Baseball
- Title:
- Robert H.B. Baldwin '42 Head Coach of Baseball
- Email:
- tigerbaseball@princeton.edu
Scott Bradley, the Robert H.B. Baldwin '42 Head Coach of Baseball, starts his 26th season with Princeton in 2024. He currently has a career record the 444-584-2. Bradley has led the Tigers to seven Ivy League titles, seven NCAA tournament appearances and 12 20-win seasons.
Princeton improved to 24 victories in 2023, a turnaround of 17 victories, one of the most in the NCAA. The Tigers finished third in the conference, earning a berth in the Ivy Tournament, reaching the championship game. The Tigers had seven All-Ivy selections highlighted by Scott Bandura and Tom Chmielewski's first team honors.
Bandura was later named All-Region team and was selected in the seventh round of the MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants.
The Tigers had three All-Ivy selections in 2022 in Brendan Cumming, Matt Scannell and Nadir Lewis. Cumming led the Tigers in hitting (.366), setting the new single-season program record with 67 hits.
James Proctor (Cincinnati Reds) and Jake Boone (Washington Nationals) signed professional contracts following the 2020 season.
Princeton improved its win total to 14 in 2019. Earlier that season, Bradley reached the 400-win milestone with a victory over George Mason. David Harding was named All-Ivy while Ryan Smith was picked in the 18th round of the MLB Draft.
Just one season removed from a 7-32 campaign, the 2016 Princeton baseball team won the Ivy League Championship Series and finished with 24 victories. Junior Chad Powers was the first Tiger to win Ivy League Pitcher of the Year since Mike Ford in 2013 while the team's five All-Ivy first team players were the program's most since 2000.
Bradley’s 2011 squad posted a 23-24 overall and was his ninth team to eclipse the 20-win mark. The group also matched a Princeton record with 15 Ivy League wins, equalling the totals of the 2000 and 2003 Ivy Champion teams. Additionally Princeton earned home field for the Ivy League Championship series for the fourth time in program history.
In 2009 the Tigers tied for the Gehrig Division title but lost a one-game playoff at Cornell. The 2008 Tigers won 20 games for the eighth time under Bradley and the first time in four campaigns. Princeton also finished above .500 in league play for the third year in a row.
Bradley crossed the 200-win mark during the 2006 season to become the fourth Princeton baseball coach to register 200 wins. His 2004 squad won an Ivy League championship and were the last Princeton team to win an NCAA tournament game. He has led Princeton to two of its three NCAA tournament wins, against The Citadel in 2001 and Virginia in 2004.
Bradley, who spent nine seasons as a left-handed-hitting catcher in the major leagues for the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, came to Princeton after a year as an assistant coach at Rutgers University. He is a 1982 graduate of the University of North Carolina and an Essex Fells, N.J., native.
Bradley was the second pick of the Yankees (NFL Hall of Famer John Elway was their first pick) in the 1981 draft. He broke into the major leagues wearing Yankee pinstripes in 1984 and stayed in the majors until retiring in 1992. Bradley played 604 games in the big leagues, hitting .257 with 18 home runs and 184 RBIs in 1,648 at-bats. He also played outfield, third base and was a designated hitter. Bradley caught Randy Johnson’s first no-hitter while the two were teammates in Seattle in 1990. Bradley served as a minor league player/coach in the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies organizations after his playing days.
Bradley played college baseball at North Carolina, graduating in 1982. He was named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Team in 2004.
Bradley’s older brother, Bob, was the head coach of Egyptian Men's National Soccer Team and U.S. Men's Soccer National Team (2006-11). He also spent time coaching in Major League Soccer as well as at Princeton, serving for 12 years as the head coach of the men’s soccer team while leading the Tigers to a pair of Ivy League titles and the 1993 College Cup. His younger brother Jeff was a former baseball writer for the Star-Ledger and is founder and owner of the Bradley Baseball Glove Company.
