Cape League Baseball 'Around the Horn'

This is a wrap-up the Cape League provided by John Garner. 

Cape Cod Times Sponsors Homers for Needy

Peter Meyer, President/Publisher of Cape Cod Media Group, has announced “Home Runs for the Needy.” For every home run hit in the Cape League, there will be 75 dollars paid, for the first 75 round-trippers this season, to the Needy Fund to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the Cape Cod Times, founded in 1936.

Editor-in-chief Paul Pronovost announced this program during Cape League Sunday Night Baseball broadcast on WEEI 96.3 FM Sunday. Through the first three days, there have been a total of five home runs hit.

UCONN K-RIVALRY – Big Ed Baird, former Chatham right-hander from the mid-1960’s inducted into the Cape League Hall of Fame in 2003, held the UConn pitching record for most career strikeouts (243) until current Huskie Matt Barnes (Wareham’10) broke the record Saturday in a 5-1 opening loss at South Carolina (50-14) in the NCAA Super Regionals. The fast-balling 6-foot-4 Barnes, Big East Pitcher of the Year, was selected 19^th overall in the first round of the MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox. The Gamecocks ousted Connecticut, 8-2 in Game 2.

FACES IN THE CROWD – There were several VIP’s in the house at Cotuit opening day, including Peter and Diane Troy of Chatham, Anglers VP Bob Sherman, Russ Charpentier and Ron Schloerb of the Cape Cod Times, former Chatham broadcaster Dan D’Uva, Steve Lipman, President/CEO of Cape Cod e-Com, Cotuit President Paul Logan, VP GM Bruce Murphy, Asst. GM Sue Pina and GM emeritus Arnold Mycock,  Directors Martha Johnston and Bob Scotti, Director Emeritus Ivan (“Have a Hit”) Partridge and CCBL social media mavens Ashley Crosby, Meg Hester and Katie Wicklund.

TEMP PLAYERS MAKE GOOD: Outfielders Matt Fleischman (Villanova) and Brent Hopkins (Rhode Island College) signed temporary contracts for Chatham and are off to strong starts. Fleischman belted a grand slam homer and Hopkins started in centerfield in the Anglers’ 7-7 opening day tie at Cotuit.

CCBL BIDS ADIEU – A fond farewell to Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and Jim (Silver Fox) Northrup, who both passed away recently. “Killer” led the AL in home runs six times and RBI three times and was named to 11 All-Star teams with the Senators and Twins. He hit the most home runs of any player in the 1960’s and finished his career with 573 HR, the most by an AL right-handed hitter until A-Rod surpassed his mark. Northrup led the 1968 World Champion Tigers in hits and RBIs, hit five grand slams and belted a game-winning triple off Bob Gibson in Game 7 of the ‘68 World Series.

MAJOR LEAGUE KIN – Outfielder Kyle Wren (Georgia Tech), son of Atlanta Braves GM Frank Wren, made an auspicious start when he doubled in the tying runs for Cotuit in the ninth inning in a 7-7 tie with Chatham and went 3-for-3 in a 7-2 win over Y-D…Kettleer teammate Michael Yastrzemski (Vanderbilt), who hit a HR in last year’s championship win over Y-D,  is the son of former Harwich Mariner Mike Yastrzemski and grandson of Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski…Michael O’Neill (Michigan) of Y-D is the nephew of former Yankees and Reds outfielder Paul O’Neill, while 6-foot-6 RHP Luke Farrell (Northwestern) is the son of Toronto manager (and former Boston pitching coach) John Farrell, who pitched for Hyannis in 1982. The younger Farrell hurled a complete-game six-hit 2-1 win over Brewster.           

FIELD DAY - The Stoney Brook School teamed up with the Brewster Whitecaps, Monday for its annual Field Day at Stoney Brook Field. Whitecaps PA announcer Jim Nowak worked with the school’s PE Dept. playing marching songs for the students. 

CCBL ALUMNI: Where Are They Now? -   According to PR veteran Joe Sherman, the Cape League has identified 871 alumni who’ve performed in the major leagues, including several since opening day: Alex White (Chatham ’07-’08) with Cleveland, Mike Baxter (Hyannis ’05) with San Diego, Mike Mangini (Hyannis ’06) with Florida, Adam Wilk (Orleans ’07), Brandon Crawford (Orleans ’07) and Cory Luebke (Falmouth ’06) of San Diego… Former Falmouth Commodore Jacoby Ellsbury (’04), who leads the AL instolen bases (24) and hit .429 (21-49) with a 10-game hitting streak, was named AL Player of the Week…The Cards’ Lance Berkman (Wareham ’96) is among the NL leaders in  batting (.317) and HR (16) and RBI (35)…Power-hitting Ryan Braun (Brewster ’04) is among the pace-setters in homers (14) and RBI (48)…Todd Helton (Orleans ’94) is sixth in the NL with a .319 batting avg… Former CCBL MVP Evan Longoria (Chatham ’05) hit an inside-the-park HR to lift Tampa Bay past the Orioles…Former CCBL All-Star Sam Fuld (Hyannis ‘03) of Tampa Bay has swiped 14 bases …Kevin Youkilis (Bourne ’00) drove in four runs for Boston in a 14-1 romp over the Blue Jays…Former Kettleer Justin Smoak of Seattle drove in three runs in a win over Detroit …Mark Teixeira (Orleans ’99) of the Yankees ranks third in the AL in homers (19)… Brian Wilson (Hyannis ’03) has saved 17 games for the SF Giants, sixth in the NL…Former CC Times intern Nicole Auerbach, who covered the CCBL a couple summers ago, is a sports correspondent with the Boston Globe and wrote an article on the MLB Draft June 8.

NEXT BROADCAST – The next Cape League Sunday Night Baseball Game broadcast on WEEI Cape Cod 96.3 FM will be the second game of the Falmouth at Harwich doubleheader which begins at 6 p.m. Larry Egan and John Garner will provide the commentary.