Sean Turner looks at his poster of Chicago White Sox designated hitter Julio Franco that reads "Sox Hire Hit Man" and imagines how he resembles the remark. While the Penn baseball team hasn't shelled out any money to land the junior transfer from Stanford, Turner can see a similarity. "It's sort of the same thing," he said. "Penn has brought me in as a hit man in a way -- to come get hits, drive in runs, score lots of runs and basically do whatever it takes to win." Penn coach Bob Seddon probably would pay for Turner's services if he could. As the 1993 season drew to a close, it looked like the end of a glorious era for Penn center fielders. None remained that would be able to continue the incredible run of offensive firepower that started with Doug Glanville's arrival in the late 1980s and kept going with Todd Mascena, and last season with Glen Miller. Then Turner swooped across the country last summer to fill the huge gap in center field and began writing a new chapter in the story of his baseball career. It has already been a remarkable story, but one that Turner admitted might have turned out better. He can take comfort in knowing there is plenty more to be written before all is said and done. You figure he is just too bright and too talented for everything not to work out. The first trait surely comes from both parents, the second from his father. His father enjoyed a brief minor league stint with the Chicago White Sox, and he got his son started in baseball so long ago Sean can't even remember when it happened. A star was soon born. Turner blossomed at Crete-Monee High School in Illinos, grabbing all-state honors as a shortstop once and all-area three times. All sorts of big time baseball colleges came calling -- Stanford, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame. The decision came down to Notre Dame and Stanford. It didn't take long for Turner to become a Cardinal. "I thought about Notre Dame because it was closer to my home and I had a bunch of friends playing for the football team there," Turner said. "But I chose Stanford for the mix of academics and baseball. You can't beat that." The baseball turned out to be too good. Stanford has one of the most prestigious programs in the country, having won consecutive national titles in 1987-88 under coach Mike Marquess. Turner soon found the competition for playing time to be somewhat overwhelming. No less than 14 players from the 1992 Stanford team were drafted that June, and Turner agreed to sit out a year because he recognized the futility of trying to crack the regular lineup. He watched from the bench as the Cardinal finished the regular season ranked in the Top 10 nationally and made it to the NCAA regionals at Florida State. Stanford wasn't nearly the same team in 1993. The inexperienced Cardinal suffered through its first losing season since the 1950s, but it was Turner who endured the most frustration. He remained a regular on the bench with just five plate appearances through his entire sophomore season. Though he did see a little time as a pinch runner and defensive substitute in the outfield, Turner began to regret his choice of schools. "As the year was going on, myself and a couple of other players thought that since the team wasn't doing too well, we should be getting more playing time," he said. "We thought we should be able to see what we could do, but we weren't getting a chance. That's when I began thinking about transferring. " Turner and his coaches never saw eye to eye about playing time, but they did agree Turner would be better off at another school. Marquess voluntarily gave Turner his release. "He was one of our most improved players, an inspiration to the other guys," Cardinal assistant coach David Esquer said. "We would have loved to have kept him, but it was the best thing for him. His chances for playing time were more definite at Penn and it had some things he preferred academically." Above all, Penn had Wharton, a big attraction for Turner, and a chance for plenty of playing time in a solid baseball program. Pac-10-powerhouses Arizona and Arizona State were briefly considered, but Turner had settled on Penn. Seddon, who had been a minor player in the recruiting war for Turner, wasn't about to let him get away again. Just to make sure he didn't, Seddon was at Philadelphia International Airport to greet Turner when he arrived. "I pushed to get him in," Seddon said, "because we thought he'd turn out the way he has. He can make all the plays in the outfield, he has a great arm and he's batting third in the order. And not only that, he can run. He's the fastest guy on the team." Turner brought all of those assets and more to a Penn team that was struggling to rebound from a disappointing 1993 season and key losses to graduation. His initial dose of competition at Penn only brought more disappointment. Turner took the summer off to lift weights, and when he arrived for fall training, he was rusty. "I'm sure some of the guys were saying, 'He's from Stanford, but he's not having a good fall,' " Turner said. "But once you start playing, everybody gets behind you." Once preseason practice began it didn't take long for Turner to become one of the guys. Senior co-captain Eddie MacDonald, himself a transfer from Miami-Dade Community College, helped Turner get acclimated. Turner finally began showing the skills that had been virtually dormant since high school. Turner was batting .353 with18 RBIs and a team-leading 10 doubles as of April 18, and the speed for which he is famous had carried him to seven stolen bases in nine attempts. One of the most important contributions has come off the field. Case in point: Penn's season-opening trip to California. Turner enjoyed returning to the West Coast and playing against the high level of competition reminiscent of his Pac-10 days, but the team was down after starting out 1-2. "We called a player-only meeting to get everything together," MacDonald said. "Coming from Stanford, he was a guy a lot of people looked up to. He told us we did have a lot of talent, that we needed to just go out and do the job. A lot of people listened to what he said." The Quakers proceeded to go 7-0 over the remainder of the trip. Turner's speech wasn't just an attempt to lift spirits. One reason he's happy at Penn is the quality of the baseball program, which he believes is higher than a lot of people realize, including his teammates. "That's the big thing about this team," he said. "Some of the guys don't realize how good they are and how good we can be. We have to feel that we are a very good Division I school and understand that." The big question, now, is how long Turner will be around to help the team understand. He has felt since high school he has pro potential, and is eagerly awaiting the day he gets drafted. As a junior, Turner is eligible for the draft. But barring the unlikely event he gets selected this summer, he plans to declare his freshman season at Stanford a redshirt year in order to claim an extra year of eligibility. Then he will have two years to attract the attention of scouts and strengthen his game further. That's if he should need two years. "My expectations are to get drafted before I leave school," he said. "I don't expect it to happen this summer?.I expect to play a lot this summer, work out, get a little thinner, then come back and have a real solid second season. And hopefully, next year will be the year." And then someday it could be Turner whose poster graces the walls of an aspiring youngster's home.
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