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Apr
11
Is the Cape Just a “Show” League?
Posted by Greg | Filed Under News |
Alaska Goldpanners GM Don Dennis thinks so. Dennis is quoted saying as much in a recent newspaper article announcing that Yuba College baseball coach Tim Gloyd has accepted a job with the Alaska summer league managing the Alaska Goldpanners, an esteemed summer team that has seen a number of its players go onto the Big Leagues.
“He has the unique fit to work summer baseball – Alaska League style,” Dennis said in an e-mail. “The Alaska League is no show league like the Cape Cod has become. It is a down and dirty competition among the cities, and the players get infected with that.”
I’m not sure what evidence there is that Alaska is competitive and the Cape is not. Anyone who has attended the Cape playoffs would say the CCBL is quite competitive, but also the showcase for young talent.
Andrew has one of the best overviews of the Alaska league. Click here for his Oct. 2006 post.
Ouch.
I haven’t been able to make it out to Alaska yet, so I can’t comment on the level of competitiveness there. However, I do know the kids on the Cape play very hard, and often have summer season ending injuries. Every team plays to make the playoffs, and it usually comes down to the wire with many surprises in August.
The league is definitely family-friendly, and you won’t find many fans swearing or yelling at ump. If I understand correctly, beer is served at games in Alaska
Most of the fans on the Cape are the kids from the clinics and their parents. And there are quite a few die-hard fans like us here at CodBall.
I’ll only say this…I mentioned a while back that the CCBL should look out for other summer leagues because the competition is definately catching up. That is why I think the league should take a more open minded approach to expansion and be more aggressive in marketing itself despite the increase attendance over the past few years.
I do happen to think that the kids on the Cape lack some competitiveness until playoff time. The college game is all about team play…as it should be. Come time to play on the Cape; knowing that there are scouts watching “them” and not the “team”, I think there is a tendancy for these kids to become more self involved. Who can blame them? They have potentially millions of dollars on the line.
Because the Alaskan League and other leagues don’t have the talent yet to match the CCBL, the kids are more apt be playing “just to play” and are not as worried about big league contracts. Naturally, they will be more focused on other aspects of the game; like playing “team baseball” and getting more involved in the rivalries.
I wouldn’t knock the Alaskan League because they serve beer…different culture, different part of the country, different traditions. I’m they are as family-friendly as the Cape.
Lastly, I think the Cape has plenty of competition amongst the fans at least. These towns are close together and are used to competing against each other in youth sports, high school sports, etc. Hyannis(Barnstable) vs. Falmouth is a HUGE rivalry in High School sports as is Wareham vs. Bourne. (football and hockey are very competive at all of these schools) Naturally, many of these town’s citizen’s carry over this rivarly to the Cape League…at least the non-summer residents.
Agreed, I participated in the Barnstable vs. Falmouth rivalry (on the Barnstable side). I’m not sure if the rivalry really translates well to the CCBL, but us Red Raiders were born to hate everything that has to do with Falmouth. It’s the same feeling as hating the Yankees.
I’m looking forward to the Alaska League DVD to see what life is really like there.
Very interesting dialogue between Andrew and CapeMan. The “competitiveness” issue has been something that I have wondered about for awhile. I have heard from a few people that there is a feeling that once the all star game is over, many scouts leave the Cape, and after that happens some players “desire” seems to wane.
I choose to believe this is not the case. Whether it be a Cape League game, or any athletic event, everyone wants to see players performing to the best of their abilities and putting out maximum effort.
I can understand why a player might want to spend a few days at home before heading back to college, but I choose to believe that the players in the Cape League know what they are getting into and understand that they could be paying baseball until August 15.
Maybe I choose to believe this because it is what I want to believe.
I did hear from some people in the Brewster organization that they were not happy with a few of the players on the 2005 team. They did have an usually high number of defections from their team late in that season. I was told that some players who were eligible to return to the Cape in 2006 would definitely not be asked back.
To me, that is a poor reflection of a players character. I’m sure the teams do as much as they can to check a players character before they sign them to a contract but no matter what they are told, the summer league teams don’t really know that player until he arrives. I would think that a player wouldn’t leave a Cape team because of homesickness or a hangnail because that could reflect poorly on the player or even the coach who recommended him to the Cape team.
CapeMan is right about the players having a lot at stake with regard to their personal performance and stats.
I don’t mean to get too carried away with detail here, but I have witnessed many games over the years which have been tremendously entertaining and which allow me to believe that teams do not tank games in order to get home a few days early. One which comes to mind was a Falmouth @ Cotuit game in late July, 2005. Falmouth was below .500 while Cotuit was a couple games over .500. A loss would pretty much have assured that Falmouth would not make the playoffs. Falmouth lead 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth. With two out, Brad Boyer hit a two-run homerun to tie the game. It would have been easy to pack it in, but Falmouth scored a run in the top of the eleventh inning to win the game 6-5. One of my joys when at a game in Cotuit is to watch the game from behind the visitors dugout on the first base side. I just like being that close to the field. I was immensely impressed with the competitiveness that the Falmouth players showed that day. To listen to them, you would think they were playing in an important conference game for their school. It meant a lot to them. They certainly weren’t trying to impress me, so it was sincere.
Again, sorry for the long message, but that is just one of many examples I have witnessed that allows me to have a pretty strong belief that when I go to a game, the players care about the team.
I agree that in general, all of the players care…after all, that is what makes them good ball players. I just think their motivation is different as compared to their college team because the emphasis is different. Make the College World Series is an unbelievable accomplishment compared to making the CCBL Championship. Saying that, once the kids to make teh playoffs and see the large crowds, those that make it that far are definately playing as competetive as you can.
Andrew…I agree that the local rivalry make not transfer for all but I can tell you that there is definately some regional rivarlies amonst some fans and organizations. Chatham-Orleans, Wareham-Cotuit to hame a couple.
Chatham-Orleans is definitely a huge rivalry. Each team draws the largest crowd in the CCBL, so when they play each other it is incredible. You have to get to the game at least 1 hour before start time, or you’ll be sitting in the outfield (either along the fence at Eldredge or on the big hill in Chatham). I’m not sure if I have been to a Wareham-Bourne game–I’ll make sure to do that this season… probably in Wareham since I don’t feel like sitting on wood chips
Actually, I think the Wareham-Cotuit rivalry is more intense than Bourne-Wareham. Coach Roberts used to coach the Gatemen and both teams are always competitive and have played one another in the playoffs a number of times.
I agree with you CapeMan. There is more history between Wareham-Cotuit. I get the sense that some people in the Bourne organization almost have an inferiority complex when it comes to Wareham - even though the Braves have played in the championship series twice in recent years.
As for Chatham-Orleans, that is by far the biggest rivalry in the league. When you go to one of those games, you get the sense that winning means a lot to the people in both organizations and the folks from those towns.
Even though Bourne has a new ballpark, I get the sense as an outsider that the Braves franchise is struggling with many aspects of their organization. Their website is hardly ever updated and includes mostly old information, their “game day” experience is terrible as they seem to lack volunteers and interns and it seems that they contribute very little to league-wide interests. Maybe I’m offbase as an outsider, but that is how it appears.
Even though their new playing surface might be the best in the CCBL, somehow I can’t imagine Chatham, Cotuit, Orleans or Wareham allowing their fans to sit in the sand or be subjected to partially constructed bleachers, pressbox and concessions.
[...] whether all the scouts and attention from professional clubs affected the play. I had read in an article at Codball.com that some considered it a show league, and figured I’d get the thoughts of a [...]
I’m a parent of a current 2007 player of the CCBL, and also have another son who played DIV 1 ball previously. Both boys have played or have friends who play in both (ABL & CCBL)summer collegiate leagues. I have heard stories from them about both ABL and the CCBL. It seems that the ABL comes out ahead in the competitive area, but the CCBL league seems more prestigious. I suppose it’s because of the scouts who attend each year. Yeah, our youngest son who plays now, is concerned about his future, but is very competitive. He has commmented about some of the returning players to the Cape who seem to just be going through the motions. It was a little disheartening when he hoped for a little more of a role model from some of these players.
Some previous comments I read mentioned that the players of the CCBL are concerned about their futures more so than the “team” element. I think that is very true, even at the college level. Most of these boys are hoping to take it to the next level anyway. I would call that being “realistic”. There will always be guys on the team who are just going through the motions, whether scholarship players or “bench” players. Some would say they are just there for the “free” education…but at least they have a goal.