Cape Cod Baseball League
Discover more about Chatham’s local team the Chatham Anglers and The Cape Cod Baseball League at capecodbaseball.org
As a proud sponsor, The Chatham Bars Inn Resort and Spa celebrates with The Cape Cod Baseball league in 2009 as the league embarks on its momentous 125th season. As the premier amateur baseball league in the nation since 1885, the Cape League continues to provide fans and visitors to Cape Cod with competitive baseball entertainment where the country’s top college athletes display multi-dimensional skills in their purest form. Players from around the USA and all college divisions are recruited to play in the ten-team loop. After being populated mostly by GI’s returning from World War I in 1919 and WW II in the late 1940’s, the CCBL continued to be populated by a combination of local and regional college players until 1963, when it became officially sanctioned by the NCAA. Following a decade (1974-84) of using aluminum bats, the Cape League became the first collegiate summer league to return to wood bats in 1985 and became even more popular with major league. Today, the Cape Cod League is recognized as the best amateur summer league in the country by college coaches and players as well as professional baseball scouts.
While visiting the Cape, seeing your favorite team is never a problem. Teams are located in Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Cotuit, Falmouth, Harwich, Hyannis, Orleans, Wareham, and Yarmouth-Dennis. The Cape League relies on communities for their support, from housing and jobs for the players, to volunteer work within the league itself. The growing success of The League is truly a testament to the people of Cape Cod. The hard work by each franchise pays off, as the ultimate reward is to see the stars of tomorrow take the field on Cape Cod today.
With over 1,000 alumni performing at all levels of professional baseball in 2008, a record total 212 former Cape Leaguers populate major league rosters, including Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (Harwich ’05), slugging first baseman Mark Texeira (Orleans ’99), AL Manager of the Year Eric Wedge (Yarmouth-Dennis ’88), AL Comeback Player of the Year Carlos Pena (Harwich ‘96/Wareham ’97) former Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito (Wareham ’97 & ’98), former AL MVP Frank Thomas (Orleans ’88), former AL batting champion Nomar Garciaparra (Orleans ’93), former NL Fireman of the Year Billy Wagner (Brewster ‘92) and New York Yankees manager Joe Giardi (Cotuit '84).
The amateur talent in the Cape League is second to none. Cape Cod played a prominent role in the development of rosters for the 2007 World Series as twenty players in the honed their skills in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Among the 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox who played in the Cape Cod Baseball League are World Series MVP Mike Lowell (Chatham ’94), team captain Jason Varitek (Hyannis ’91 & ’93), former Gold Glove first baseman Kevin Youkilis (Bourne ’00) and speedy centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury (Falmouth ’04). Top CCBL alumni performing for the 2007 NL champion Colorado Rockies included: All-Star slugger Todd Helton (Orleans ’94), hard-hitting catcher Omar Quintanilla (Cotuit ’02), slugging third baseman Garrett Atkins (Cotuit ’98-’99) and hurler Ryan Speier (Bourne ’01).
The list of Cape League alumni totals some 760 names, including those of Baseball Hall of Famer Harold “Pie” Traynor (Falmouth ’19), former New York Yankee greats Red Rolfe (Orleans ’30) and Thurman Munson (Chatham ’67), Major League managers Bobby Valentine (Yarmouth ’67) and Buck Showalter (Hyannis ’76), Cy Young Award winners Steve Stone (Chatham ’68) and Mike Flanagan (Falmouth ’72), Firemen-of-the-Year Wayne Granger (Sagamore ’62) and Jeff Reardon (Cotuit ’74-76), Major League scout Lennie Merullo (Barnstable ’35), slugging first baseman Jeff Bagwell (Chatham ’87-’88) and Craig Biggio (Y-D ’86), the only former Cape Leaguer to amass over 3,000 hits in the major leagues.
