Cape Cod Baseball League

Pre-modern era

Origins

As early as the 1860s, baseball teams representing various Cape Cod towns and villages were competing against one another. The earliest newspaper account is of an 1867 game in Sandwich between the hometown "Nichols Club" and the visiting Cummaquid team. Though not formalized as a league, the games provided entertainment for residents and summer visitors.^[1][2]

In 1885, a Fourth of July baseball game was held matching teams from Barnstable and Sandwich.^[3] According to contemporary accounts, the 1885 contest may have been at least the twelfth such annual game.^[4] By the late 19th century, an annual championship baseball tournament was being held each fall at the Barnstable County Fair, an event that continued well into the 20th century, with teams representing towns from Cape Cod and the larger region.

In 1921, the Barnstable County Agricultural Society determined to limit the fair's annual baseball championship to teams from Cape Cod. Falmouth won the championship in 1921,^[5][6] and Osterville in 1922.^[7] Interest in baseball was growing, as was a movement to create a formal league of Cape Cod teams.

The early Cape League era (1923–1939)

The "Cape Cod Baseball League" was formed in 1923, consisting of four teams: Falmouth, Osterville, Hyannis, and Chatham.^[8][9] Teams were made up of players from local colleges and prep schools, along with some semi-pro players and other locals. One notable player during this period was North Truro native Danny "Deacon" MacFayden, who went on to play for seventeen years in the major leagues.^[10][11]

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the composition of the league varied from season to season. Towns did not opt to field teams in every season, and teams from other towns such as Bourne, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, and Wareham joined the league. Teams were not limited to league play, and often played teams from towns and cities in the larger region, as in 1929 when Falmouth played an exhibition game against the major league Boston Braves.^[12][13][14]

The league enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the 1930s, and even engendered competition in the form of the Barnstable County Twilight League and the Lower Cape Twilight League. However, as the cumulative effects of the Great Depression made it increasingly more difficult to secure funding for teams, the Cape League disbanded in 1940.

The Upper and Lower Cape League era (1946–1962)

With young men returning home after World War II, the Cape League was revived in 1946. The league now excluded paid professional or semi-pro players, and for a while attempted to limit players to those who were Cape Cod residents. The league was split into Upper Cape and Lower Cape divisions, and in addition to many of the town teams from the "old" Cape League, new teams now joined such as those representing the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Otis Air Force Base, and the Cape Verdean Club of Harwich among others.

Modern era (1963–present)

In 1963, the Cape Cod Baseball League was reorganized and became officially sanctioned by the NCAA. The league would no longer be limited to Cape Cod residents, but would recruit college players and coaches from an increasingly wide radius.

In 1985, the league moved away from the use of aluminum bats, and became the only collegiate summer league in the nation at that time to use wooden bats.^[15] This transition began a period of significant growth in the league's popularity and prestige among MLB scouts, as well as among college players and coaches. This popularity has translated into over one thousand former players who have gone on to major league playing careers, including multiple members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The CCBL regular season runs from mid-June through mid-August.^[16] Teams are geographically divided into the East Division and West Division. Each division consists of five teams which each play 44 regular season games, 6 games against each team from within their division, and 4 games against each team from the other division.

During the latter half of the regular season, an all-star game is contested between the all stars from the East and West divisions, and features a pre-game home run hitting contest. The CCBL All-Star Game was played at Fenway Park from 2009 to 2011, but is normally played at one of the CCBL home fields.

Following the regular season, the top four teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, which is an elimination tournament consisting of three rounds of best of three series to determine the league champion and winner of the Arnold Mycock trophy.

Current teams

Bourne

Cotuit

Falmouth

Hyannis

Wareham

Brewster

Chatham

Harwich

Orleans

Yarmouth–Dennis

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Cape Cod Baseball League teams (West Division teams in red, East Division teams in blue)

Origin of team nicknames

Prior to 2009, six of the ten teams in the CCBL shared their team nickname with a team in Major League Baseball (MLB). However, in late 2008 MLB announced that it would enforce its trademarks, and required those CCBL teams to either change their nicknames or buy their uniforms and merchandise only through MLB-licensed vendors.

Three of the teams eventually changed their nicknames. In 2009, the Chatham Athletics became the Anglers, and the Orleans Cardinals became the Firebirds.^[17] The following season, the Hyannis Mets became the Harbor Hawks.^[18]

The Bourne Braves and Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, teams who share nicknames with Boston's two historic professional baseball franchises, chose to keep their nicknames and use MLB licensees for their merchandise.

MLB could not enforce the "Mariners" trademark against the Harwich Mariners because the use of the nickname by Harwich predated the entry of the Seattle Mariners into MLB as an expansion team in 1977.

The four teams whose nicknames were not in conflict with MLB have locally themed names such as the nautical monikers of the Falmouth Commodores and Brewster Whitecaps. The Cotuit Kettleers nickname recalls a legendary local Native American land transaction whose terms of sale involved the exchange of a brass kettle.^[19] The Wareham Gatemen are the only team that does not play its home games over the bridge, as the town of Wareham sits on the edge of the mainland, at the "gateway" to Cape Cod. Wareham was considered Cape Cod prior to the construction of the Cape Cod Canal.

Franchise timelines

Origins

Below is a partial list of Cape Cod baseball teams from the 1860s until the formation of the Cape League in 1923.

Blondy Ryan and Red Rolfe played for Orleans during the Early Cape League era. Both went on to enjoy long major league careers. Ryan was starting shortstop for the 1933 World Series champion New York Giants, and Rolfe was starting third basemen for five New York Yankees World Series championship teams.

Early Cape League era (1923–1939)

Upper and Lower Cape League era (1946–1962)

Beginnings of the modern era (1963–1987)

From 1963 to 1969, the newly reorganized league maintained the Upper Cape/Lower Cape divisional structure, with the championship series played by the winners of each division. Beginning in 1970, the divisional structure gave way to a single combined league, with the top four teams in the league advancing to the playoffs. This combined league structure continued through 1987.

Present Day

In 1988, the Bourne Braves and the Brewster Whitecaps joined the CCBL as expansion teams and the resulting ten-team league was split into East and West divisions. Since 1988, there have been no changes to the league's franchise composition or divisional alignments.

* During the 1923–1939 era, postseason playoffs were a rarity. In most years, the regular season pennant winner was simply crowned as the league champion.
However, there were four years in which the league split its regular season and crowned separate champions for the first and second halves. In two of those
seasons (1936 and 1939), a single team won both halves and was declared overall champion. In the other two split seasons (1933 and 1935), a postseason
playoff series was contested between the two half-season champions to determine the overall champion.

Baseball Hall of Famers Phil Rizzuto, Roy Campanella, and Whitey Ford were on hand at the 1961 CCBL All-Star Game.

The first CCBL All-Star Game took place in 1946, as a squad of Cape League stars battled a collection of Boston Red Sox tryout players. Throughout the Upper and Lower Cape League era (1946–1962), the two divisions routinely featured both intra-divisional all-star contests, as well as an annual inter-divisional CCBL All-Star Game. From 1957 to 1961, the CCBL All-Star Game was sponsored by P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company. Ballantine was a major advertising sponsor of the New York Yankees, and arranged for appearances at the CCBL festivities by Yankee alumni including Phil Rizzuto, Elston Howard, Whitey Ford, Moose Skowron, Bill Stafford, Eddie Lopat, and Mel Allen, as well as Brooklyn Dodgers great Roy Campanella.

As the league's modern era began, the All-Star Game continued to be contested between the CCBL's Upper Cape (western) and Lower Cape (eastern) divisions from 1963 to 1969. In 1963, an additional All-Star Game was played by a team from the CCBL against a team from the southeastern Massachusetts-based Cranberry League. The game was played at Keith Field in Sagamore, and the CCBL came out on top, 15–2.

From 1970 to 1987, a team of stars from the CCBL played an annual interleague All-Star Game against stars from the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League (ACBL). The games were typically played at major league stadiums including Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium in New York, and Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium.

Since 1988, the All-Star Game has been contested between stars representing the CCBL's East and West divisions, and has also featured a pre-game home run hitting contest. The event is normally held at one of the CCBL home fields, though it returned to Fenway Park for a three-year stretch from 2009 to 2011.

The league annually presents several individual awards,^[191][192] including:

Individual season records below are for a 42-game regular season from 1963 to 1987 and a 44-game regular season from 1988–present.
Aluminum bats were used from 1975 through 1984.

Individual batting, season (1963–present)

Individual pitching, season (1963–present)

The CCBL Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame honoring past players, coaches, and others who have made outstanding contributions to the CCBL.^[238] Since its inaugural class in 2000, the Hall of Fame has held annual inductions of new members, enshrining over 170 members to date.

Originally opened to the public in 2003 at the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich,^[239] the Hall of Fame and Museum moved in 2008 to the lower level of the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in Hyannis, Massachusetts, where it remained until 2017.^[240] The league anticipates a 2024 reopening of the Hall of Fame at a permanent location in South Yarmouth.^[241]

Inductees (by year):

• 2000 – Dick Bresciani; Bill Enos; Mike Flanagan; Ed Lyons; Lennie Merullo; Thurman Munson; Arnold Mycock; Jeff Reardon; Danny Silva; Frank Thomas; Mo Vaughn; Merrill "Red" Wilson^[217]
• 2001 – Cal Burlingame; Fred Ebbett; Darin Erstad; Chuck Knoblauch; Tony Plansky; Terry Steinbach; Robin Ventura^[228]
• 2002 – Curly Clement; Ron Darling; Russ Ford; Nomar Garciaparra; George Greer; George Karras; Bernie Kilroy; Bill Livesey; Paul Mitchell; Buck Showalter; Dick Sullivan; Jason Varitek^[202]
• 2003 – Ed Baird; Sean Casey; Joe Jabar; Noel Kinski; Jack McCarthy; Carlos Pena; Jim Perkins; Ron Perry Jr.; Judy Walden Scarafile; Cory Snyder; Pat Sorenti^[211]
• 2004 – Roy Bruninghaus; Bob Butkus; John Caneira; Will Clark; Pat Hope; Eric Milton; Jim Norris; Don Reed; Dave Staton; Tello Tontini^[242]
• 2005 – Mike Curran; Bobby Kielty; Mickey Morandini; Sam Nattile; Pat Pacillo; Manny Pena; Jack Sanford; Tim Teufel; John Thoden; Ken Voges^[200]
• 2006 – Steve Balboni; Rik Currier; Steve Duda; Jim Hubbard; Ross Jones; Greg Lotzar; Lance Niekro; Josh Paul; Allen (Buzzy) Wilcox^[243]
• 2007 – Del Bender; Scott Hemond; Dick Licini; John Morris; Steve Saradnik; Bob Schaefer; Walt Terrell; Jack Walsh; John Wylde^[244][245]
• 2008 – Derrick DePriest; Bob Hansen; Jeff Innis; Robert A. McNeece; Matt Murton; Roche Pires; Ben Sheets; Mike Stenhouse^[198]
• 2009 – Mark Angelo; John Awdycki; Zane Carlson; Lou Lamoriello; Joe "Skip" Lewis; Joe Magrane; Art Quirk; Bill Schroeder; Pie Traynor; Greg Vaughn^[246]
• 2010 – David Aardsma; Casey Close; Jack Cressend; Peter Ford; Wayne Granger; Tom Grieve; Mike Loggins; Lou Merloni; Steve Robbins; Tom Weir^[247]
• 2011 – David Bush; Doug Fisher; Scott Kamieniecki; Mike Lowell; Paul O'Neill; Mark Smith; Eric Wedge; Bill Wissler^[248]
• 2012 – John "Jack" Aylmer; Billy Best; John Carroll; Dan DeMichele; Danny "Deacon" MacFayden; Andrew Miller; Laurin "Pete" Peterson; Jim Sherman^[10]
• 2013 – Garrett Atkins; Daniel Carte; Merrill Doane; Ed Drucker; Mickey O'Connor; Jim Prete; Ryan Speier; Matt Wieters^[249]
• 2014 – Eric Beattie; Phil Corddry; Sam Fuld; Donald Hicks Sr.; Bob St. Pierre^[250]
• 2015 – (None)
• 2016 – J.C. Holt; Warner Jones; Jim McCollom; Mark Petkovsek; Kyle Roller; Kolten Wong^[251]
• 2017 – Joey Cora; Dennis Long; Justin Masterson; Tim McIntosh; Steve Newell; Jeremy Sowers; Chuck Sturtevant; Tom Yankus^[213]
• 2018 – Arthur "Ace" Adams; Barbara Ellsworth; Peter Gammons; Craig Hansen; John Schiffner; Mark Sweeney^[252]
• 2019 – Paul Galop; Conor Gillaspie; Brad Linden; Chris Overman; Scott Pickler; Kyle Schwarber; Shaun Seibert; Nick Zibelli^[235]
• 2020 – Charles P. "Buzz" Bowers; Bob Corradi; Tyler Horan; Harry Nelson; Kevin Newman, Cliff Pennington, Harvey Shapiro; Sol Yas^[253]
• 2021 – (None; class of 2020 ceremonies postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic)^[253]
• 2022 – Marcus Stroman; Ian Happ; Billy Wagner; Justin Smoak; Patrick Biondi; Steven Wilson^[254]
• 2023 – Lance Berkman; Glenn Davis; Mary Henderson; Jim Higgins; Mitchell Jordan; Max Pentecost^[255]

The following former CCBL players have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

In addition to the player inductees below, Cooperstown also honored longtime CCBL president Judy Walden Scarafile in 2010 by featuring her in the museum's Diamond Dreams exhibit, which highlights stories of pioneering women in baseball.^{[256][257][258]}

Player	Pie Traynor	Carlton Fisk	Frank Thomas	Craig Biggio	Jeff Bagwell	Todd Helton
CCBL Team	Falmouth / Oak Bluffs 1919	Orleans Cardinals 1966	Orleans Cardinals 1988	Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox 1986	Chatham A's 1987, 1988	Orleans Cardinals 1994
Year Inducted	1948	2000	2014	2015	2017	2024
Ref	[246][259]	[260]	[217][261]	[262]	[263][264]	[265]

• Cape Cod Baseball League ballparks
• Cape Cod Baseball League coaches
• Cape Cod Baseball League players
• Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era)
• List of Collegiate Summer Baseball Leagues
• Summer Catch, a 2001 American romantic comedy film set in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

• Joyal, Brad (August 18, 2023). "The 'chaos' of college baseball has heads — and rosters — spinning in the Cape League". The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 19, 2023.

• Cape Cod Baseball League
• Collegiate Summer Baseball Register

Official Team Websites

• Bourne Braves
• Brewster Whitecaps
• Chatham Anglers
• Cotuit Kettleers
• Falmouth Commodores
• Harwich Mariners
• Hyannis Harbor Hawks
• Orleans Firebirds
• Wareham Gatemen
• Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox