A History of Tufts University's Baseball Program
Tufts University, located in Medford, Massachusetts, boasts a rich athletic history, with its baseball program standing out as one of the school's strongest. Competing at the NCAA Division III level as a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), the Tufts Jumbos have a long and storied tradition. The university mascot, Jumbo, is named after the famous circus elephant whose stuffed hide was once displayed at Tufts.
Early Years and Development
While baseball-type games were likely played since the opening of the college, the first official baseball game at Tufts College was recorded on September 5, 1863. In this inaugural contest, a team of sophomores triumphed over the freshman team with a score of 9-6. This marked the beginning of an organized baseball presence on campus.
The following year, in 1864, two teams emerged: the All Nine and the Ballou Club. They engaged in a series of games spanning two semesters, with the All Nine ultimately proving victorious. By 1868, the Tufts College All Nine began competing informally against other local schools, setting the stage for intercollegiate competition.
Tufts recorded its first recognized intercollegiate game against Brown University in 1869. In 1870, the team received new uniforms and achieved a 12-4-1 season. However, the team struggled for the next few years. By 1883, the Tufts team was beginning to gripe about the lack of local media coverage they were receiving. They had been winning consistently, and even beat one opponent so badly that an opposing player left the field during the game with the only game ball, forcing the early cancellation of the match.
Controversies and Breakthroughs
The 1890s brought both challenges and triumphs. By 1890, baseball was beginning to cause controversy between the faculty, the administration, and students. The Tufts faculty was refusing to allow players to cut class for games and would not give special treatment to student-athletes. A year later, the baseball team charged the faculty with interference after they vetoed a team vote for captain. The player elected captain was no longer a student at the college, and the faculty felt it was unethical for the individual to play on the Tufts team. Although reluctant at first, the administration eventually came out in support of the faculty. Despite these issues, the team achieved a significant milestone in 1895, defeating Harvard for the first time, marking a long-awaited victory in their rivalry. The next year, the first inter-fraternity game took place, with the Delta Tau Delta fraternity defeating the Theta Delta Chi team. This game also marked the introduction of cheerleaders at Tufts baseball games.
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The Golden Era (1910-1920)
The period between 1910 and 1920 is considered one of the most successful in the program's history. In 1914, Tufts hired former major league catcher John T. Slattery as coach. Slattery's reputation preceded him, with Boston Braves coach George Stalling praising his extensive baseball knowledge. From 1914 to 1916, Slattery's team achieved an impressive 51-13 record, and the 1916 team produced six All-Americans.
Three members of the 1916 team went on to play in the major leagues. Harold Leland led all college hitters with a .437 average, Heinie Stafford stole twenty-four bases and batted .406 in twenty games, and Horace Ford proved himself to be the premier shortstop in college ball. Stafford went on to play for the New York Giants, and Ford, who graduated in 1918, went on to play major league ball for four different teams in a fifteen-year major league career. After Slattery left Tufts in 1916, Ford served as coach and as the starting shortstop while still an undergraduate. Also during the 1916 season, catcher "Red" Carroll caught his last game for Tufts on a Saturday, and was behind the plate the following Tuesday for the Philadelphia Athletics.
Later Years and Notable Figures
In 1920, Tufts hired another former major leaguer, Ken Nash, to coach the team. Nash coached from 1920 to 1940, serving as a district judge in Massachusetts at the same time. During the twenties, the team was quite successful. In 1927, they posted a 16-4 record and defeated Dartmouth on Class Day and Harvard on Alumni Day. In 1941, however, the baseball program was suspended due to the war, and didn't resume until after the end of the conflict. The post-war team would be the first to play on the new field across from Cousens Gym. For the next five years, the program continued with moderate success, and in 1948 pitcher "Bud" Niles set a Tufts record with twenty-eight wins and three losses in his three varsity seasons. In 1950, the Tufts squad went to the NCAA World Series for the first time ever. They defeated Bradley College, but were beaten by Texas and Washington State. In 1958, Tufts captured its first Greater Boston League title with a 10-4-1 record, and in 1961, the team produced another two major leaguers, Norm Heinze and Joel Kelfer.
Herb Eriksen was named coach of the Tufts squad in 1964 and served until he died of a heart attack in 1974, the morning after Tufts broke a nine-game losing streak. He was replaced by assistant Rick Giachetti, who brought a novel coaching tactic to the Tufts squad. Giachetti made practices more rigorous, concentrating on different skills each day, but still, the team only managed to post a 6-13 record that season. In 1976, Leo Fanning replaced Giachetti as coach, and in 1978 he led the team to a victory in the early spring Florida Tournament. Tufts lost only one game of the tournament; a short game called early due to rain.
The John Casey Era
In 1983, John Casey, A1980, was hired to coach the team. A former manager in the Boston Park League, Casey brought the team some of its greatest success in the history of the program, leading them to the ECAC tournament in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990.
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It was in 1986, however, that Tufts saw some of its most exciting baseball action. On April 6, 1986, pitcher Jeff Bloom pitched a no-hitter against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Seven days later, he repeated the feat against a strong Boston University squad. Finally, on April 19, with major league scouts in attendance, Bloom pitched his third consecutive no-hitter, retiring the first twenty batters before walking what would have been the game's final out. The feat gained national attention, and even earned Bloom coverage on the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.
In 1988, despite a sub-par 14-12 record, the Jumbos managed to be named the last seed in the ECAC tournament and shocked everyone by winning their first two games and advancing to the finals, where they were defeated by Brandeis University. The next year, however, the team rebounded from a 10-9 start to capture the ECAC championship, defeating Wesleyan, Salem State, and Plymouth State in the tournament. Although in the early nineties, the team had a few disappointing seasons, they were able to rebound, winning the ECAC again in 1994, and earning an NCAA tournament berth in 1995. These seasons, along with the 1996 and 1997 season, were highlighted by the pitching of Jeff Taglienti, A1997, who was drafted by the Boston Red Sox.
In the 1996, 1997, and 1998 seasons, the team advanced to the ECAC playoffs, but slumped in 1999 and did not advance to post-season play. The 2000 team, however, set the 136-year-old program's record for wins, posting twenty-six for the season.
Baseball and Academia at Tufts
Tufts got on the bandwagon relatively early, thanks in no small part to Gerald Gill, who was born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1948-the year after Robinson made history with the Dodgers. Gill arrived at Tufts in 1980 as a historian of Black America with a special focus on sports in American history, and for 27 years he opened the minds of thousands of students. Meanwhile, Andy Andres, a statistician at Boston University with a PhD from the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts, had come to the Ex College in 2004 to teach one of the very first college courses on sabermetrics. The next year he took two of his Tufts students-one of them Peter Bendix-to a SABR conference in Toronto, where they presented their research. Those students soon created an extracurricular club called BAT (Baseball Analysis at Tufts) that worked on projects for baseball technology companies. And John Casey, A80, has helped make Tufts a force to be reckoned with on the diamond itself. As head coach of the school’s team for the past 38 years, he has presided over six New England Small College Athletic Conference championships. Five of his players have gone on to professional ball, among them Randy Newsom, A04, who signed with the Red Sox.
So, while there has never been a “baseball major” at Tufts, courses quietly embedded in the liberal arts curriculum and opportunities available outside of it have been gems for those with a love of the game. Significantly, too, the list of Tufts grads who have found a professional niche in baseball is long. Besides Bendix, there’s Matt McGrath, A11, who earned his degree in sociology and moved into a job as assistant director for player development with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Economics degrees are remarkably common among Jumbos who have made their way in the baseball business. Mike DeBartolo, A06, graduated with an economics major, went to business school at Columbia, and wound up incorporating some unconventional independent research-a study of Major League Baseball’s rules for how teams can use their funds during draft season-into his work toward an MBA. Today he’s the Washington Nationals’ assistant general manager for baseball operations. Another economics major, Alex Merberg, A15, spent one of his college years playing baseball himself. Ethan Bein, A17, who majored in quantitative economics and math, wowed the Milwaukee Brewers ballclub with his statistics acumen and was hired by them before he even graduated. He’s currently their senior analyst for baseball research and development. Tufts’ School of Engineering has been represented in the front offices of Major League Baseball as well. And finally there’s the case of Julia Prusaczyk, E18, who loves her work as a baseball development analyst for the St. Louis Cardinals. Who’d have thought it? Probably nobody, and in fact Prusaczyk’s trajectory argues against the very idea of a well-paved career path for one and all. Educating broadly, providing plenty of chances for a change of heart, doesn’t just allow students to follow a dream.
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Legacy
Seventeen former Tufts College (University) ballplayers have made it to the majors. Fred Crolius was the first former Jumbo to make it to the Major League level.
The Tufts Jumbos compete at the NCAA Division III level as a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Like all Division III schools, Tufts does not offer athletic scholarships. The University mascot is named for Jumbo the elephant. P.T. Barnum donated this famous circus animal's stuffed hide to Tufts University, where it was displayed at the P.T. Barnum Hall for many years. The hide was destroyed in a fire in April 1975. The Tufts football program is the oldest in the country. Its first game was played on June 4, 1875 against Harvard which was won by Tufts 1-0.
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