The Yale Bulldogs baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Yale UniversityinNew Haven, Connecticut, United States.[2] The team is a member of the Ivy League, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. Yale's first baseball team was fielded in 1864. The team plays its home games at Bush FieldinNew Haven, Connecticut. The Bulldogs are coached by Brian Hamm.
Yale Bulldogs
Founded
1864 (1864)
University
Head coach
Brian Hamm (2nd season)
Conference
Location
Home stadium
George H. W. Bush Field
(Capacity: 6,200)
Nickname
Colors
Yale blue and white[1]
College World Series runner-up
1947, 1948
College World Series appearances
1947, 1948
NCAA Tournament appearances
1947, 1948, 1981, 1992, 1993, 2017
Regular season conference champions
EIBL: 1932, 1937, 1946, 1947, 1956,
1957, 1981, 1992
Ivy: 1993, 1994, 2017
The Yale Bulldogs Baseball program was founded in 1868 as a team to compete with Harvard baseball.[3] Yale played its first baseball game on September 30, 1865 against Wesleyan College; Yale won 30 to 12.[4] On July 23, 1868, Yale played its first championship game as an invitational against Harvard University, in which it lost 25–17. On June 5, 1869, Harvard visited Brooklyn and defeated Yale 41–24. Harvard would continue to dominate Yale in the Ivy League baseball conference, but Yale won two games in 1874.[5]
In 1928, Yale Field was built to house the Yale baseball program. Yale's first game in their new stadium was played in 1928 against the Eastern League New Haven Professionals. The first pitch was thrown by Mayor Tower of New Haven. The result of the game was a 12–0 shutout by the road team.[6]
Major leaguers pitcher Craig Breslow (Oakland A's and Boston Red Sox) and catcher Ryan Lavarnway (Boston Red Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers), among others, played baseball for the Bulldogs. Breslow led the Ivy League with a 2.56 ERA in 2002.[7] Lavarnway led the NCAA in batting average (.467) and slugging percentage (.873) in 2007, set the Ivy League hitting-streak record (25), and through 2010 held the Ivy League record in career home runs (33).[8] In August 2012, Breslow and Lavarnway, playing for the Red Sox, became the first Yale grads to be Major League teammates since 1949, and the first All-Yale battery in the major leagues since 1883.[9] In September 2016 the two were again battery-mates, this time playing for Team Israel in the qualifiers for the 2017 World Baseball Classic.[10]
Bob Davis pitched for Yale and then pitched in Major League Baseball in 1958 and 1960. Yale has had 35 Major League Baseball Draft selections since the draft began in 1965.[11]
Bulldogs in the Major League Baseball Draft
Year
Player
Round
Team
Edward Goldstone
8
Steve Greenberg
17
Robert Corcoran
29
25
1
David Verduzco
35
Scott Eidle
53
Manny Patel
30
Blair Hodson
19
Keith Pelatowski
28
Dan Lock
2
Dave Feuerstein
33
Dan Thompson
22
Tommy Kidwell
33
Eric Gutshall
30
Ben Johnstone
26
Todd Kasper
15
Tony Coyne
23
Jon Steitz
3
26
Matt McCarthy
21
Josh Sowers
10
Jon Hollis
38
Marc Sawyer
15
Steven Gilman
36
Brian Irving
17
6
Brandon Josselyn
25
Trygg Danforth
49
Gant Elmore
49
Brook Hart
23
Charlie Neil
37
Nolan Becker
11
Pat Ludwig
10
Rob Cerfolio
34
