| Harvard Crimson | |
|---|---|
 2025 Harvard Crimson baseball team | |
 | |
| Founded | 1865 |
| University | Harvard University |
| Head coach | Bill Decker (13th season) |
| Conference | Ivy League Rolfe Division |
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Home stadium | Joseph J. O'Donnell Field (Capacity: 1,600) |
| Nickname | Crimson |
| Colors | Crimson, white, and black[1] |
| College World Series appearances | |
| 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974 | |
| NCAA Tournament appearances | |
| 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2019 | |
| Conference tournament champions | |
| 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2019 | |
| Regular season conference champions | |
| EIBL: 1936, 1939, 1955, 1958, 1964, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984 Ivy: 1955, 1958, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 2019 Ivy Rolfe: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2019 | |
TheHarvard Crimson baseball team is the varsityintercollegiate baseball team ofHarvard University, located inBoston, Massachusetts. The program has been a member of theIvy League since the conference officially began sponsoring baseball at the start of the 1993 season. The team plays atJoseph J. O'Donnell Field, located across theCharles River from Harvard's main campus.Bill Decker has been the program's head coach since the2013 season.
The program has appeared in fourCollege World Series and 14NCAA tournaments. It has won fiveIvy League Championship Series, eight Rolfe Division titles, 15 EIBL regular season titles, and 12 Ivy League regular season titles. In 2019, the team won its first Ivy League title since 2005 when they defeatedColumbia in the Ivy League Playoff Series.
As of the start of the2014 Major League Baseball season, 12 former Crimson players have appeared inMajor League Baseball.
Harvard College's first season of baseball came in 1865; the team went 6–0 that year. It played one intercollegiate game (againstWilliams) and five against semi-professional teams. Organized baseball at the college had begun a few years earlier, when "class nines" (the teams of each of Harvard College's four class years) were first fielded; the first of these was the '66 Baseball Club, formed in 1862 by members of that year's freshman class. Despite these early years of competition, 1865 was the school's first varsity intercollegiate season.[2][3][4]
Along withrowing, baseball was popular at Harvard in the late 19th century.[5] A newspaper review of the 1871 bookFour Years at Yale says that the book includes "interesting accounts of the sports common in colleges, especially baseball and rowing, and the principal matches which have taken place between Harvard and Yale."[6] An 1884 edition of theWashington Bee reprinted aLowell Courier humor section piece that reads, "Sixty Harvard freshman have dropped their Latin, eighty their Greek and 100 their mathematics. None of them have dropped their baseball or their boating, however, and college culture is still safe."[7]
In a game against a semi-professional team fromLynn on April 12, 1877, Harvard catcherJim Tyng became the first baseball player to use a catcher's mask. The mask was invented by another student, Frederick Thayer, and manufactured by a Cambridgetinsmith. Tyng later became the first Harvard player to appear inMajor League Baseball when he played in a September 23, 1879, game for theBoston Red Caps.[8][9][10]
In the 1870s and 1880s, Harvard was a member of two loosely organized forerunners of theIvy League. The Intercollegiate Base Ball Association, which it played in from 1879 to 1886, includedYale,Princeton,Dartmouth,Brown, andAmherst. The College Baseball League, which it played in from 1887 to 1889, featured Yale, Princeton, andColumbia.[10][11]
The school continued to field a varsity baseball team through the end of the 19th century. It played both fall and spring regular season games in its early years, but moved to a spring-only schedule after the 1885–1886 season. The program's highest 19th-century win total was 34, a mark it reached in both 1870 (34–9–1) and 1892 (34–5).[3] Through the end of the 1899 season, the program played without a head coach and was instead led by its captains.[12]
Two important changes to the program occurred near the end of the 19th century– at the start of the 1898 season, Harvard began playing home games atSoldier's Field, and at the start of the 1900 season, it hired E. H. Nichols as its first head coach.[12][13]
The program went .500 or better in 15 of the 17 seasons from 1900 to 1916. Its highest win total in that stretch, 23, came in 1915 under head coachPercy Haughton. Two head coaches served four-season tenures during the time period. L. P. Pieper coached from 1907 to 1910; the program's two losing records in this time period came under him.Frank Sexton also coached for four seasons (1911–1914); the program had a winning record in each.[3][12][14]
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In the early 20th century, Harvard held tryouts, usually in the spring,[15] to select the members of the team from the student body.[16] To start the regular season, the team often traveled to theSouthern United States to play games in warm weather, a practice that began in 1898.[10][17] Up until the start ofWorld War I, its scheduled included professional and semi-professional teams, in addition to collegiate teams.[3][18]
Hall of Fame pitcherCy Young, then a member of theBoston Americans, served as the team'spitching coach for a brief time in1902. Another future Hall of Famer,Willie Keeler of theBrooklyn Superbas, served alongside Young as the team'shitting coach.[19][20][21][22]
William Clarence Matthews was Harvard's shortstop from 1902 to 1905. Matthews was black. A handful of black students graduated from Harvard around that time (its first black graduate,Richard Theodore Greener, was a member of the class of 1870), but Matthews one of only a few black players in major college athletics during an era in which baseball was divided by thecolor line. Harvard went 75–18 during Matthews's career. As a freshman, he scored the winning run in Harvard's 6–5 win in the decisive game of the Yale series; he also led the team inbatting average as a sophomore, junior, and senior. Matthews facedracial discrimination while a member of the team. During his freshman season, he was held out of games againstNavy andVirginia due to their objections to Harvard's fielding a black player. In 1903, the following year, Harvard canceled its annual southern trip when it faced similar objections. After Harvard, Matthews played one season of professional baseball and went on to a career inlaw. The trophy given to the Ivy League's baseball champion is named for Matthews. He was inducted into theCollege Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.[23][24][25][26][27]
The 1917 season was canceled because ofWorld War I, but the program resumed play in 1918.[3][28] Through the 1932 season, the program competed as an independent school. For the 1933 season, however, Harvard joined theEastern Intercollegiate Baseball League (EIBL), which had been formed by severalIvy League schools for the start of the 1930 season.[3][29][30]
Prior to the start of the 1926 season,Fred Mitchell was hired for his second stint as Harvard head baseball coach (he also led the program during the 1916 season).[31][32] Mitchell's second stint lasted until 1938– Harvard's final four seasons as an independent and first six in the EIBL. Under Mitchell, Harvard won its first EIBL title; with an 8–4 league record in 1936, it tiedDartmouth for the championship.[3][29] Mitchell was replaced byFloyd Stahl.[33][34] In Stahl's first season, Harvard won its second EIBL title, finishing with a 9–3 league record.[29]
Because ofWorld War II, Harvard competed as an independent in 1943 and 1946 and did not sponsor a team in 1944 or 1945.[12]
Harvard rejoined the EIBL for the 1947 season. For the 1948 season,Brown joined the seven otherIvy League schools in the league;Army andNavy also joined, giving the league 10 members.[29] In the immediate postwar years, under head coachesAdolph Samborski (1947–1948) andStuffy McInnis (1949–1954), the program finished no higher than 4th in the EIBL.[12]
Norman Shepard became the program's head coach for the start of the 1955 season. Under Shepard, Harvard won four EIBL titles (1955, 1958, 1964, 1968), going undefeated in league play in 1958 and 1964.[12][29] In 1968, Shepard's final season, the team qualified for its firstNCAA tournament. In order for Harvard to play inthe tournament, Shepard threatened to speed up his retirement if the NCAA did not reschedule the District 1 Regional to avoid a conflict with Harvard's final exams.[35] His threat succeeded, and Harvard won the rescheduled District 1 Regional, defeatingBoston University once andConnecticut twice to advance to theCollege World Series. There, it lost its opening game toSt. John's, 2–0, and an elimination game toSouthern Illinois, 2–1.[36]
Loyal Park was hired as head coach prior to the start of the 1969 season.[37] After finishing tied for 5th and tied for 2nd in the EIBL in his first two seasons, the program had its most successful four-year stretch from 1971 to 1974.[29] Harvard won four consecutive EIBL titles and played in threeCollege World Series. In 1971, Harvard won the EIBL outright and sweptMassachusetts in abest-of-threeDistrict 1 Regional. In theCollege World Series, Harvard defeatedBYU, 4–1, in its opening game, but was eliminated by consecutive one-run losses toTulsa andTexas–Pan American. In 1972, Harvard tiedCornell for the EIBL title, but won a playoff to advance tothat year's NCAA tournament. There, it advanced to the District 1 Regional finals, but lost toConnecticut, 11–2.[29][36] In 1973, the program won the EIBL outright and went undefeated in theDistrict 1 Regional to advance to theCollege World Series.[29][36] There, it lost consecutive games toSouthern California andGeorgia Southern.[38] In 1974, Harvard defeatedPrinceton in an EIBL tiebreaker playoff and won the District 1 Regional, but lost consecutive games toMiami andNorthern Colorado at the1974 College World Series.[29][36][39] Park coached through the end of the 1978 season, in which Harvard won the EIBL and played in theNCAA tournament.[29][36]
Alex Nahigian replaced Park and was the program's head coach from 1979 to 1990. Nahigian had been the head coach atProvidence from 1960 to 1978.[40][41] Under Nahigian, Harvard appeared in three NCAA tournaments (1980,1983,1984). In both 1980 and 1983, it advanced to the Northeast Regional final, but lost there toSt. John's in 1980 andMaine in 1983.[36] During Nahigian's 12-year tenure, Harvard's overall record was 249–152–3.[12]
During the successful years under Shepard, Park, and Nahigian, many Crimson players distinguished themselves individually. The era from 1955–1990 saw 17 First-Team All-America selections and 31Major League Baseball Draft selections. Paul del Rossi, a pitcher under Shepard from 1962 to 1964, set the EIBL/Ivy career record for wins, with 30. Future Major LeaguerMike Stenhouse, who played for Park and Nahigian from 1977 to 1979, set single-season and career EIBL/Ivy batting average records, was twice named a First-Team All-American, and was a first-round draft pick of theOakland Athletics in 1979. Another future Major Leaguer,Jeff Musselman, was the 1985 EIBL Pitcher of the Year.[29][42][43][44]
During the tenure of Leigh Hogan (1991–1995), the EIBL folded, and the Ivy League began sponsoring baseball. Several northeast schools had formed thePatriot League in 1986, and the two non-Ivy members of the EIBL,Army andNavy, had joined the league in other sports– Army in 1990–1991 and Navy in 1991–1992. Both schools' baseball programs played their last seasons in the EIBL in 1992.[45] Beginning with the 1993 season, the Ivy League sponsored baseball. Its eight teams competed in two four-team divisions: Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown in the Rolfe Division, and Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, and Penn in the Gehrig Division. The division winners met in abest-of-three championship series to decide the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.[29]
Hogan resigned following the 1995 season after coaching the program for its first three Ivy League seasons, andSuffolk head coach Joe Walsh was hired to replace him. Starting with Walsh, Harvard made its head baseball coaching position a full-time position.[46]
In Walsh's first season, 1996, Harvard won the Rolfe Division, finishing three games ahead of second-placeYale, but was swept byPrinceton in the best-of-three Ivy League Championship Series. Harvard then made three consecutive NCAA tournaments, after last having qualified in 1984. It defeated Princeton in the championship series in each season. As the sixth seed in the1997 NCAA tournament, it placed third in the six-team, double-elimination Midwest Regional. After defeating first-seededUCLA, 7–2, and fourth-seededStetson, 8–6, to open the regional, it lost consecutive games to hostOklahoma State and UCLA and was eliminated. As the fifth seed in the1998 NCAA tournament, it again finished third in its regional. After losing its opening game to second-seededCal State Fullerton, it won elimination games againstNicholls State andTulane before being eliminated by Fullerton. In the1999 tournament, the first year of four-team regionals, Harvard lost consecutive games toPepperdine andVCU.[29][36][47]
Harvard won four more Rolfe Division titles in the early 2000s, thus appearing in four Ivy League Championship Series (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006). It won the 2002 series (over Princeton)[48] and 2005 series (over Cornell) to advance to two NCAA tournaments. It went 0–2 in both. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the program struggled, winning no Rolfe Division titles and finishing last in the division in 2008, 2011, and 2014.[29][36][49]
On July 31, 2012, Walsh died of a heart attack in hisChester, New Hampshire home. He was 58 years old and had coached the program for 17 seasons, appearing in five NCAA tournaments.[50] Beginning in 2014, the NEIBA All-Star Game was named for Walsh.[51] In September 2012, the school hiredBill Decker to replace Walsh. Decker came fromDivision IIITrinity (CT), where he had been the head coach for 22 seasons and won the 2008 National Championship.[52]
Prior to the2013 season, several players were implicated in an academic cheating scandal and were forced to withdraw from Harvard.[53] The 2013 team's record was 10–31 (7–13 Ivy); it finished third in the Rolfe Division.[54]
In its first few decades, the team played at several venues around Cambridge and Boston. Besides occasionally using sites onCambridge Common orBoston Common, the school had regular venues on campus. It spent its first two seasons (1865–1866) playing at the Delta, whereMemorial Hall currently stands. From 1867 to 1883, the team's main venue was Jarvis Field, which Harvard also used for football at the time. From 1884 to 1897, the baseball team usedHolmes Field, which also doubled as one of Harvard's early football venues.[10][13]
In 1890, MajorHenry Lee Higginson donated a parcel of land on theAllston-Brighton side of the Charles River for Harvard's use. Higginson dedicated the site Soldier's Field, for six of his friends who had died fighting in theCivil War. For the start of the 1898 season, the baseball program moved to the site and shared the venue with the football and track and field teams. The venue's first game came on April 27, 1898. Harvard defeatedDartmouth, 13–7.[10][13][55]
On May 4, 1997, the stadium was rededicated for Joseph J. O'Donnell, a Harvard alumnus, donor, and former baseball and football player. The venue has a capacity of 1,600 spectators.[13]
From the program's inception at the start of the 1865 season through the end of the 1899 season, the program did not have a head coach and was instead led by its captains. In the 1900 season, E. H. Nichols became the program's first head coach.Frank Sexton, who held the position from 1911–1914, was the team's first professional coach. The position became a full-time position beginning with the 1996 season, thanks to a $2.5 millionendowment from program alumnus Joseph O'Donnell.[12][13][56]
In the early years of the position, men commonly held it for only one season. (Prior to the 1930s, the position was held for a single season 11 times.) Since then, however, five men have coached the team for at least a decade:Fred Mitchell,Norman Shepard, Loyal Park,Alex Nahigian, and Joe Walsh.[12] Walsh, who was the program's head coach for 17 seasons (1996–2012), served the longest tenure of any coach in program history and is also its wins leader, with 347.[12][57]
| Tenure(s) | Coach | Seasons | W-L-T | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1865–1899 | None | 35 | 582–307–10 | .653 |
| 1900–1901, 1905[a] | E. H. Nichols | 3 | 53–13–1 | .799 |
| 1902 | A. V. Galbraith | 1 | 21–3 | .875 |
| 1903 | Barrett Wendell Jr. | 1 | 19–5 | .792 |
| 1904 | O. G. Frantz | 1 | 17–5 | .773 |
| 1905[a] | T. F. Murphy | 1 | 19–5–1 | .780 |
| 1906 | P. N. Coburn | 1 | 12–12 | .500 |
| 1907–1910 | L. P. Pieper | 4 | 47–36–2 | .565 |
| 1911–1914 | Frank Sexton | 4 | 64–32–2 | .663 |
| 1915 | Percy Haughton | 1 | 23–7 | .767 |
| 1916, 1926–1938 | Fred Mitchell | 14 | 226–140–6 | .617 |
| 1918–1919 | Hugh Duffy | 2 | 8–21 | .276 |
| 1920–1924 | Jack Slattery | 5 | 75–53–2 | .585 |
| 1925 | Eddie Mahan | 1 | 9–14 | .391 |
| 1939–1943, 1946 | Floyd Stahl | 6 | 54–69 | .439 |
| 1947–1948 | Adolph Samborski | 2 | 24–24–1 | .500 |
| 1949–1954 | Stuffy McInnis | 6 | 47–64–1 | .424 |
| 1955–1968 | Norman Shepard | 14 | 218–107–4 | .669 |
| 1969–1978 | Loyal Park | 10 | 248–93 | .727 |
| 1979–1990 | Alex Nahigian | 12 | 249–152–3 | .620 |
| 1991–1995 | Leigh Hogan | 5 | 82–101–1 | .448 |
| 1996–2012 | Joe Walsh | 17 | 347–388–2 | .471 |
| 2013–present | Bill Decker | 12 | 177–192 | .373 |
| TOTALS | 24 | 157 | 2601–1888–35[54][58][59] | .579 |
Harvard's coaching staff for the 2025 Season consisted of head coachBill Decker and assistant coaches Nate Cole, Kyle Decker, Michael Slattery, and Morgan Brown.[60]
Bill Decker has been the program's head coach since the start of the2013 season. A 1984 graduate ofIthaca College, Decker's coaching career began with assistant positions atDivision III schoolsWesleyan (CT) andMacalester. After these, he was named the head coach atTrinity (CT) for the start of the 1991 season. Decker spent 22 seasons at Trinity, compiling a 529–231 record. He was named New England Coach of the Year and NESCAC Coach of the Year four times each. Under him, Trinity appeared in nine NCAA tournaments and won fiveNESCAC Tournament titles. In the 2008 season, the team nearly went undefeated, in the end finishing at 45–1 and winning the Division III National Championship.[61][62][63][64][65]
The following is a table of the program's yearly records. From its inception at the start of the 1865 season through the end of the 1899 season, the teams had no head coaches and were instead led by captains. The university did not sponsor a program in 1917, because ofWorld War I, or from 1944–1945, because ofWorld War II.[12][29][59]
| Season | Coach | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent(1865–1916) | |||||||||
| 1865 | 6–0 | ||||||||
| 1866 | 6–8 | ||||||||
| 1867 | 11–2 | ||||||||
| 1868 | 11–1 | ||||||||
| 1869 | 18–6 | ||||||||
| 1870 | 34–9–1 | ||||||||
| 1871 | 11–7 | ||||||||
| 1872 | 7–4 | ||||||||
| 1873 | 3–9 | ||||||||
| 1874 | 9–8 | ||||||||
| 1875 | 5–8 | ||||||||
| 1876 | 25–12 | ||||||||
| 1877 | 23–12–1 | ||||||||
| 1878 | 24–7–1 | ||||||||
| 1879 | 11–15–2 | ||||||||
| 1880 | 13–18 | ||||||||
| 1881 | 13–8 | ||||||||
| 1882 | 17–14 | ||||||||
| 1883 | 12–16 | ||||||||
| 1884 | 18–9 | ||||||||
| 1885 | 27–1 | ||||||||
| 1886 | 26–6–1 | ||||||||
| 1887 | 15–6 | ||||||||
| 1888 | 21–4 | ||||||||
| 1889 | 12–16 | ||||||||
| 1890 | 20–12 | ||||||||
| 1891 | 20–11 | ||||||||
| 1892 | 34–5 | ||||||||
| 1893 | 27–5–3 | ||||||||
| 1894 | 19–10 | ||||||||
| 1895 | 13–15 | ||||||||
| 1896 | 16–13 | ||||||||
| 1897 | 16–9 | ||||||||
| 1898 | 21–10–1 | ||||||||
| 1899 | 18–11 | ||||||||
| 1900 | E. H. Nichols | 16–6 | |||||||
| 1901 | E. H. Nichols | 18–2 | |||||||
| 1902 | A. V. Galbraith | 21–3 | |||||||
| 1903 | Barrett Wendell Jr. | 19–5 | |||||||
| 1904 | O. G. Frantz | 17–5 | |||||||
| 1905 | T. F. Murphy, E. H. Nichols[a] | 19–5–1 | |||||||
| 1906 | P. N. Coburn | 12–12 | |||||||
| 1907 | L. P. Pieper | 15–7 | |||||||
| 1908 | L. P. Pieper | 11–12–1 | |||||||
| 1909 | L. P. Pieper | 13–6 | |||||||
| 1910 | L. P. Pieper | 8–11–1 | |||||||
| 1911 | Frank Sexton | 17–6 | |||||||
| 1912 | Frank Sexton | 12–10–1 | |||||||
| 1913 | Frank Sexton | 15–9–1 | |||||||
| 1914 | Frank Sexton | 20–7 | |||||||
| 1915 | Percy Haughton | 23–7 | |||||||
| 1916 | Fred Mitchell | 22–3–1 | |||||||
| No program(1917) | |||||||||
| Independent(1918–1932) | |||||||||
| 1918 | Hugh Duffy | 1–8 | |||||||
| 1919 | Hugh Duffy | 7–13 | |||||||
| 1920 | Jack Slattery | 12–11–2 | |||||||
| 1921 | Jack Slattery | 18–8 | |||||||
| 1922 | Jack Slattery | 19–8 | |||||||
| 1923 | Jack Slattery | 14–13 | |||||||
| 1924 | Jack Slattery | 12–13 | |||||||
| 1925 | Eddie Mahan | 9–14 | |||||||
| 1926 | Fred Mitchell | 15–7 | |||||||
| 1927 | Fred Mitchell | 25–6–1 | |||||||
| 1928 | Fred Mitchell | 18–10 | |||||||
| 1929 | Fred Mitchell | 17–8–1 | |||||||
| 1930 | Fred Mitchell | 10–14 | |||||||
| 1931 | Fred Mitchell | 14–11 | |||||||
| 1932 | Fred Mitchell | 16–6 | |||||||
| Independent: | 1067-573-20 | ||||||||
| Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League(1933–1942) | |||||||||
| 1933 | Fred Mitchell | 10–11 | 5–6 | 4th | |||||
| 1934 | Fred Mitchell | 20–17–1 | 6–5 | 3rd | |||||
| 1935 | Fred Mitchell | 16–9–1 | 8–4 | 2nd | |||||
| 1936 | Fred Mitchell | 16–10 | 8–4 | t-1st | |||||
| 1937 | Fred Mitchell | 13–14–1 | 8–4 | t-2nd | |||||
| 1938 | Fred Mitchell | 14–14 | 8–4 | 2nd | |||||
| 1939 | Floyd Stahl | 16–10 | 9–3 | 1st | |||||
| 1940 | Floyd Stahl | 8–18 | 3–8 | 6th | |||||
| 1941 | Floyd Stahl | 7–18 | 4–8 | t-5th | |||||
| 1942 | Floyd Stahl | 9–9 | 5–5 | 2nd | |||||
| Independent(1943) | |||||||||
| 1943 | Floyd Stahl | 9–5 | |||||||
| No program(1944–1945) | |||||||||
| Independent(1946) | |||||||||
| 1946 | Floyd Stahl | 5–9 | |||||||
| Independent: | 14–14 | ||||||||
| Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League(1947–1992) | |||||||||
| 1947 | Adolph Samborski | 12–13 | 7–5 | t-2nd | |||||
| 1948 | Adolph Samborski | 12–11–1 | 2–4 | 9th | |||||
| 1949 | Stuffy McInnis | 10–12 | 5–4 | t-4th | |||||
| 1950 | Stuffy McInnis | 9–6 | 5–2 | 4th | |||||
| 1951 | Stuffy McInnis | 7–9 | 3–5 | 7th | |||||
| 1952 | Stuffy McInnis | 6–11–1 | 2–6 | 5th(North) | |||||
| 1953 | Stuffy McInnis | 8–11 | 4–5 | t-6th | |||||
| 1954 | Stuffy McInnis | 7–15 | 3–5 | 7th | |||||
| 1955 | Norman Shepard | 18–5 | 8–1 | 1st | |||||
| 1956 | Norman Shepard | 18–6 | 5–4 | t-4th | |||||
| 1957 | Norman Shepard | 15–7–1 | 6–3 | t-4th | |||||
| 1958 | Norman Shepard | 14–8–1 | 7–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1959 | Norman Shepard | 16–9 | 4–5 | t-6th | |||||
| 1960 | Norman Shepard | 9–13–1 | 3–5 | 7th | |||||
| 1961 | Norman Shepard | 10–11 | 2–4 | 7th | |||||
| 1962 | Norman Shepard | 19–4 | 7–2 | t-2nd | |||||
| 1963 | Norman Shepard | 17–6 | 5–4 | t-5th | |||||
| 1964 | Norman Shepard | 21–2–1 | 9–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1965 | Norman Shepard | 12–11 | 5–4 | t-4th | |||||
| 1966 | Norman Shepard | 15–9 | 3–6 | t-7th | |||||
| 1967 | Norman Shepard | 15–7 | 5–3 | t-4th | |||||
| 1968 | Norman Shepard | 19–9 | 8–1 | 1st | College World Series | ||||
| 1969 | Loyal Park | 13–8 | 4–4 | t-5th | |||||
| 1970 | Loyal Park | 24–7 | 10–4 | t-2nd | |||||
| 1971 | Loyal Park | 27–8 | 9–5 | 1st | College World Series | ||||
| 1972 | Loyal Park | 30–9 | 10–4 | t-1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 1973 | Loyal Park | 35–5 | 11–2 | 1st | College World Series | ||||
| 1974 | Loyal Park | 31–11 | 10–4 | t-1st | College World Series | ||||
| 1975 | Loyal Park | 25–10 | 7–3 | t-3rd | |||||
| 1976 | Loyal Park | 17–18 | 4–10 | t-8th | |||||
| 1977 | Loyal Park | 22–7 | 7–3 | 4th | |||||
| 1978 | Loyal Park | 24–10 | 11–3 | 1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 1979 | Alex Nahigian | 22–14 | 9–5 | 4th | |||||
| 1980 | Alex Nahigian | 24–12 | 10–4 | t-1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 1981 | Alex Nahigian | 17–14 | 6–7 | t-5th | |||||
| 1982 | Alex Nahigian | 17–16 | 9–9 | t-3rd | |||||
| 1983 | Alex Nahigian | 27–8–1 | 15–3–1 | 1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 1984 | Alex Nahigian | 28–6 | 14–3 | 1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 1985 | Alex Nahigian | 29–9 | 15–3 | t-1st | EIBL Tiebreaker | ||||
| 1986 | Alex Nahigian | 19–11 | 10–8 | t-3rd | |||||
| 1987 | Alex Nahigian | 19–7 | 12–4 | 3rd | |||||
| 1988 | Alex Nahigian | 16–18 | 9–9 | t-5th | |||||
| 1989 | Alex Nahigian | 16–17–1 | 9–9 | t-5th | |||||
| 1990 | Alex Nahigian | 15–20–1 | 9–9 | 6th | |||||
| 1991 | Leigh Hogan | 21–19 | 9–9 | 6th | |||||
| 1992 | Leigh Hogan | 20–15 | 8–6 | 3rd | |||||
| EIBL: | 956–604–12 | 399–259–1 | |||||||
| Ivy League(1993–present) | |||||||||
| 1993 | Leigh Hogan | 18–20 | 12–8 | 2nd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 1994 | Leigh Hogan | 13–22–1 | 7–13 | t-3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 1995 | Leigh Hogan | 10–25 | 6–14 | 4th(Rolfe) | |||||
| 1996 | Joe Walsh | 23–17 | 14–6 | 1st(Rolfe) | Ivy Championship Series | ||||
| 1997 | Joe Walsh | 34–16 | 18–2 | 1st(Rolfe) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 1998 | Joe Walsh | 36–12 | 16–4 | 1st(Rolfe) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 1999 | Joe Walsh | 28–20 | 17–3 | 1st(Rolfe) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2000 | Joe Walsh | 18–25 | 10–10 | 3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2001 | Joe Walsh | 18–26 | 11–9 | 3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2002 | Joe Walsh | 20–26 | 13–7 | t-1st(Rolfe) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2003 | Joe Walsh | 20–23 | 11–9 | 1st(Rolfe) | Ivy Championship Series | ||||
| 2004 | Joe Walsh | 21–18–1 | 13–7 | 2nd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2005 | Joe Walsh | 29–17 | 15–5 | 1st(Rolfe) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2006 | Joe Walsh | 21–20–1 | 14–6 | 1st(Rolfe) | Ivy Championship Series | ||||
| 2007 | Joe Walsh | 18–18 | 12–7 | 2nd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2008 | Joe Walsh | 10–30 | 8–12 | 4th(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2009 | Joe Walsh | 13–28 | 10–10 | t-3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2010 | Joe Walsh | 17–26 | 10–10 | t-2nd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2011 | Joe Walsh | 9–36 | 5–15 | 4th(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2012 | Joe Walsh | 12–30 | 8–12 | 2nd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2013 | Bill Decker | 10–31 | 7–13 | 3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2014 | Bill Decker | 11–28 | 5–15 | 4th(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2015 | Bill Decker | 18–24 | 7–13 | t-3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2016 | Bill Decker | 17–24 | 9–11 | 4th(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2017 | Bill Decker | 17–24 | 9–11 | 3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2018 | Bill Decker | 22–20 | 12-9 | 3rd(Rolfe) | |||||
| 2019 | Bill Decker | 25–14 | 14-7 | 1st(Rolfe) | |||||
| Ivy League: | 508–620–3 | 293–248 | |||||||
| Total: | 2544-1811-35[54][58][59] | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
The following is a list of notable former Crimson players and the seasons in which they played for the program, where available.[8][66][67][68][69][70][71]
As of January 2024, 61 players have been drafted to MLB from the Harvard Baseball program.[72][73][74]
Harvard's baseball program has a long history in the school's well-known rivalry withYale University. Overall, Harvard has a 194–178–1 record against Yale, whom they have played more than any other team.[3]
The two schools' first athletic competition was acrew race in 1852– the United States' first intercollegiate athletic competition.[2] Harvard first playedYale's baseball program on July 25, 1868. The Crimson won, 25–17, and went on to win the teams' first eight meetings.[3] Yale won five of the next seven, including a 5–0 win in 1877 in which pitcher Charles Carter threw what later became known as a perfect game.[75][76]
The two teams have played in nearly every season since, with a few exceptions. In 1891, Yale refused on account of Harvard's refusal to playPrinceton in 1890 and 1891.[77][78] The rivalry also was not played in 1917, 1944, or 1945, when Harvard did not sponsor a team due tothe World Wars.[3]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, baseball games between Harvard and Yale attracted much attention. At the end of each season, the teams played two games, one each in Cambridge and New Haven; if the teams split these games, a third was scheduled to decide that year's champion.[79] In 1913, for example, when Yale won 2–0 in New Haven and Harvard won 4–3 in Cambridge, a third game was scheduled atEbbets Field, the home field ofMajor League Baseball'sBrooklyn Dodgers; Harvard won, 6–5.[80] The games regularly drew crowds of over 10,000. The 1913 championship game at Ebbets saw an attendance mark of 15,000; a June 23, 1908, game (which Harvard lost 3–0) was attended by 14,000 spectators, includingSecretary of WarWilliam Howard Taft, a Yale alumnus who had unofficially been named theRepublican nominee for president only days earlier.[81][82]
The two teams became conference rivals in theEastern Intercollegiate Baseball League after Harvard joined for the 1933 season. Both teams were competitive in the league– Harvard won 21 titles, while Yale won 10. The teams finished 1–2 in the league standings five times (1937, 1947, 1955, 1980, and 1984). In 1980, the two teams met in the EIBL tiebreaker with anNCAA tournament bid at stake; Harvard swept Yale in two games, 11–3 and 6–2, to advance.[3][29]
Since the two teams began competing in the Rolfe Division in 1993, the teams have finished 1–2 in the division standings four times. In those four seasons, Yale won the division once (in 1993), while Harvard won it the other three times (1996, 1997, and 1998).[29]
The format of the team's yearly meetings has changed frequently. From 1868–1871, the teams played only a single game. The home-and-home format popular for much of the rivalry's early history was adopted in 1872, and the tiebreaker game was played, as necessary, starting in 1877. The home-and-home format was stretched to four games during several seasons in the late-19th century, with a fifth, tie-breaking game played on multiple occasions. When Harvard joined the EIBL for the 1933 season, the tiebreaker format was scrapped. From 1935–1940, the teams instead played a regularly scheduled third game inNew London, Connecticut, on the same day as theHarvard–Yale Regatta. The rivalry's schedule became irregular during the years ofWorld War II. Following the war, formats varied until the schools began playing a regular three-game series in 1954. The rivalry consisted of three-game series from 1954–1960, two-game series from 1961–1966, and a mix of single games and doubleheaders from 1967–1980. In the last years of the EIBL (1981–1992), the two teams played one doubleheader each season, alternating home teams between seasons. Since the Ivy League began sponsoring baseball in 1993, Harvard and Yale have played a yearly four-game series, held entirely at one school, as part of Rolfe Division play.[3][77][83]
During the2012 season, the program received attention from national media outlets for a YouTube video in which members of the team dubbed theCarly Rae Jepsen song "Call Me Maybe." The video, filmed during a van ride to a road game, was viewed 2 million times in the five days after its release and led to many imitations by other sports teams.[84][85][86] The video was choreographed and directed by seniorpitcher Connor Hulse. Eight players appeared in the video: in the front row, from left to right, seniorcatcher Jon Smart and junior pitcher Joey Novak; in the middle row, sophomore pitcher Andrew Ferreira, seniorfirst baseman/pitcher Marcus Way, and junior second baseman Kyle Larrow; in the back row, sophomoreoutfielder Jack Colton (who was asleep), seniorinfielder/catcher Jeff Reynolds, sophomore catcher/first baseman Steve Dill and cameraman Connor Hulse.[85]
In the 2008Selden Edwards novelThe Little Book, protagonist Wheeler Burden plays baseball for Harvard in the early 1960s.[87]
But the Harvard men, more interested in their spring baseball team and rowing, gave little attention to the Tufts game.
Dr. Frank J. Sexton, coach of the Harvard baseball team for several years, tendered his resignation today to become effective immediately.
Dr. Sexton proposes to make this fall practice just as much a matter of hard work as he did the spring practice, and he expects to accomplish much toward the development of next year's nine.
Cy Young returned to Boston in February 1902 not to link up with his teammates but to serve as pitching coach at Harvard University. ... It was not unusual at this time for universities to hire major league players to assist in the training of their baseball squads; in fact, Young's counterpart as batting coach for the Crimson was two-time National League batting champion Willie Keeler.
Harvard, newcomer to the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball league, ...
Shepard headed for Sarasota, Fla., May 22 after his 14th and final season as Harvard coach, with the understanding he would return if the NCAA first district tourney was rescheduled after Harvard final exams. Nine days later, Shepard was back preparing his team for the NCAA tourney, first ever for Harvard.
Past reports in The Harvard Crimson also linked football, baseball and hockey players to the scandal.
Harvard and Princeton did not play in 1890, and in 1891 neither Yale nor Princeton played against Harvard, Yale refusing because of Harvard's attitude towards Princeton.
APP Note: This address was delivered in Cincinnati, Ohio after William Howard Taft was formally notified of his nomination by representatives of the Republican Party. The Republican National Convention was held in Chicago from June 16–19, 1908.
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