A San Diego, CA., native, it was in Santa Clara County that Mark Langston found his love for baseball. At Santa Clara’s Buchser High, he was a two-sport star athlete excelling in soccer and baseball. Although San Jose State had an outstanding soccer program coached by San Jose Sports Hall of Famer Julie Menendez, the tall southpaw chose baseball instead and became the Spartans’ most noteworthy player during the 1979-81 seasons playing for Gene Menges.

He became the Spartans’ number-one starter as a sophomore. The 1980 first-team All-Northern California Baseball Association pitcher was a second-team All-American selection by The Sporting News his junior season and struck out 235 batters in 251.2 innings pitched in his three seasons at San Jose State.

Langston embarked on his 16-year Major League Baseball career after the Seattle Mariners used the 35^th overall selection in the second round in the 1981 draft to select him.  No other San Jose State baseball player before was selected higher in an MLB draft.

He reached the Major Leagues in 1984 with Seattle, won 17 games that season and was the runner up for the American League Rookie of the Year award. He would lead the American League in strikeouts three times in his first four seasons and finish in the top-10 nine times overall. His slider was considered to be the best in baseball during the decade of the 1980s. By the time he concluded his career pitching for six different teams, he had a 179-158 win-loss record and 2,464 strikeouts. He and teammate Bobby Witt teamed up for the fifth combined no-hitter in Major League Baseball history on April 11, 1990 against Seattle.

The four-time MLB All-Star was the American League starting pitcher in the 1993 All-Star Game and was one of the best fielding pitchers ever. He was awarded seven Gold Glove awards – the fifth most all-time by a pitcher.

Langston is currently a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.