Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jeff Mauldin talks with pitcher Ryan Davis and catcher Drew Ollis on the mound during a game against Spain Park at Phil English Field in Trussville in April 2023.
The number 700 has been important to baseball fans since Babe Ruth cranked his 700th home run in July 1934.
Ruth finished his career with 714, then Hank Aaron surpassed him in April 1974 with 715. Barry Bonds put his name atop the list in 2007, albeit with an asterisk, when he hit his 756th home run. Alex Rodriguez finished his career with 703 round-trippers.
Only those four players have ever sent more than 700 baseballs into and beyond outfield bleachers.
But the number is also synonymous with greatness in the Alabama high school baseball wins list, and Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jeff Mauldin has reached it.
The Huskies beat Pelham, the program Mauldin previously led, 11-0 on Feb. 27 to give Mauldin his 700th career win
and his 306th with the Huskies. Mauldin won 218 games at Clay-Chalkville from 2000 to 2006 and 176 wins from 2007 to 2012 at Pelham. He’s been at Hewitt-Trussville since.
Mauldin led the Cougars to a state championship in 2003 and Hewitt-Trussville in 2016. The Huskies have finished as the state runner-up in 2013, 2018, and 2022.
“Honestly, when you get to certain numbers during your career, [you say], ‘Hey that’s neat. Let’s move on,’” Mauldin said. “I really try to focus on what we’re doing today for practice. Someone sent me something in the last few weeks, and it listed the AHSAA coaches and win totals. … It kind of stopped me in my tracks. I looked at it, and I saw the names on the list and where my name was. It was super humbling.”
The list ahead of Mauldin isn’t long, regardless of source. The Alabama High School Athletic Association lists only five coaches with more wins: William Booth of Hartselle with 1,185 wins, William Murrell at Athens Bible with 910, Richard Patterson with 893 wins at four programs, Ken Whittle with 783 at Trinity Presbyterian and Richy Brooks with 711 wins at Tarrant and Benjamin Russell. A wins list from the Alabama High School Football Historical Society lists the same names, but also six others who have won more than 700 games.
Regardless, Mauldin is up there. His winning percentage is one of the best, if not the best.
“How blessed I have been …,” Mauldin said, and he paused. “It’s really ‘we.’ Me and Coach [Jeff] Schrupp, my wife, my family. Schrupp and my wife … and Coach Schrupp’s wife, Kelly. We’ve all kind of been on this journey together.”
Schrupp has been on Mauldin’s various staffs since 2000. Naming the rest would be a task. Thinking back to players from Clay-Chalkville, Pelham and Hewitt-Trussville makes Mauldin emotional. He hears from former players still in the game in some way, but former players now with wives and children also come to Hewitt-Trussville games to support their former coach.
“God has truly watched over everything we’ve done,” he said. “And the people that have been placed in our paths that have been a part of it is unbelievably humbling.”
Mauldin would rather end the season with a state title than win his 700th game. But one couldn’t be done without the other.
“It’s about our team, it’s about our kids,” Mauldin said. “We always put our kids first.”
