Inducted January 9, 2015
In his time with the Lions, the name Joe Holden became a staple of the Molloy College baseball program. As a junior in 2005, the Wantagh product became the first player in program history to be drafted in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Holden was selected by the New York Mets in the 21st round. That’s where his professional career, which lasted eight years, began.
At Molloy, he hit an impressive .390 at the plate, holds the career home run record (25) and the career slugging percentage record (.686). Holden is also in the top-10 for his career in doubles (second), triples (second), on-base percentage (second), total bases (third), runs batted in (fifth), runs (eighth), hits (ninth) and stolen bases (ninth).
His 2005 season wasn’t just one of the best in Molloy history, but also was one of the best nationally. In the country amongst NCAA Division II, he ranked 20th in home runs-per-game, 25th in the toughest-player-to-strikeout category, and 27th in slugging percentage. He also was 26th in doubles-per-game in 2004 and 25th in the same category in 2003.
The power-hitting outfielder set the Molloy single-season record for home runs with 13 in 2005, and is tied for the program record in total bases (128). His other single-season record book top-10 highlights include: slugging percentage (second, ninth), runs (fourth), runs batted in (seventh), home runs (eighth), batting average (ninth), doubles (ninth) and hits (10th).
Holden still holds the single game record for homers (3), runs (5) and total bases (14) in a March 18, 2005 contest versus Southern New Hampshire University. Holden remains the only Lion in history to be named to the ABCA/Rawlings All-America Third-Team (2005). His other laurels include: ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Second-Team (2004), ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Player of the Year and First-Team (2005), NCBWA All-East Region First-Team and All-America Second-Team (2005), ECAC All-Star Division II Player of the Year (2005) and Northeast Region Player of the Year (2005), New York Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year (2005), and All-New York Collegiate Athletic Conference First-Team (2004 and 2005).
Since he left the campus of Molloy College in 2005, Holden has played professional baseball for five teams over eight years -- the Brooklyn Cyclones, Hagerstown Suns, Savannah Sand Gnats and St. Lucie Mets are all Class-A affiliates of the New York Mets, while the Somerset Patriots is a club in the Class Independent Atlantic League. Over his 607 professional games, Holden amassed 23 homers, 189 RBIs, 283 runs scored, 84 doubles, 16 triples and 135 stolen bases, while batting .268 and posting a solid on-base percentage of .336.
