The Fordham Rams baseball team of Fordham University in New York City has been in existence since its first game played against the now-defunct St. Francis Xavier College in Manhattan, the first collegiate baseball game played with nine-man teams as today. The team's 4,417 wins as of the 2017 season are the most of any NCAA Division I baseball team. This is mainly because Fordham began playing baseball well before many collegiate baseball powers took up the sport. For example, Texas, currently second on the all-time wins list, did not field a baseball team until 1894, 34 years after Fordham. Nonetheless, the Rams heavily stress their status as the winningest program in college baseball history in recruiting. The Rams have reached six NCAA Tournaments, most recently in 2019.
History
Founded in the late 1850s, the Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club of St. John's College played against St. Francis Xavier College in the first ever college baseball game under modern nine-man-team rules on November 3, 1859. There have been 56 major leaguers who have played for Fordham, including All-Star pitcher Pete Harnisch and Baseball Hall of FamerFrankie Frisch. Frisch, a star athlete in four different sports at Fordham, was known as the "Fordham Flash". Steve Bellán, a Cuban who attended what was then St. John's College from 1863 to 1868, played in the major leagues, primarily as a third baseman, and was the first Latin American in professional baseball. Gil McDougald, who played for the New York Yankees, was a coach on the team. Announcer Vin Scully, who played outfield at Fordham before achieving greater fame in the broadcast booth, hit one home run in his Fordham career, which included a game against George H.W. Bush who was playing for Yale University. Fordham's most recent Hall of Fame inductee class in 2012 included a member of the baseball team, Bob Cole. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the team's first game, Fordham played Williams College, which was also celebrating its sesquicentennial of baseball play. University President Joseph M. McShane, who had conceived of the anniversary game, threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the game. Williams had lost to Amherst CollegeJuly 1, 1859 and considered the first college baseball game under the now defunct Massachusetts rules, losing 73-32.
