CAPE COD BASEBALL LEAGUE

'The Cape Cod Baseball League' ('CCBL') is an amateur baseball league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, in which many college baseball stars play during the summer. Myriad future Major League Baseball players have started there; during the 2006 MLB season, 198 CCBL alumni played in the majors or were on injured reserve.^[1] The league is also notable for its continuing use of wooden bats. Because it draws top-tier college players, the level of play is often considered the equivalent of high-A Minor League Baseball.
The CCBL Hall of Fame is being housed at Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts through October 31, 2007 and will move to the lower-level of the JFK Museum in Hyannis, Massachusetts in 2008.^[2] The Cape Cod Baseball League is one of eight leagues in the National Alliance of Summer Baseball.^[3]

Contents

The teams

The Cape Cod League in popular culture

External links

Team websites

References

The teams

The Cape Cod League regular season starts in mid-June and runs through mid-August. The playoffs determine the East and West Division Champions, who then compete for the League Championship.

Division	Team	Town	Home Field
West	'Bourne Braves'	Bourne	Doran Park (at Barry J. Motta Athletic Complex, Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School)
	'Cotuit Kettleers'	Cotuit	Lowell Park
	'Falmouth Commodores'	Falmouth	Arnie Allen Diamond at Guv Fuller Field
	'Hyannis Mets'	Hyannis	McKeon Park (Pope John Paul II High School (Hyannis, Massachusetts))
	'Wareham Gatemen'	Wareham	Clem Spillane Field (Wareham High School)
East	'Brewster Whitecaps'	Brewster	Stony Brook Field (Stony Brook Elementary School)
	'Chatham Athletics'	Chatham	Veteran's Field
	'Harwich Mariners'	Harwich	Whitehouse Field (Harwich High School)
	'Orleans Cardinals'	Orleans	Eldredge Park (Nauset Regional Middle School)
	'Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox'	South Yarmouth	Red Wilson Field (Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School)

Many of the teams in the Cape League are named after MLB teams, and the Hyannis Mets continue to receive their uniforms from the New York Mets.^[4]

The Cape Cod League in popular culture

The Cape Cod League was the setting for the 2001 Hollywood film ''Summer Catch''. The 2003 documentary film ''Touching the Game'' by Jim Carroll chronicled the 2003 CCBL season and explored the league's history.
There are several books on the Cape League. ''Baseball by the Beach'' (ISBN 0-9719547-4-7) by Christopher Price was published in 1998 and discusses the league and its history. In 2002, writer Jim Collins followed the Chatham Athletics for the season and wrote ''The Last Best League'' (ISBN 0-306-81418-8) about the team and its players. ''Baseball on Cape Cod (Images of Baseball)'' (ISBN 0-7385-4508-7) by Dan Crowley has many photos of the early and modern Cape League eras. The 2004 novel ''Slider'' (ISBN 0-06-058033-X) by Patrick Robinson takes place in a Maine summer league, but is actually based on the Cape League. In 2005, ''Beach Chairs and Baseball Bats'' (ISBN 1-4196-0508-9) by author Steve Weissman and ''Cape Crusaders'' (ISBN 1-4137-6232-8) by author Mike Thomas were published. The latter focuses on player interviews, while the former goes behind the scenes of a typical Cape League season.

External links

★ Cape Cod Baseball League

★ Touching the Game DVD

★ CodBall: Unofficial Blog of the CCBL

★ Cape League Insider Blog

Team websites

★ Bourne Braves

★ Brewster Whitecaps

★ Chatham Athletics

★ Cotuit Kettleers

★ Falmouth Commodores

★ Harwich Mariners

★ Hyannis Mets

★ Orleans Cardinals

★ Wareham Gatemen

★ Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox

References

1. CCBL - Alumni in Major League Baseball 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
2. Cape League Hall of Fame Changing Venues From Heritage Museums & Gardens to JFK Museum in Hyannis. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
3. National Alliance of College Summer Baseball. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
4. , , Steve, Weissman, BookSurge Publishing, 2005,