, as well as a blessing in itself. Being able to travel to different parts of the country, and develop and excel in the game of baseball to prepare for the major leagues, along with the relationships made along the way, was very meaningful to him. One game in particular during his final season that was most memorable was a win against No. 1 Rice where Lincoln had a shutout in the 3-0 defeat of a conference foe.

“That game is always going to stick in my mind for a lot of reasons – they were no. 1 in the country, there was a lot of hype around Rice and being cross-town rivals. There was a lot of emotion in that game and when it got down to the last inning I remember being in a pretty big jam,” Lincoln described. “I was able to throw a curve ball for a strikeout looking and then there was a fly out to end the game. I remember coming off the field and Brett Logan was the first one to meet me and I think out of excitement I hit him so hard in the gut with my fist, that he lost his breath. It was just a lot of emotion for that game and that series.”

Days after that May 12, 2006 game, Logan recalled similar emotions in a blog he wrote for the UH website, “The actual games this weekend were OK with Friday, of course, being the best. Brad Lincoln was lights out, throwing a shutout against the No. 1 team in the nation and was rewarded with the C-USA Pitcher of the Week…..”
He recounted the moment he was drafted fourth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates as surreal.

“Coming from small town little league ball was not only exciting for me, but for the whole community,” Lincoln said. After overcoming an elbow injury early in his career, he made his major league debut in 2010 against the Washington Nationals. He also saw time with Toronto and Philadelphia, pitching on and off for five years before retiring in 2015. He completed his collegiate and pro playing time with no regrets, happy to be where he is today because of it.

When asked if he is still involved in baseball in any way, Lincoln mentions playing in a slow pitch men’s softball league to keep the competitive juices flowing. His awards are displayed in his house as a fond reminder of his accomplishments as a baseball player and to be able to share them with his children.

“I still have friends mention what fun they had watching me excel through the college levels and all the stuff I was able to accomplish and win,” Lincoln recalled. “It feels good for them to recollect that and for me to recollect on what fun…not only as a baseball player but as a student athlete to be able to experience that. It’s always fun to talk about it.”