Friday, August 31, 2012

Scot Hopps '01 Remembers Joe

I’ve got so many thoughts, but so few words. I have had so many emotions, but I’m afraid to share them. As far as I’m concerned, Coach Walsh should still be here – coaching young men and shaping lives.

Looking back on college, it’s the pinnacle of selfishness. I’ve got two beautiful daughters now, which makes me sob with empathy for Coach’s family, my girls make me truly understand what is important. But as an 18-22 year old, at a wonderful school, blessed with the opportunity to play sports and be social and live in a great city, I was consumed with myself. I missed out on things . . .

I thought Coach was consumed with baseball, I thought he was missing the bigger picture, I thought he must have had blinders on. That’s not to say I didn’t appreciate him – he was singlehandedly the most important person associated with Harvard that I (and scores of other young men) knew. No professor will be missed as much as Coach. No advisor, no proctor, no administrator. He invested more time in us than anyone with a doctorate could fathom. He invested more time and effort in his craft than entire departments combined. No exaggeration.

But I missed a lot. I thought that baseball consumed him and I thought he was missing out on what was important. Everyone knows his famous “Concrete Cave” rant, and I figured everyone dismissed it. It was endearing in a Peter Pan way, but everyone knows that for the most part, people grow out of baseball and move on with life. Coach, how could you be so blind?

Have I mentioned that I’m selfish? But over time that has grown into a lot of introspection (who else would I focus on?). Who was the one with blinders? Joe Walsh knew more about my family than I bothered to pay attention to. His first question, literally his first question after “Hey Scotty!” was, “How’s your dad?” He spent more effort in 15 minutes on the phone getting to know the family of a kid who had no chance of attending Harvard or playing baseball beyond a 8th grade level than I did in four years getting to know his family.

I was convinced that Coach was a bit mad. Devoted, passionate, sincere, yes. But nuts. He slept on his couch or the floor most nights. He spent all of his waking and sleeping hours less than 90 feet from his baseball teams. As far as I could tell, this came at the expense of his family. Did I mention I was the one with blinders on? I love re-telling the story that was passed down through generations of Coach Walsh players: “. . . and I’ve got three daughters that I haven’t seen in weeks!” A Suffolk player replies: “Coach, don’t you have four daughters?” Coach’s reply: “You might be right!”

I’m baffled by what I missed, and what I find most fascinating and most memorable about Coach Walsh posthumously. I was tricked. In four years playing for him, in eleven years following the team since, I thought baseball was number one. I thought everything else came when it could. Taxes, car repairs, family. Once baseball was done. Listening to his beautiful family, his quartet of incredible daughters humbled me. What I will remember most from his funeral is what I learned about his family. What I neglected to invest myself in learning as a selfish college kid. What I was too busy to think about as an alumni. What I now am so acutely aware of as a father. His daughters not only felt, but knew that they were number one in his life. His wife knew that she was paramount in his world. I’ve never been more proud to know Coach Walsh than when I learned that I’d been duped.

Everyone who talks to Coach Walsh feels like he or she is his utmost priority. How can he possibly achieve that outcome when he clearly valued his family above all else? How could he teach his girls so many valuable lessons, how could he raise such astonishing women when he spent every moment in uniform. Maybe it wasn’t all my fault, I assume everyone who plays for him feels this way – but his passing made me realize that our team, that all of his teams were not the only thing in his world. Here was a man who invested everything into me, who learned about my family and paid attention to my life after baseball, and I never once asked him about his family. I never once tried to peel back his layers and understand that baseball and his players were only one of his passions. Actually, 6th and 7th on his list after his wife and four daughters.

Have I mentioned that I’m selfish? But I’m not blind. Coach Walsh, in your incredible way, you continue to teach me. If I can aspire to one thing, it is to have my family regard me as half the man your family knew you as. It is to raise my daughters to have half the strength your team of girls has. This tragedy brought things rushing into perspective for me. Coach Walsh didn’t care all that much about baseball. He cared about people that cared about baseball. He cared about parents that cared about baseball. He was first and foremost the most attentive and engaged person I have known or will know. He didn’t care if you hit .500 or .050, he cared how you played the game of life. Did you approach it with vigor, with passion? When you woke up in the morning, did you yell out “Let’s play two!”? Did you inspire others to be better each day?

I wish I had learned more about him in the time we had together, but one reality gives me peace; his family sincerely knew that they were the most important thing to him. And that makes me love and respect the man more than I ever could for baseball alone. Coach Walsh, I will miss you. I will think of you. But most importantly, I will put into action lessons I have learned from you during our time together and now our time apart. If I can emulate one thing, it has got to be holding my family up, at the pinnacle of my world, and ensuring that they know it every day.

Sandra, Tory, Holly, Katie, and Kasey, thank you for sharing your husband and father with us. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know my life is different – my life is better and I am a better man because of him. I don’t know that there are many people that can impact as many lives in such a positive was as he has. I’m not nearly as selfish as I was 11 years ago, and I hope I can find ways to learn more about you all, support you, and follow your respective journeys as you put your mark on the world.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Suffolk University Alumni Magazine

His head slightly bowed, Joe Walsh unhooks his thumbs from his belt and makes the slow walk from the dugout to the pitcher’s mound. On a cloudless spring day, it’s the Harvard University baseball coach’s second trip there, and with a wave of his right arm, he signals the end of starting pitcher Eric Eadington’s day. Three outs away from a win against Ivy League division rival Princeton University, Harvard’s 3-0 lead has evaporated into a 3-3 tie, and Walsh isn’t taking any chances. Coming off a staggering 24-game road trip–and 3-21 record–Walsh is eager for a win back home at O’Donnell Field in Cambridge which, he hopes, can “get things rolling a little bit.”

Unfortunately, things roll off the rails in rapid succession: two pitching changes, a squib of a hit to load the bases, and then an otherwise catchable fly ball lost in the blinding midday sun. Just like that, Princeton has a 5-3 lead, and the Harvard Crimson soon endures another crushing defeat. As the Princeton players exchange congratulatory high-fives (and the PA system inexplicably blasts Hootie and the Blowfish’s sappy song “Let Her Cry”), Walsh rallies his players for the second game of the day’s doubleheader.

“There’s different ways of doing it,” says Walsh of coaching his team through a losing streak. “Sometimes you’ve got to get in their faces a little bit, sometimes you have to hug them. We’ve been trying everything. We’ve had our injuries, but everybody else has, too. We’ve just got to start playing some baseball.”

Harvard will wait another day for their first home victory of the season, captured in dramatic fashion with a walk-off grand slam against Cornell University. More than many, Walsh understands the capricious nature of the game, and the ways it can humble even the most seasoned players.

“A Recipe for Winning”

For most of his 57 years, Walsh has lived a life between the lines, buoyed by an evergreen love for the national pastime. To watch him now on a baseball diamond is to see the working-class Dorchester kid who inherited his father’s love of sports and spent endless weekends shagging flies and peppering line drives across Boston’s sandlots. “In my neighborhood, either you got in trouble or you played ball,” recalls Walsh. “And, for the most part, I played ball.”

As he gives constant, steady instruction to his players, one understands his successes first as a pitcher at Suffolk, and later as the New England Division III Coach of the Year that revived the Rams’ baseball program when he took over in 1982, leading his teams to a 218-167-1 record.
He’s in

his 16th season at Harvard, where he earned his 500th win as a collegiate head coach in 2007, a testament to both his ability and longevity. In 2009, he was inducted into Suffolk’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

After 14 seasons at Suffolk, Walsh became Harvard’s first full-time baseball coach in 1995. His formal title is the Joseph J. O’Donnell ’67 Head Coach for Harvard Baseball; it is an endowed position, like that of a professor. Before Walsh’s arrival in Cambridge, the team had gone 82-102-1 in the previous five years and was coming off a losing season. Two years later, Harvard won the Ivy League title, a feat the Crimson repeated four more times, along with five appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Though the 2011 campaign has seen more heartbreak than wins, Walsh hasn’t allowed the final score to affect his spirit. “The great thing about Coach Walsh is that he’s honestly never down,” says Harvard center fielder Dillon O’Neill. “Whether or not we play well…he’s supportive in all the right ways.” It was O’Neill who lost that fly ball in the sun, allowing Princeton to score the game-winning runs. When O’Neill returned to the dugout, Walsh’s reaction was characteristic. “He didn’t say anything. It’s not his style to get on you,” says the senior, who has played for Walsh for four years. “Coach Walsh would never do anything like that unless you were really out of line.”

Standing in the third base coach’s box during the game, Walsh keeps his eyes focused on the batter at the plate. He periodically claps his hands, encouraging his team: “Let’s go, let’s go!” When designated hitter Marcus Way blasts a two-run homer over the right field wall, Walsh quickly shakes Way’s hand as he rounds the bases, but he never does anything more demonstrative. He respects the game too much to show up his opponents, and knows that until the final pitch is thrown, there is little room for premature celebrations. Yet beneath his understated on-field demeanor is a wealth of passion.

“The intensity he brings to his job everyday is contagious,” says Brendan Byrne, a former Harvard second baseman. “It makes his players have fun and enjoy playing, and usually that’s a recipe for winning.”

No Excuses

A week before the start of the 2011 season, Walsh strolls into “The Bubble,” Harvard’s inflatable indoor practice facility. With his barrel-chested build, closely buzzed hair, and thick forearms sculpted by decades of gripping and swinging a bat, Walsh looks like a baseball coach straight out of Hollywood central casting, and he inhabits the part to perfection. He’s on the field working his team though run-downs (when an offensive player is caught between bases), pick-off moves (when a pitcher tries to catch an opposing player off the base), and fielding bunts—the kinds of plays that rarely make highlight reels. It’s Walsh laying down the bunts, just as it’s the coach in the cage pitching as his players take their cuts. As his pitch count inches beyond 100, the wily southpaw keeps winding up and tossing ’em. When one of his players barely makes contact with his pitch, a fastball that breaks as it ap proaches the plate, Walsh grins and bellows, “The cutter’s still working!”

Though the ground outside is still spackled with the remnants of winter’s snowstorms, in the crack of the back, the velvety thwack of a tossed ball kissing the well-worn pocket of a leather mitt, Walsh hears the symphony of spring, the promise of a fresh start. The Crimson had a 17-26 season in 2010, and though the team was riddled with injuries, Walsh isn’t making excuses. He still wants to face the toughest teams.

“I’ll see a coach from a big school at a convention, and I’ll say something like, ‘When are we gonna play you guys? Have you been ducking us?’” Walsh says. “I like to play hard-nosed ball clubs, teams that have that reputation of playing the game aggressively. I think that’s one of the goals I’ve established here, of having an aggressive, offensive team—stealing bases, running, diving, just taking the field with enthusiasm. Once you get off that bus, it’s game time. I want guys who’ll play until you have to tear the uniform off their backs.”

Along with his passion for the game,
Walsh also brought to Harvard a swagger forged during his 20 years as a player, then coach at Suffolk. As a Division III team, Walsh says Suffolk always played “up,” meaning his players often rose to the level of the competition when matched against favored Division I and II teams. It wasn’t always easy. Unlike some of its well-heeled neighbors on either side of the Charles River, Suffolk’s baseball team didn’t have a field to call home, or its own practice facility. Finding places for the team to practice required perseverance and ingenuity.

“At that time, we were real gypsies,” recalls longtime Suffolk Athletic Director Jim Nelson of the effort to find playing fields. “For us, even home games were away games. Joe thought nothing of going to another Suffolk for practice sessions: he took our team to Suffolk Downs (a horseracing track in East Boston). We’d get the rubber baseballs and go over and have a simulated infield in the parking lot. He was quite creative.”

Suffolk’s baseball team even had T-shirts made with the slogan, “No Field. No Cage. No Problem.” Walsh groomed his team to use the lack of facilities as a rallying cry, rather than a setback. “We nicknamed ourselves ‘The Mutts’ and that really brought the team together. When I got to Harvard, and they had all these facilities, it was like I had died and gone to heaven.” Yet despite the plush amenities, Walsh has instilled in his Harvard players the same no-excuses attitude that propelled Suffolk baseball teams to great success during his tenure.

“It’s easy to make excuses when you’re playing in a cold-weather environment and playing a Division I schedule at an academically challenging school. But for him, excellence breeds excellence,” says Christopher Mackey, a former Harvard outfielder whom Walsh coached for four years. “He’s not going to make excuses for his teams, and they respond to that. I think that’s why his teams have been successful.”

Philosopher/Coach

Byrne, who played for Walsh for four years, first met the coach when Walsh was hosting a summer baseball clinic at Harvard for kids. Like Walsh, Byrne grew up in Dorchester, and felt “an immediate connection” to the coach. “I went to his camp when I was 10, and from that point on I always wanted to play for the guy,” he recalls. “You could put Coach Walsh in an equipment room with bats and balls, and he’d still have fun so long as it had anything to do with baseball.”

It’s always been that way for Walsh, the oldest child of a Boston police officer and a secretary. When he was a boy, Walsh was befriended by a local man named Jake who would show up at the park with “a bat bag over his back and a bunch of brand new balls, looking for any kids who wanted to play. He was just a guy who loved to play, and that was a big motivation for me,” Walsh says. “We would play every Saturday and Sunday, as soon as the fields were cleared [of snow] right up to the end of October. I can remember with Jake, he was like 60 years old, and after four hours of chasing up and down behind balls, I always had to be the first one to say, ‘Hey, let’s wrap it up today.’ I was really lucky to have a guy like that. We’d sit and talk baseball for hours.”

After high school, Walsh became the first in his family to attend college, and Suffolk offered him a small baseball scholarship. He thought about majoring in math, but soon made a surprising choice. “I met someone, when I was being pushed to make a decision about a major, who was in counseling, and they had a philosophy degree. In a conversation, she told me it was a good background for counseling. And I started thinking ahead, thinking about counseling, sports, and working with kids. So I majored in philosophy.”

He also immersed himself in Suffolk sports. “From the time I met him, I was struck by his enthusiasm for life, which certainly translated to how he behaved as a competitor,” Nelson says. “He was best known as a baseball player for us, but he also competed in cross-country, played some basketball, and was also team manager in basketball. He had a great passion for whatever activity he was involved in.”

When he wasn’t competing or attending class, Walsh was juggling jobs, including working for the late Lou Connelly, then Suffolk’s director of sports information and public relations. After graduating from Suffolk, Walsh knew he wanted a career in sports. He traveled around the country, landing in San Diego, where he became an office equipment salesman. Then came the call from an old mentor that changed his life.

“I had wonderful respect for him as a student athlete, and he had values I wanted to see represented here at the University by our student athletes. I also thought he could play that role as mentor to students here,” says Nelson, who had stayed in touch with Walsh after he graduated. “When I offered him the coaching position here, he refused it. He was talking about taking another position with a program that worked with handicapped and mentally disabled individuals. What I said to him was ‘I think what you want to do is noble, and I won’t discourage you from doing that, but I think here at your alma mater, you have a role to play as well.’ I gave him a weekend to think about it—and I’m sure that as a philosopher he really thought about it—and he came back and said he wanted to return to Suffolk.”

Walsh also coached women’s basketball, both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams, and was the director of the intramural sports program. Walsh even planned his March 1, 1986 marriage to his wife, Sandra, with whom he now has four daughters in New Hampshire, around the Suffolk sports calendar. “Well, basketball ended [February] 28th, and I could take the next day off,” he says with a hearty laugh. “We had a short honeymoon, then she dropped me off at the Cambridge Y for baseball practice.”

After 14 seasons at Suffolk, Walsh was eager to be a single-sport coach and to test himself in Division I, the highest competitive level in college athletics, though leaving his alma mater wasn’t an easy decision. In 1995, his final season at Suffolk, the team finished the season with a stellar 26-11 record and made it to the Eastern Conference Athletic Conference finals. To top it off, Walsh had been named New England Division III Coach of the Year. That summer, while Walsh was coaching in the Cape Cod League, he went to see Bill Cleary, Harvard’s athletic director at the time. He knew the university was in need of a new baseball coach. “I said to him, ‘Coach, nobody wants this job more than me. I want this job,’” Walsh says. “Next thing I know, my references were being called.” One of those references was Suffolk’s Nelson, a longtime friend of Cleary’s.

“Bill was going out on a limb in selecting someone who was a Division III coach, regardless of how successful he had been,” Nelson says. “He asked my thoughts on Joe and I said, ‘You will not be disappointed. He will put his heart and soul into the job.’ I knew [Walsh’s] time had come. I knew he had achieved many of the goals he had established here and he wanted to do baseball full-time.”

After a lengthy search, Walsh was hired, but the transition was also bittersweet. “I can still remember when I got in that room to say goodbye to that team,” Walsh says about leaving Suffolk. “I had tears in my eyes, and when I left I walked all the way down to Park Street station, sat on a bench, and lost it. I was overwhelmed. I wasn’t sure it was the right thing because I was such a fit [at Suffolk].”

Now he’s not just a fit at Harvard; he’s become a fixture. Though his team’s 2011 season has been difficult, Walsh understands the vagaries of the game, and how a well-timed rally or a pitch that paints a corner for a needed strikeout can turn a streak from cold to hot. What he never doubts is

his team’s desire to play hard. His players, in turn, recognize the same quality in him. “I think everyone on the team really appreciates his willingness to work through a tough season,” O’Neill says. “It does incentivize us to work harder when we see him showing up every day with a positive, constructive attitude.”

When he first started coaching at Suffolk, Walsh’s mother needled him about finding “a real job.” Later, his father-in-law posed the same question. “To them, it wasn’t a real job; I was just out there playing.” More than 30 years later, Walsh remains a man hard at play–and he wouldn’t want it any other way. “The more you learn, the more you realize you still have to learn,” he says. “After all these years, I’m still just a guy who loves the game.”

Feldman Article - Harvard Crimson

Click Here for the Article: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/7/31/harvard-walsh-remembered-for-dedication-to-harvard-baseball/

Herrmann Remembers Walsh

Herrmann remembers former college coach

By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | 07/31/12 9:30 PM ET

KANSAS CITY -- Frank Herrmann will always remember Joe Walsh as a friend and a person who played a key role in his path to the big leagues. That is why the pitcher was incredibly saddened when he learned Tuesday that the Harvard baseball coach had passed away.

"He was awesome," said Herrmann, who pitched for the Indians the past two seasons and is now with Triple-A Columbus. "He always told me, every time I talked to him, how proud he was of me, that he could say he coached a guy in the Major Leagues. He was great. I was upset this morning and shocked."

Walsh, 58, died suddenly in his home on Tuesday morning. He spent 17 years as Harvard's baseball coach, leading the team to five Ivy League titles in his tenure. Herrmann, who became the 16th player from Harvard to reach the big leagues when he broke in with Cleveland in 2010, said Walsh was the reason he chose to attend the university.

"He took a chance on me," Herrmann said. "I'm a guy who didn't get any Division I scholarship offers. He committed to me early. It's the only school I applied to and a lot of that was him. Obviously, it was Harvard, but meeting him and getting to know him -- my dad and I went up for a visit -- I instantly loved Coach Walsh."

Herrmann said Walsh convinced the pitcher to hold tight to his dream of reaching the Majors.

"I remember my freshman year, I thought about hanging it up," Herrmann recalled. "I was thinking about hanging it up, and just going down the economics course and working on Wall Street. He told me he saw something in me and to keep plugging away. And then I remember my sophomore year, I was throwing a bullpen and he told me I just went from suspect to prospect."

"He was such a good guy and he meant a lot to me," he later added. "He was a one-of-a-kind guy. I think anyone that knows him would say that."

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

An exceptional piece by Kurt Svoboda Harvard U.

August 1, 2012

Joe Walsh, Life Lessons and my Son

Pictured: My son, Jaxon, looks at the memorial left for Joe Walsh near his familiar third base coaching box.
Note: It is nearly 4 a.m. as I finish putting these thoughts on paper. What I have below is no doubt poorly-written; it is raw, unedited, it's the best I am capable of right now. Our staff doesn't often pen by-line pieces as we prefer to work behind-the-scenes and supply information to quality storytellers. This isn't about a quality piece however, an is not meant for the headline section of GoCrimson.com. What it is about is the rush of emotions during a contrasting day of providing that behind-scenes information while also needing an outlet for my personal sadness. I don't write this for publicity purposes. I write it mostly for myself as well as to connect with others who have been positively and profoundly impacted by having known Joe Walsh. If you have stories, photos, anything that you wish to share about Joe and his amazing interactions with others, feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing your stories.

-by Kurt Svoboda, Assistant Athletic Director

The morning of July 31, 2012 came crashing down as I received word that our baseball coach and dear friend Joe Walsh had suddenly passed. No doubt his wonderful family was hit harder than I. For those close to Harvard athletics and baseball at all levels, the world is considerably less bright than it was just a few hours ago.

As I distributed media information and connected rapidly with the digital world socially, I disconnected with everyone near my office door, which was shut more today than perhaps all year combined. I wept softly and intermittently throughout the day while working as I reflected on Joe's family and the feeling of profound loss surrounding anyone close to the game of baseball.

At one point in the afternoon, a former player, Dan Zailskas delivered an impromptu memorial to O'Donnell Field. Seventy rose buds forming a number "2" to commemorate Joe's chosen uniform moniker and a Harvard baseball hat with a note written under the visor. It was a fitting tribute coming from a player who embodied the hard-nosed style reflected by so many of Joe's players. Throughout the day, numerous people came to pay their respects and this is where I choose to write this disjointed piece.

As tough of a day as it was in the office, I had an absolute obligation to meet in picking up my nearly 19-month old son, Jaxon, from daycare. As late afternoon approached, I hadn't yet had an opportunity to see the roses at O'Donnell Field and because of that, I departed feeling somehow even worse than I had in the immediate hours of the tragic news.

On my way to get Jaxon, trying to compose myself, I was overcome with the need to see those roses – and the thought that Jaxon needed to see them too. I needed my toddler to see how much one person meant to so many.

Joe Walsh was an amazing man in nearly all facets of life. I know a lot of coaches and, while I stay away from words such as 'always' and 'never,' I will never again know a coach who rides the emotions of wins and losses in the way that Joe did. Each loss ate away at his very fiber.

I recall a particularly tough loss several years ago… in the communications field, we are in the office for lengthy amounts of time before and after games. It is routine for members of my staff to be the last ones out of the complex on game days with everyone else having departed hours earlier as we work on writing releases, editing videos, updating statistics, media and websites. On this day we were having all sorts of computer problems and I didn't leave until 3.5 hours following the end of the day's doubleheader. I walked past the baseball field and was surprised – and not at all surprised – to see Joe Walsh sitting by himself on the top of the dugout bench. Still in uniform. Sitting there, staring at the field. I am talking almost complete darkness after a 12-hour day preceded by his lengthy commute from his home in New Hampshire. I didn't' stop to talk as I went by and I know for a fact that he didn't see me. We had had that conversation numerous times before and had it again at that moment without needing to speak.

Joe loved good baseball, win or lose. He loved the perfectly-executed suicide squeeze, hit-and-run, the pickoff play on the trail runner and bunt defense. He just loved the nuances of the game. Of course he loved baseball all the more when winning, which he did 569 times. But he came as close to dying as a person can with every loss and I do not say that lightly. To use a tired cliché, he wore his heart on his sleeve and he nearly died 564 times in his coaching tenure. On a lighter note, Joe was a baseball purest and what most likely tore at him the most were the three ties associated with his all-time coaching ledger. A tie in baseball? Come on. I can see him cringing and then chuckling at that last part.

Now about those last two paragraphs - they don't matter in the least. While wins and losses mounted on both sides and Joe rode that rollercoaster, in the game of life he was the undefeated exemplification of humanitarian, educator, family man and friend. He cared for others, advocated for his players in placing them with summer baseball teams around the country; he spoke of his family often and, when asking how someone was doing, he was actually interested in the answer. Imagine that.

I've known Joe since I was a kid going to baseball clinics on Cape Cod and I was heartily amused at the prospect of working alongside him when coming to Harvard in August of 2005. We always had baseball in common and spoke often about issues surrounding the game in his typically animated fashion. I loved his stories and, when I say he had a million stories, he had more than that. He had more connections to the baseball world and he retained every piece of information - every backstory with an indescribable zeal. He was pure comedy and I won't attempt to do him any justice in that realm.

After meeting my now-wife, Joanna, he always asked about her first, amused at the sudden cultural addition to my world with Joanna being a classical flutist. When our son was born, each interaction began with "how's my man, JAXON? How's my next shortstop doing? When are we goin' to the cage for some BP?" Joe's interest in Jaxon was as genuine as anyone in my immediate family and he insisted on seeing Jaxon every time we brought him to the athletic complex. I recall one visit to see Joe at the baseball field before a practice. Jaxon was not in top form, crying the entire time – and Joe just ate it up, immersing himself in the joy of an infant's development.

I am so deeply sad for Jaxon that he won't grow up with Joe's encouragement, cagey wisdom and lessons about the important things in life – writing hand-written notes, seeking out tough conversations in-person and putting one's heart into every endeavor.

I had to give Jaxon one last moment with "the Deuce" on his baseball field – even knowing that Jaxon didn't understand. We stood by the makeshift memorial. Earlier in the day, assistant coach and former player Morgan Brown had moved the baseball hat onto a tee because the wind had been blowing the cap around. Jaxon picked up a rose. "RED!" Jaxon loves flowers so that was a hit. I explained why the flowers were here and we then walked around, letting Jaxon go barefoot so that he could enjoy the grass on his little feet. Joe would have chuckled at his path from first-to-third.

After walking for a while, Jaxon motioned that he wanted to be picked up, which is a rarity for my independent little guy. We then had one of those amazing father-son moments; as his little eyes studied mine, I knew that he understood my utter sadness in that moment contrasted by my deep outward affection toward him. He leaned-in for an exceptionally rare hug. And then another and another. And then he grabbed my head with both hands and pulled it gently to his forehead. And with that we smiled at each other and carried on, headed for a father-son dinner.

I don't care what activities my son chooses to participate in as he develops and grows. Right now he will be a salsa music-playing botanist and that's just fine with me. Whatever endeavors with which he chooses to engage, I wish him only to do with a degree of passion that Joe Walsh brought every day – both to his profession and to what truly matters in life – people and relationships.

An International Tribute...

Jeff Stoeckel '07 wearing #2 before the French Semi-Final Baseball Game (August 4, 2012 outside Paris, France).

A story from the archives on Jeff - Jeff Stoeckel '07 Story Link - Click Here

Coach Walsh's Peers React - from College Baseball Insider

Harvard head coach Joe Walsh passes away

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

@roadtoomaha

Harvard head coach Joe Walsh died suddenly this morning at his home in Chester, N.H.

“He was a long-time friend and colleague going back to Boston Park League days,” said Northeastern head coach Neil McPhee. “He was an excellent coach and ‘baseball guy.’ He was part of the ‘heart & soul’ of New England college baseball, who was as loyal a friend as anyone could wish for. Harvard has endured a tremendous loss, and we will all miss him greatly!”

Walsh was head coach for the Crimson for 17 seasons, capturing five Ivy League titles and earning five NCAA tourney bids. Over the years, Harvard earned victories over Miami (Fla.), Notre Dame and Oklahoma State. Walsh led Harvard to a 36-12 season in 1998, with wins over Tulane and Nicholls State in the NCAA South II Regional in Baton Rouge, La. The Crimson was ranked No. 24 in the final national poll. Over the past 17 campaigns, Walsh led Harvard to a record of 204-136 (.600) in Ivy League action.

After graduating from Catholic Memorial High School in the West Roxbury area of Boston in 1971, Walsh played collegiate baseball at Suffolk University and earned his degree in 1976.

His first head coaching position came at Suffolk for the 1981 season. Walsh coached there for 15 years before moving to Harvard in 1996. Walsh was inducted into the Suffolk Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

Walsh posted a career mark of 569-564-3 in 32 seasons as a head coach. He was named Northeast Region Division I Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association in 1997 and 1998.

“Joe was the ultimate baseball guy,” said Princeton head coach Scott Bradley, “had a passion for the game unlike many others.”

Walsh was head coach of the Brewster Whitecaps in the Cape Cod League in 1988. He also assisted the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox and Wareham Gatemen. Walsh often threw batting practice at Fenway Park.

Walsh leaves behind a wife, Sandra, and four daughters: Tory, Holly, Katie and Kasey.

Bob Whalen, Dartmouth head coach

"This is a huge loss for Ivy League, and New England baseball, and to everyone in this profession that knew him. Every Harvard team I ever coached against was a perfect reflection of their coach: talented, well-prepared, incredibly competitive, and passionate about both winning and Harvard University. Joe was an excellent coach and did a great deal to elevate respect nationally for Ivy League baseball by the way his teams played. We are all somewhat diminished with his passing".

Mike Stone, Massachusetts head coach

"I'm deeply sorry to learn of the sudden passing of Coach Joe Walsh. He was a great competitor on the field and an outstanding mentor/coach for his players. The fraternity of college baseball coaches will miss his fire."

John Cole, Penn head coach

“I enjoyed playing against Joe's teams. He was always excited about playing and was a guy I enjoyed talking to before the game. He would be straight up and always be truthful in what he was saying. He always wanted to have more baseball time within the league. He was very passionate about playing and recruiting. I will miss interacting with Joe. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and team.”

Paul Keyes, VCU head coach

“Joe was a great baseball and family man, always very friendly but at the same time very competitive. We lost a great educator and man.”

John Stuper, Yale head coach

"Joe and I were friends. We were as friendly as a Harvard and Yale coach can be. I will miss him terribly. He ALWAYS had his team ready to play. He loved the game, he loved his kids and he loved Harvard. In my view, he was as good an "in game" coach as I have ever coached against. Joe would be the first to tell you that he wasn't about the paperwork in the office. He was about the game. We had a nice visit at a recruiting event in Ft Myers earlier in the summer and I'm glad that I had that opportunity. In 2003, we had a tragic accident here at Yale when two of my players were killed. Joe was one of the first of my colleagues to reach out. When we played them, he presented me with a bat signed by all his players in honor of my two kids. I still have it. It is one of my prized possessions. College baseball, Boston, Harvard, and anyone who came in contact with him is much poorer for his loss."

Todd Carroll, MIT assistant coach (coached at Harvard 2006-07)

“People will talk about the things he did in baseball, and there are so many accomplishments. But Coach Walsh was so much more than that. He was the same guy whether he was talking to a Kennedy or the guy that made his coffee that morning. A great father, friend, and mentor, all of us that knew him are better people because of it.”

Hal Carey '99 Remembers Joe Walsh

From the Catholic Memorial Website:

Hal Carey News Item

Hal Carey '95: Tribute to a fallen Knight

8/2/2012

On July 31, Harvard University baseball coach Joe Walsh, a 1971 Catholic Memorial graduate, died. He was 58. Hal Carey '95 offers this remembrance.

I had the pleasure of playing four years for Joe while at Harvard in the late 1990s. His unbridled enthusiasm and passion for the game were contagious. I will remember the many things he taught me about baseball, but even more so, I will recall that ever-present, infectious smile, and how happy he was every day he was on a ball field.

Joe was like an eight-year old on that field. His appreciation for his “dream job” was always evident, and he once boasted that he would still be on the ball field while his players would soon be “pushing a pencil in a concrete cave.”

I got to know Joe more personally after graduation. Every summer, I would escape the concrete cave to work at his baseball camps. Joe had tremendous presence, and was a great storyteller, and he often became the center of attention upon entering a room. Many of his best stories involved his days at Catholic Memorial. He loved his time at CM and continued to be passionate about CM. Even a week before his death, at his camp, he good-naturedly teased a couple of middle school students from BC High by bellowing the first line of the CM fight song – “Stand up and cheer for CM.”

Today, we remember a man whose time on Earth came to an end too soon. Today, we stand up and cheer for Joe Walsh. ~Hal Carey ‘95

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FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE Globe Article Link - Hal Carey on Walsh

Needham native Hal Carey remembers Harvard coach Joe Walsh

By Marvin Pave Globe Correspondent / August 16, 2012

Former star player remembers longtime Harvard coach Walsh

Hal Carey will always remember Harvard baseball coach Joe Walsh for his big smile, firm handshake, and a passion for the game that Carey, a former Crimson baseball captain, now brings to the diamond as the varsity coach at Catholic Memorial School.

“And definitely for his Boston accent,’’ said Carey, a Needham native.

Walsh, who coached Harvard for 17 years, died July 31 at his home in Chester, N.H., at age 58.

“When Joe was hired by Harvard in December of my freshman year, I was an ‘unofficial’ translator for the players from out of state who had to get used to the way he spoke, because Joe was Dorchester Park through and through,’’ said Carey, who has worked since his college days as an instructor at Walsh’s baseball camps. Carey flourished under Walsh’s tutelage.

“Joe’s biggest influence on me was his approach to the game,” he said. “He was enthusiastic and positive and he definitely wanted it done his way, but he would never show up or embarrass one of his players.”

The Ivy League’s Rookie of the Year in 1996, the first Harvard player so honored, Carey was a two-time second-team all-league selection for the Crimson.

“I loved playing for Joe and so did my teammates,” said Carey, who now lives in Westwood and is also a vice principal at the West Roxbury high school. “He didn’t have many rules, but he wanted you to respect the game. Like Joe, I have my players bunt, steal, and put pressure on the defense.”

Carey’s 2009 and 2010 baseball teams reached the Division 1 South sectional finals.

Playing second and third base for Harvard, Carey hit .374 as a junior in 1998. He also played in the all-star game for New England collegians at Fenway Park, and starred for several years in the Boston Park League.

Carey holds Harvard career records for hits (208), doubles (46), and stolen bases (63). He helped the Crimson win three Ivy League titles and advance to the NCAA Division 1 regionals.

His father, Dick, head baseball coach at Christopher Columbus High in Boston in the 1980s, knew Walsh years before his son enrolled at Harvard. “Four decades ago I had the pleasure of playing baseball with Joe at Dorchester Park, where we both learned how the game should be played from a mutual mentor, Ray “Jake” Sheridan, and Joe was the teacher’s prize pupil,’’ recalled the elder Carey, who still resides in Needham. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Hal’s career would not have been as good nor as enjoyable had he played for any other coach.’’

Walsh, who graduated from Catholic Memorial in 1971, compiled a 569-564-3 coaching record at the college level, with the first 15 years at his alma mater, Suffolk University.

Remembering Joe Walsh #2