UB.com sponsored pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin has made a generous $200,000 donation to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s baseball team. Baldwin helped guide the squad to a national championship in 2005.
The six-figure donation, equal to the amount of money Baldwin won by taking down a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em event during April’s Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza, will be used to add lights to Prucha Field. In turn, the university will be able to host the Midwest Regional portion of the 2010 NCAA Division III baseball playoffs. The last time that the school hosted the post-season competition was in 2005, when Baldwin started in right field.
On his donation, Baldwin told Wisconsin-Whitewater officials, “It feels awesome to be in a position to help UW-Whitewater host the regional again. UW-Whitewater has an amazing baseball program and hopefully the team will be playing in this year’s regional in front of its hometown crowd.” Baldwin graduated from Whitewater in 2006. The Warhawks, as the school’s mascot is known, finished third in the Division III baseball playoffs in 2004 before winning it all one year later.
Baldwin was a team captain in his final year at the school and explained that how hard work in anything from baseball to poker will ultimately pay off: “I learned that if you put a lot of hard work into something and fight through the hard times, things will work out. Preparation leads to success.” Baldwin was the CardPlayer Player of the Year in 2009. The stanza saw him win the aforementioned Venetian tournament for $198,000 and then claim his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event for $521,000. One week later, he finished third in the $10,000 World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em for another $259,000.
In October, Baldwin was up to his winning ways again, this time making the final table of the UB.com Aruba Poker Classic for $126,000. The fourth place finish most likely pushed talks about joining UB.com along and Baldwin signed with the site just before Christmas. Back on the tournament trail, he won a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $256,000. Online, he was the runner-up in both the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance and Nightly Hundred Grand for a combined take of $57,000. He banked $1.5 million in tournaments in 2009.
Wisconsin-Whitewater Athletic Director Paul Plinske spoke volumes about Baldwin’s contribution to his alma mater: “Eric was instrumental in leading UW-Whitewater to its first national title in baseball. His recent gift will ensure that more great things are on the horizon for the Warhawks. He has definitely left his mark on our campus and we are very grateful to him for leaving us his legacy.” The Midwest Regional will take place from May 19th to 23rd at Jim Miller Stadium at Prucha Field. Last year, the team was 30-19 and sported a 12-6 home record. In the Warhawks’ final game of the season, the team was upended by Carthage, who won by a score of 8-3 in Regional play.
The university’s press release revealed that Baldwin would be one of the competitors on the upcoming National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which will purportedly film in March and be shown on NBC in April. In 2009, the Heads-Up event began airing in mid-April and played out over the course of six straight Sundays. A total purse of $1.5 million was up for grabs in the invitation-only event. Automatic bids to the field of 64 players are include the reigning CardPlayer Player of the Year. The automatic invites were created in 2008.
Check out the official Wisconsin-Whitewater press release outlining Baldwin’s donation to the school.
