STANFORD, California – Mark Marquess, a member of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame who led Stanford to a pair of national titles over 41 years starting in 1977, has died. He was 78 years old.
The school announced Friday that Marquess died but did not provide details about the cause.
A presence for more than four decades in the Sunken Diamond dugout on campus, Marquess led the Cardinal to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1987 and 1988.
Long known as “9” for his No. 9 jersey, he retired in 2017 and ranks as the fourth-winningest coach in Division I history with a career record of 1,627-878-7 (.649).
Marquess usually arrived on campus in the wee hours of the morning, when most were still in bed, and then went to bed early to prepare for the next day.
As the victories piled up, Marquess remained humble and grounded (he certainly didn't keep track of where he ranked among the greatest of all time) determined to never get too high or too low.
“I don't really think about it,” Marquess said in early 2008. “It's just a matter of being busy and as a coach you worry about the next one. You worry too much about the ones you lost… When I think about it, it just means I've been training for a long time.”
A former first baseman, he played baseball and football for Stanford when he arrived at the university in 1965. Marquess became a three-time NCAA Coach of the Year (in 1985, 1987 and 1988) and a nine-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Along with two College World Series titles, Stanford made 30 NCAA tournament appearances, reached six NCAA Super Regionals and won 18 regionals during his tenure. The Cardinal also won the conference regular season title 11 times.
“This guy was Stanford baseball,” said David Esquer, the current Stanford coach who played for Marquess on The Farm. “He was my coach and like a father to me. I wouldn't be where I am today without him. This is a great loss for the Stanford community, the Stanford baseball family and for me. I love that man.”
Marquess was also a member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame, the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.
Marquess, who played in the Chicago White Sox organization from 1969 to 1973 and reached Triple-A, also coached USA Baseball to an Olympic gold medal in 1988, when the sport was a demonstration event in Seoul, South Korea.
He always loved his role in the college game and greatly appreciated working at a place like Stanford, taking pride in not only finding players himself along with his staff, but also developing them, many of them into future professionals.
“One of the things, at the professional level, a coach can say, 'Well, I'm just not going to hire the players, it's the general manager.' You can put the blame somewhere else,” Marquess said. “In our game, I recruit them, I do everything, so it all falls on me. You can't blame anyone else. The good thing about Stanford is that it sells itself academically, the campus. I mean, what's not to like?”
