Former Mid Sixties Mets Player Turned Succesful Rice University Coach: Wayne Grahm (1964)

Wayne Leon Graham was born on April 6, 1936, in Yoakum, Texas. After attending high school in Houston, he went to the University of Texas at Austin, playing baseball under coach Bibb Falk.

In 1957, the six foot, right hand hitting Graham, was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent.

By 1960 he batted .331 with 51 doubles & 85 RBIs at AA Chattanooga in the Southern League. In 1962 he was promoted to AAA & was the Texas Minor League Player of the Year, playing at Dallas/ Ft. Worth where he batted .311 with 17 HRs & 70 RBIs.

MLB Career: On April 10th, 1963, Graham debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies reaching on an error & scoring a run in a 10-7 win over the Reds. Over ten games, he collected four hits (4-22) into early May before getting sent back down to AAA.

The following August, he was traded along with Gary Kroll to the New York Mets, in exchange for slugger Frank Thomas.  

Mets Career: Graham was put on the '64 Mets roster as soon as he arrived, being used mostly as a pinch hitter. In that role he collected two hits in 13 at bats. On August 12th, he collected his first Mets hit, a double off the Pirates Frank Bork in a 5-4 loss at Pittsburgh.

Overall, he collected just two more hits, batting 0.93 (3-33) in twenty games. He also played in eleven games at third base making no errors in eleven chances. 

In 1965 he played at AAA Buffalo in the Mets organization, hitting 23 doubles, batting .243 with three HRs & 52 RBIs.

In February 1966 the Mets sent him back to the Phillies organization, along with Bobby Klaus & Jimmie Schaffer in exchange for "Dr. Strange Glove Dick Stuart. 

Graham never made it back to the big leagues, spending the rest of his playing days in the minor leagues thru 1967.

Retirement & Coaching Career: In 1981 he began to coach at San Jac Junior College. He won five Championship titles in six years, being named the Junior College coach of the Century by Collegiate Baseball. He moved on to become the head coach at Rice University in 1992.

Rice University:  Wayne immediately turned Rice into a baseball powerhouse, making 16 consecutive tournament appearances (1995–2010) & winning 15 consecutive regular-season or tournament conference championships (1996–2010) in three different conferences.

Graham led his Rice team to seven College World Series’ winning the school’s first ever title in 2003. His teams have produced twelve first round draft picks, eight of them pitchers.

Passing: In September 2024, Graham passed away at age 88.