More Than A Number

When the Maryland baseball team takes the field, you may wonder about the significance of the players’ numbers. 

Some wear the numeral of their birth date or month. Some wear the number a loved one previously wore or major leaguer they admire. For others, it might be their favorite number or they were simply assigned the number. 

But the Terps have a specific number set aside for a very special reason. Something that goes deeper than just a number on the back of a uniform.

When head coach Rob Vaughn was the top assistant coach for Maryland, he developed a series of pillars for his hitters they should abide by and strive for. When he got the head coaching job in 2017, he broadened them to encapsulate the entire team. 

The three pillars of Maryland baseball created by Vaughn are toughness, ownership, and growth mindset.  

“I had this idea of which of my hitters best embodies these three pillars, and I want that guy to wear number 3,” Vaughn said. “The first one that we did that with was Anthony Papio. He wore 13 his whole career, and I approached him and said, ‘Hey, Pap, here's what I'm thinking, here's what I want to do. What do you think?’, and he was all about it.”

The first pillar, toughness, is a pretty self-explanatory one. Vaughn wants his players to play hard and to be resilient, ready for anything to come their way.

Ownership is the second pillar, and it’s a reminder to always hold yourself accountable in everything you do. Whether it’s on the field, in the classroom, or in your personal life, own your mistakes. 

It’s one thing to own up to a strikeout or oversleep and miss your 6 a.m. workout. It’s another thing to formulate a plan about how you’re going to make sure you won’t make that mistake again. 

Vaughn likes to use the missing workout example and says that an example of ownership would be to have one of your roommates, who also has a lift that morning, bang on your door to wake you up and make sure you get there.

Having a growth mindset is all about taking chances. Vaughn wants his players to not be afraid to crash and burn and grow from the ashes into their best selves. It’s why Vaughn consistently cites The Man in The Arena speech, delivered by Theodore Roosevelt on April 23, 1910. 

In that speech, Roosevelt preaches that the only voices that matter are the ones who are brave enough to actually enter the arena, putting themselves out there and embracing the failure that inevitably comes with it.

Those three pillars have resulted in a culture that Vaughn is proud of and one that he continues to build on.

As he mentioned, the first player that he envisioned wearing No. 3 was outfielder Anthony Papio, who played for the Terps from 2012-16. 

Papio was the gritty, do-it-all member of the 2014 and 2015 Terp teams that went to the postseason and also included future major leaguers like Kevin Smith, LaMonte Wade Jr., and Brandon Lowe. 

The Olney, Maryland, native personified Maryland baseball, as Vaughn raved about his character, work ethic, and commitment to the Terps. Papio graduated from the program as its all-time leader in wins with 174 victories while also playing in the most games in school history with 230.

“When you open up that guy’s veins, the Maryland flag comes out,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn bestowed upon Papio the honor of being the first-ever player to wear the number 3 under its new meaning because of his ferocious love of Maryland and his personification of the three pillars.

“The opportunity to wear the number 3 was something I took a ton of pride in,” Papio said. “Coach Vaughn asked me to wear that number before the 2015 season because he believed I best embodied the pillars of our program.”

Papio immediately recognized the weight of such an honor and wore it like the badge of honor that it is.

“The moment I accepted that number, everything immediately became bigger than me. Coach Vaughn believed in me enough to give me that opportunity, and I wanted to prove he made the right decision. It brought awareness to everything I did because I had to hold myself to the highest standard possible. Wearing that number changed who I am, and it’s been really cool to pass that number down knowing the impact the No. 3 had on my life.”

Vaughn’s love for the man he calls Pap didn’t stop when the latter graduated. Vaughn hired Papio as a volunteer assistant, and as time progressed, he worked his way up the coaching ladder. 

This past summer, Papio was elevated to assistant coach of the Maryland baseball team and remains Vaughn’s right-hand man to this day, ready and willing to go to war for his players and his fellow staff members every time they step onto the field. 

Since transitioning into a coaching role, Papio has become a key cog in developing future Maryland baseball stars like AJ Lee, Hunter Parsons, and current first baseman Maxwell Costes. His presence is felt all over the field as he coaches virtually every position and guides them as a mentor off the field. 

When it came down to picking another player to wear the number, Vaughn didn’t feel right just handing it out on his own. He decided to enlist the help of Papio, and the pair knew that the next man worthy of the number was outfielder Zach Jancarski.

Like Papio, Jancarski was a do-it-all, tough, gritty player whose stoic nature and leadership qualities made him a perfect candidate for the number. Jancarski was equally good on the field, batting his career-high of .325 in his junior year with three home runs and 26 RBIs. 

Like most Maryland baseball players, Jancarski wished to play professionally. Unfortunately, that dream never materialized.

It crushed Jancarski not to live out his dream, but it didn’t make him a failure. The fact that he wore No. 3 symbolized that no matter what he did in life, he would become a smashing success, as Vaughn puts it. 

That’s why Jancarski followed a different path and became a United States Army Ranger, protecting this country’s freedom and leading our fellow soldiers into battle. Wearing the No. 3 for Maryland goes beyond baseball, and Jancarski is proof of that. 

“When I got the number it really pushed me to be a leader,” Jancarski said. “It wasn’t about myself anymore and it had everything to do with the program and the three pillars. I still carry that number on my back every single day and that’s something that can’t be taken away from me.”

The next time the number became vacant, Vaughn again enlisted Papio and now Jancarski to help choose the next wearer. To all of them, it was clear. The one true choice was outfielder Randy Bednar. 

In Bednar’s 2021 season, his final one as a Terp, he batted .318 with seven home runs and 23 RBI’s, leading the Terps to its first regional in four years. For his efforts, Bednar earned a contract with the Seattle Mariners and still trains in College Park with hitting coach Matt Swope.

For Bednar, wearing that number was special, and having played with Jancarski and being coached by Papio, he wanted to make them proud. 

“It’s a huge responsibility to just come out to the field and set the standard every day,” Bednar said. “What we want this team to be, I think that's the most important thing with guys like Zach Jancarski, Anthony Papio, and me. Those are all people that embody the three pillars of Maryland baseball and are willing to do whatever it takes to put this team in the best possible situation to succeed.”

Much like Jancarski and Papio, Bednar sees the bigger picture when it comes to the number. He recognizes the importance of instilling these ideas into the program and how they can positively impact one's life no matter what they do.”

“Those three pillars are ownership, growth mindset, and toughness,” Bednar said emphatically and without hesitation. “Those are things that I just tried to embody every day just as a person on and off the field. Those three pillars help me through baseball, which has a lot of failures and hopefully through life. So I just try to embody those three pillars as well as I can.”

With Bednar now in the big leagues, it became time to bestow the number on someone again. 

Vaughn had someone in mind but knew it wasn’t his decision alone to make. 

When he called the three former wearers of the number, they were all in agreement. The one true choice to be the next No. 3 was Chris “Bubba” Alleyne, making him the next holder of the sacred number, and also the first African-American player to don it. 

“We watched Bubba go about his work every day this fall, and sometimes I see guys come back for their last year in one of two ways,” Vaughn said. “They either are kind of lackadaisical, don't really go about their work the right way because they feel like they should have been drafted. They just kind of don't take advantage of their last year here. But Bubba did the exact opposite of that. Bubba was always a great player, and he was always tough as nails, but we saw just something different about him this fall and the way he went about his day-to-day business.”

Vaughn didn’t even expect Alleyne back on the team this season, as while he was eligible for an extra season, Maryland expected a major league team to draft him or sign an undrafted free agent contract after batting .306 and swiping a team-best 22 bags last year. 

When the draft came and went, Vaughn immediately called Alleyne and told him that he would always be welcome at Maryland. It was then that Vaughn got the news that would change the trajectory of the 2022 squad. 

Alleyne was coming back for one last ride.

The rangy outfielder earned the nickname “Bubba” due to his affinity for bubble gum as a kid. Growing up in a city like Philadelphia, nicknames tend to stick. 

Baseball was always big in Alleyne’s life as growing up in Philly, he would see firsthand quality baseball night in and night out with the Philadelphia Phillies being led by Black stars like Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard.

Seeing players that looked like him made Alleyne fall in love with the game even more, and after playing at Chestnut Hill Academy, Bubba earned a scholarship to Maryland. 

The centerfielder has a deep connection to all three players who wore the No. 3, with Papio being his coach, Jancarski being his roommate in 2018, and Bednar being his outfield partner.

After four years at Maryland, Alleyne was already one of the most respected players on the team and was the physical embodiment of toughness. 

In the Greenville regional last season, Alleyne batted leadoff and unfortunately fouled off a pitch that ricocheted off of his face, injuring him, and ended his season.

With one of the gnarliest bruises that you’ll ever see, Bubba never complained. It broke his heart to not be able to compete in his first regional, but it made him even more determined.

With unfinished business on his mind, Alleyne returned to College Park and was greeted in the fall with the news that Vaughn and the committee of the No. 3 that he was next in line.

“It's a great honor and a great responsibility,” Alleyne said. “I'm ready to take it on. I really respect all the other guys who have worn it before me. Pap, Jancarski, and Randy is a good list of guys, and I’m looking forward to carrying out its legacy.”