Bok Bets Boston Beans On Sox Series Success

President Bok said yesterday, in a special telephone relay, that he would bet an unspecified amount of Boston baked beans on the Red Sox to win the World Series, in response to a challenge from Warren Bennis, president of the University of Cincinnati.

Bok was not available for comment yesterday but did relay a message through his daughter, Hillary who notified The Crimson of her father's stakes.

Bennis presented the challenge to the presidents of Harvard B.U., B.C., UMass, Northeastern, and MIT. His wager was a case of metts, a Cincinnati sausage, against any similar Boston delicacy.

John R. Silber, president of Boston University, said yesterday that in his telegram reply to Bennis he wrote "you would get schrod if you bet with me. In defiance of the Red Tide from Cincinnati I will bet six live lobsters on the Red Sox to win.

Kenneth Ryder, president of Northeastern, said he had not heard of the bet but that to him "it sounds more like an advertisement for the sausages than a genuine bet."

Jerome Wiener, president of MIT, was also unfamiliar with the wager. He was, however, "certain" that the Red Sox would win the World Series, he said.

The presidents of Boston College and UMass were not available for comment.

Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said yesterday he was not aware of the wager or the politics behind Bok's decision but that he thought that the Reds would win the World Series.

The Boston Globe recently reported similar bets between the governors of Massachusetts and Ohio and the mayors of Boston and Cincinnati. Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis bet 20 pounds of Massachusetts cod against Ohio Gov. James Rhode's wager of a bushel of corn, ten pounds of Lake Erie perch, and ten pounds of Ohio River catfish.

Crock, 'Kraut, Cakes

Boston Mayor Kevin H. White put up a meal of two New England lobsters, a crock of baked beans, and two tickets to the Yankee Doodle Game (part of the Massachusetts lottery). Therefore Berry, mayor of Cincinnati, offered "a good German dinner, consisting of sauerbraten, sauerkraut, potato cakes, and good German beer."

The World Series is tied at one each.