Crimson Joins Seven College Baseball Loop

Harvard and six other local colleges yesterday formed a Greater Boston Baseball League, Ivan Geiger, M.I.T. athletic director and the league's first president, announced last night.

Included in the league, the first such local baseball group, are: Harvard, Boston University, Boston College, Tufts, Northeastern, M.I.T., and Brandeis. Long advocated by several schools, the new league is expected to renew lagging interest and build natural rivalries in a sport which has been poorly supported in recent years.

League games will start in the 1953 season with the exception of one or two members who may only compete in one game because of prior schedule commitments. Full operation of the league with plans for a home-and-home series between all teams will begin in 1954.

Basketball, Track Leagues?

The formation of the local baseball league also points to a possibility of a Greater Boston Basketball League, perhaps in the next year or two. Most of the local schools play each other anyway, and the impetus of league competition might revive spectator interest in the game, Geiger said. He also saw the possibility of forming a Track Conference in the very near future. At present, all the schools, with the exception of Harvard and Brandeis, are members of the New England Hockey League.

Thomas D. Bolles, director of athletics, commented that "it was not a surprising move for Harvard to enter the new league." He added, "The baseball team has had relations with most of the teams in the league for a number of years." Bolles declined to comment on the possibility of joining similar leagues in other sports.

A cutback in the number of Ivy League games the Crimson must play was one of the important factors that allowed the College to enter the league.