During his 46-year coaching career, head baseball coach Bob Babb, A&S ’77, has led the Blue Jays to the NCAA Division III World Series five times. He’s the winningest active coach in Division III baseball with a .729 winning percentage, and he was inducted into both the Johns Hopkins and American Baseball Coaches Association Halls of Fame.
But, as of the conclusion of the 2025 season, his next baseball-related task is to organize his collection of more than 200,000 baseball cards.
Babb is retiring this year after 51 years with Hopkins baseball as both player and coach. His Blue Jay career started as a student in 1973. He played baseball for four years, was a student athletic trainer, and helped with the football and basketball teams.
His initial plan after graduation was to enroll in law school, but he needed to earn some money first. Having earned a teaching certificate while at Hopkins, he began teaching social studies at a local high school. At the same time, he was asked to come back to the Hopkins baseball team as an assistant coach, which was the beginning of the end of his law school plan.
“That’s when I decided I wanted to be a coach,” says Babb, who became the head coach of the baseball team in 1980.
Babb attributes his longevity with the team to three things: the support of his wife, the enjoyment he gets from the people with whom he works, and his love of the game.
“I grew up the son of a baseball coach. I always went to his high school practices and games. I played baseball every day in the summer. The love of the sport really grew,” Babb says. “I’m also a very competitive person, and I love being in situations where we compete.”
Babb’s love of baseball and skill for competition and strategy have made a strong impression on players throughout his career.
“It was energizing playing for Bob because he showed up expecting to win,” Bill Stromberg, A&S ’82, recalls. “He had a real knack for understanding how to compete, how to find a weakness in the other team and exploit it. It got everyone fired up to be there for practice and games because you always had a chance to win.”
“He just has an innate sense of the sport, and I think that’s the thing that has stuck out to me most on the field,” says current second baseman Jimmy Stevens, A&S ’24, Bus ’25 (MS). “We are the most prepared team by far. He does more studying than any coach that we’ll play. He works harder than any coach that I’ve ever been around.”
That hard work and diligent study has paid off, both in the Blue Jays’ wins and, according to current pitcher Kieren Collins, Engr ’23, ’25 (MS), an uncanny ability to predict what opposing players will do next.
“I remember my sophomore year, we picked a guy off at second base because Coach Babb called a very specific sequence when he saw the runner was getting jumpy,” Collins says. “And we came back to the dugout after we got the pick, and one of the upperclassmen was like, ‘That kid just got so Babbed.’”
While Babb’s legacy has been secured in winning records and in the naming of Babb Field at Stromberg Stadium on the Homewood Campus, there is still one more thing he would like to leave for future baseball teams: two fully funded assistant coach positions.
“When I was asked what I would like Hopkins to do to commemorate my career, I said I would like to have my full-time assistant coach positions endowed,” Babb says. “Right now, myself and Blue Jays Unlimited have to raise the money for my assistant coaches. I’ve been able to do that over the years with the wonderful support from former players, parents, and friends, but I’m not sure the new coach will have that same ability to fundraise.”
Stromberg and fellow former player and Assistant Coach Craig Brooks, A&S ’86, are helping to raise $2.5 million to endow these coaching positions. They both agree that funding these positions is essential to continuing the tradition of excellence Babb has built over nearly five decades. As of the beginning of May, they’ve raised almost $1 million.
“To put those two endowed coaching positions in place for the next coach would be a tremendous advantage and hopefully continue the legacy of winning baseball here,” Brooks says. “It also allows the funds from Blue Jays Unlimited to be used for the players every year, like on the spring trip, and other things the next coach will be able to do for the team.”
With this endowment campaign, Babb hopes to leave the Blue Jays with a strong foundation.
“I want my legacy to be that we continue to be successful with the right type of scholar-athletes and that Hopkins baseball continues to be, if not the premier, one of the premier academic baseball programs in the country,” Babb says.
Topics: Alumni, Blue Jays Unlimited (Athletics)