Erstad also played hockey (36 goals and 24 assists in 26 games) and participated in track and field (winning state titles in 110 and 300-meter hurdles).

Erstad attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, playing baseball there for three years and held the school record for career hits with 261.

In his final year there, Erstad hit .410 with 19 home runs and 79 RBIs, earning First-Team All-American status and was a finalist for the 1995 Golden Spikes Award.

Named a First Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, Darin set career highs with 19 homers and 76 RBIs.

[2] Erstad was also the starting punter on the Cornhuskers football team and was part of their 1994 National Championship squad, averaging 42.6 yards per punt, the 14th best mark in the country that year.

The then California Angels chose Erstad as the first pick overall in the 1995 Major League Baseball draft from the University of Nebraska.

Posting similarly solid statistics the next year, Erstad made his first of two All-Star appearances before having a disappointing season in 1999.

Erstad also hit .355, finishing second in the batting race behind Nomar Garciaparra (.372), became the first player in Major League history to record 100 RBIs as a leadoff hitter, and won the AL Silver Slugger Award.

Erstad is one of only five batters, through August 2009, to have hit both a leadoff and walk-off home run in the same game (having done so in 2000), the others being Billy Hamilton (1893), Victor Power (1957), Reed Johnson (2003), and Ian Kinsler (2009).

Having signed a $750,000 contract in the off-season, Erstad hit a home run in his first at-bat as a member of the Chicago White Sox on opening day 2007 off CC Sabathia.

When catcher Chris Coste joined Erstad on the Astros roster in July 2009, they became the first two players born in North Dakota to play together on the same team in major league history.

[7] On July 5, 2010, the Lincoln Journal Star reported that Erstad accepted a position to become a volunteer coach for the Nebraska baseball team.

Erstad was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2017 after leading the Huskers to the conference championship during the regular season.

As of July 2009, he ranked second to Travis Hafner in all-time home runs hit by a player born in North Dakota.