2025 and then: A half-century later, Bison ace Bo McLaughlin is remembered for MLB signing…and horrific injury

Tucked in a worn brown file deep inside Lipscomb’s athletic archives sits a faded photograph: a young right-handed pitcher in a purple uniform, glove raised, eyes locked onto the catcher. The edges of the image are cracked with age. The name on the back is written in ballpoint pen – Bo McLaughlin, 1970s.

Most students walking past the archives have no idea the man in the picture was the first Bison ever to sign with a Major League Baseball team—or that decades later, at 72, he is remembered as much for a terrifying injury that nearly ended his life.

McLaughlin played for the Bisons from 1972-1975 and is still considered one of the most dominant pitchers in Lipscomb history, as his Lipscomb Athletics Hall of Fame entry indicates. His Lipscomb records include most strikeouts in a game (19) and victories in a season (16).

McLaughlin made Lipscomb history by signing with the Houston Astros in 1975 and went on to play for Atlanta and Oakland, finishing his career with a 10-20 record and 188 strikeouts.

His journey—from an underestimated small-college pitcher to a professional athlete whose career was changed forever by a single moment—remains one of the most defining stories in Lipscomb Athletics. Even without returning to campus, his legacy continues to shape the program he left behind.

Lipscomb pitching coach Jeff Reynolds often tells McLaughlin’s story to players who think they need early attention or hype to reach the next level.

“He wasn’t the recruit everyone wanted,” Reynolds said. “But Bo had the kind of drive that outweighs raw talent. He earned every opportunity he got.”

Reynolds said McLaughlin’s transition from Lipscomb standout to major leaguer reflected years of discipline – long before the injury that would change his life on May 26, 1981.

“I took a line drive to the face,” McLaughlin recalled in a “Where Are They Now?” feature on LipscombSports.com. “I was pitching against the Chicago White Sox, and Harold Baines hit a line drive. They rebuilt the left side of my face.”

“That was the kind of injury you’re not supposed to recover from,” Reynolds said. “Hospitals didn’t know if he’d ever walk normally again, much less pitch. But he fought his way back. That resilience is what defines him.”

McLaughlin came back for the last month of the 1981 season and the playoffs, in which his Oakland A’s advanced to the American League Championship Series; the New York Yankees swept the series 3-0.

“I never could get my legs back in shape,” McLaughlin told LipscombSports.com. “I had bad legs from the time I was 15 years old. After the 1982 season, I retired.”

Since then McLaughlin has served as a pitching coach for four MLB systems: the Chicago Cubs, Montreal, Baltimore and Colorado.

Although former catcher Derrick “D.J.” Sanders played decades after McLaughlin, he said Bo’s name still comes up in conversations around the program.

“Everyone knows he was the first to sign with a Major League team – that’s huge,” Sanders said. “But the part guys talk about the most is what happened afterward. To take a line drive straight to the face and keep fighting… that sticks with people.”

Sanders said McLaughlin symbolizes what Lipscomb Baseball tells its players every year: that greatness is possible from anywhere.

“He wasn’t a kid from a giant baseball school,” Sanders said. “He was one of us – just a Bison who believed in the work. That’s why his story gets passed down.”

Reynolds said it doesn’t matter that McLaughlin hasn’t been back to Ken Dugan Field. His absence almost lends a mythic quality to his story.

“Sometimes legends don’t need to walk through the gates again,” Reynolds said. “Bo’s career, his injury, his comeback – those things speak for themselves. You don’t have to see him to feel the impact.”

Sanders agreed, saying McLaughlin’s legacy exists less in physical presence and more in identity.

“He showed Lipscomb the path,” Sanders said. “Being the first makes you a blueprint, even if you never step back on campus.”

Current Bisons may not see McLaughlin in the Ken Dugan Field stands. But his story moves through the program like a quiet echo – steady and unforgettable.

“He proved a Bison could reach the big leagues,” Reynolds said. “And even after everything life threw at him, he never stopped being an example of resilience. That’s a legacy that doesn’t need a return trip to be felt.”