Top-10 Stories of 2021: New Trier's Napoleon captures win No. 900; all-time mark within reach

At the end of each calendar year, our staff reflects on the most interesting stories of the past year. Through the end of the month, we’ll be counting down some of the most impactful headlines that affected Illinois’ baseball community, ending with our No. 1 story of 2021 revealed on New Year’s Day.

Among the things that the cancellation of the 2020 IHSA baseball season robbed from us was the compelling race to 900 career coaching wins between two Illinois prep baseball legends: New Trier’s Mike Napoleon and Glenwood’s Pat Moomey. After the 2019 season, Napoleon was sitting on 896 career coaching wins since he first took over an IHSA dugout in 1985 at Niles Notre Dame. Moomey trailed Napoleon by only three victories, and the 2020 season was to feature the race to win No. 900 in what was set to be Moomey’s final season before retiring.

Thus, the pandemic halted the race for good, and Moomey’s hall-of-fame coaching career will place him near the top of the all-time IHSA baseball wins record, presently at No. 3 overall, and a career that oversaw many accomplished baseball players – several of whom are making Major League impacts today. Moomey helped steer the Glenwood Titans to two IHSA state titles, one in 1996 and another in 2010, and morphed the program into a perennial power from the Springfield area.

So, in 2021, the race to 900 wins was one-man and coach Napoleon's Trevians were just four shy of reaching the milestone. New Trier won three of its first five games this past spring, and a 10-0 win away at Fremd felt momentous, setting the stage for win No. 900 to come at Duke Childs Field in Winnetka the following day while hosting Buffalo Grove.

That Thursday, April 22, a two-out rally sparked a four-run first inning for the Trevians which helped New Trier gain a big early edge and while Buffalo Grove stuck around throughout the ballgame, New Trier clung to the lead and ultimately the historic win.

This spring season had Napoleon entrenched, even further, into possession of the No. 2 place on the IHSA’s all-time baseball coaching wins record, behind only Dave Swisegood (950), who coached the Plymouth and Southeastern programs from 1956 until his final season in 2015. Illinois baseball’s winningest coach ever, and the very first to 900, passed away at the age of 90-years old in November of 2020. Swisegood’s career as an educator of over 60 years and mentor to the Illinois prep baseball community is his lasting legacy, making his place at the top of the coaching ranks that much more honorable a recognition, especially as Napoleon encloses the mark.

New Trier finished the 2021 campaign with a record of 25-13 and a Super-Sectional appearance, pushing Napoleon to career win No. 921, which is 29 short of Swisegood’s 950 total. That’s a single season hurdle, but not unheard of in Napoleon’s tenure. For perspective, New Trier has won 30-plus games nine times during Napoleon’s time at the helm of the program, the most recent of which came in 2017 when the Trevians went 30-4 and made a 4A state semifinals appearance.

Since Napoleon's first season in 1997 with New Trier, he has amassed 663 wins as the head coach, including two state titles; the first coming in the year 2000 and the second in 2009. He has also lead the Trevians to two runner-up finishes in 1999 and 2007, as well as a fourth-place finish in 2017. Coach Napoleon has also racked up 20 Regional Championships over that span as well.

Napoleon’s 900th career win was more than just a milestone, it illuminated fellow IHSA coaching legends – from Moomey to Swisegood – and the legacies that they themselves have built across the state of Illinois, which in turn has elevated the quality of the sport in each of our backyards.

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