Harvard's baseball coach Joe Walsh dies suddenly at 58

He coached for the past 17 seasons and won five Ivy League championships.

Joe Walsh

Head baseball coach Joe Walsh died suddenly at his Chester, N.H., home early on July 31.

Walsh, 58, served proudly in his self-professed “dream job” for the past 17 seasons, winning five Ivy League championships. He played baseball at Suffolk University, where he assumed his first head-coaching job in the 1980-81 season. He came to Harvard in 1996 as the first full-time, endowed baseball coach, a position funded by former player (and now Harvard Corporaton member) Joseph J. O’Donnell ’67, M.B.A. ’71.

Walsh’s college coaching record is 569-564-3, including the Crimson record 1998 season of 36-12. He is survived by his wife, Sandra, and their four daughters.

Related topics

You might also like

FAS Cuts Science Ph.D. Admissions By Half

Backing off plans for more drastic reductions, the division still faces a long-term deficit.

Harvard Divinity School Sets New Priorities

After two years of turmoil, Dean Marla Frederick describes a more pluralistic future for the institution’s culture and curriculum.

From Jellyfish to Digital Hearts

How Harvard researchers are helping to build a virtual model of the human heart

Most popular

What Trump Means for John Roberts’s Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

The Life of a Harvard Spy

Richard Skeffington Welch’s illustrious—and clandestine—career in the CIA

This Harvard Scientist Is Changing the Future of Genetic Diseases

David Liu has pioneered breakthroughs in gene editing, creating new therapies that may lead to cures.

Explore More From Current Issue

Three book covers displayed on a light background, featuring titles and authors.

Must-Read Harvard Books Winter 2025

From aphorisms to art heists to democracy’s necessary conditions 

A person walks across a street lined with historic buildings and a clock tower in the background.

Harvard In the News

A legal victory against Trump, hazing in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and kicking off a Crimson football season with style