"I'd never heard of it until they contacted me, but I'm thrilled," Dreifort says of his inclusion. "Joe Carter was an idol of mine growing up, so it's really cool to be going in with him."
The younger son of a Wichita State history professor, Dreifort helped the Shockers to three consecutive College World Series appearances, two resulting in runner-up finishes.
Utilized as a setup man, or "moment-of-truth" reliever, as Executive Editor Jim Callis of Baseball America described the role, Dreifort was 11-1 with a 2.48 earned-run average in his final collegiate season. Also utilized as a designated hitter in 1993, he batted .327 with 22 home runs and 66 runs batted in and won the Golden Spikes Award as baseball's top amateur player.
"Looking back on it," Dreifort says of his college career, "it was maybe the most fun I ever had. I grew up in Wichita and knew the coaches from the time I was about 7 years old, so to be able to stay there and accomplish as much as we did, it was great."
Dreifort, notes longtime Wichita State Coach Gene Stephenson, "was as good as there ever was playing college baseball." His agent, Scott Boras, once called Dreifort "the best college pitcher I've ever seen" and Stephenson envisioned a "franchise player" who would "set the tone for the Dodgers for a long time."
Some, then-Mariners manager Lou Piniella reportedly among them, whispered that Seattle should have drafted the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Dreifort instead of A-Rod.
With the Dodgers, however, Dreifort's body repeatedly betrayed him, resulting in injuries and surgeries almost too numerous to count, among them two elbow reconstructions.
In 113 starts and 161 other appearances, he compiled a 48-60 record and notched 11 saves. Twice he sat out entire seasons. Almost never, he says, was he completely sound.
Still, the Dodgers gave him that mammoth contract before the 2001 season. It made him a target of fan frustration.
"The people that know me are the ones that really matter," Dreifort says. "They're the ones that know who I am and how hard I worked. Rehabbing all that time was brutal, but I did it. It just didn't work out, but it wasn't for lack of effort."
These days, Dreifort appears to be in peak condition, dressed for an interview in shorts, a tight T-shirt and running shoes. He notes, however, that he experiences almost constant pain.
"I'm doing nothing," he says on the eve of his most recent visit to the operating room, "and I'm still having surgery."
Nevertheless, he regularly fantasizes about a comeback.
"But then I wake up the next day," he says, "and feel like I've been run over by a train -- and I'm glad I'm retired."
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jerome.crowe@latimes.com
