As pitchers and catchers begin reporting to spring training for another baseball season, a former Harvard player will be among their ranks.
Frank Herrmann ’06, who made his major league debut on June 4, 2010, for the Cleveland Indians, will look to improve on a 4.03 ERA from his rookie season. The second-year pitcher is the first Crimson player to reach the big leagues since Jeff Musselman ’85 took the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1986.
Frank Herrmann ’06 began his major league career with the Cleveland Indians on June 4 with 1.1 hitless innings against the Chicago White Sox and one strikeout against former Indian Omar Vizquel. The right-handed reliever was called up by the Tribe just that morning from Triple-A Columbus and earned the hold in Chicago in the evening.
Herrmann is Harvard's first major league player since southpaw pitcher Jeff Musselman ’85 retired in 1990.
Junior Sam Franklin, shown here in action from Sunday’s twinbill against Brown, had an impressive day at the plate. He hit 5-8 and led the team with seven RBI. The Crimson took both games from the Bears yesterday in a doubleheader that was pushed back due to Saturday’s rains.
Weekend after weekend, split after split, I’ve harped the Harvard baseball team’s need to do better than 2-2 if it wants to make it to the Ivy League Championship series. This still holds true, but despite trudging through the Ancient Eight schedule with its consistently inconsistent brand of play, the Crimson still has a chance to win the Rolfe Division.
This weekend Harvard faces division leader Dartmouth in the two teams’ annual home and away series, and while the Crimson sits three games behind the Big Green and one behind second-place Brown, the boys from Cambridge aren’t down for the count just yet. If Harvard sweeps Dartmouth and Brown goes 2-2 or worse, the Crimson will emerge as one of the most unlikely dark horse division champions in recent history.
If you ask me, the top three American landmarks, in no particular order, are the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, and…Fenway Park. Few people ever get the opportunity to experience the Green Monster in person. I am now one of those lucky few, as I was on-hand for MLB’s national Jackie Robinson Day on April 16.
It's a do-or-die weekend for Harvard baseball—but it will need help to make a run for a Rolfe Division title.
In the cruel world that is the Ivy League baseball schedule, the winds of fortune are unpredictable. One weekend set of doubleheaders can turn a last-place loser into a contender, while at the same time derailing a promising championship run with ruthless efficiency.
Consider the Rolfe Division standings. Before this past weekend, Brown sat securely in the driver’s seat, boasting a 6-2 league record and cruising on its way to the Rolfe title with a scuffling Harvard squad on deck. But the Bears could only muster a four-game split with the Crimson, and in the Ivy League, splits kill.
