2007 Holiday Shopping Guide
Last year, we brought you the first CodBall Holiday Shopping Guide. This year, we would like to show you some more gifts that would be great for a Cape League (or any other hard-core baseball) fan. 2006 Cotuit Kettleers Baseball Cards ($30 donation): One of the best teams in recent CCBL memory was the 2006 Kettleers. Eight members of the team were named all-stars, including MVP Justin Smoak. It’s guaranteed that some of these players will end up in MLB, so this card set is a must own. Eye on the Dream NECBL Documentary ($30): This is a 10-part TV series available on DVD. It documented the 2006 season of the Keene Swampbats from the NECBL. Each episode is 40 minutes, so this 3-DVD set will keep any college baseball fan busy for a while. We recently ordered...
Read MoreSinkbeil’s Star Shines in Hawaii Winter Baseball League
Our family is enjoying a little sun and relaxation in Hawaii this Thanksgiving break. We arrived earlier this week just a day after the scheduled conclusion of the Hawaii Winter Baseball League, a gem of a winter league on the island of Oahu. The league attracts top prospects from the MLB and the Japanese leagues. The Honolulu Advertiser reported the afternoon we arrived that the previous night’s championship game had been rained out. The final game was to be between two of Japan’s top pitchers, Kyohei Muranaka for the Waikiki Beach Boys against Shinya Nakayama of the North Shore Honu. Kyle Galdeira, the sports information director for HWB, reported in an email I received for baseball writers that Honu was declared the champion of the washed...
Read MoreJoe Torre Names Cape Hall of Famer as Dodgers Bench Coach
Bob Schaefer, inducted just a few weeks ago into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame, has been named as Joe Torre’s bench coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Schaefer has served as bench coach for the Oakland A’s and the Kansas City Royals. Schaeffer also was a highly successful CCBL manager. According to the CCBL website: Bob Schaefer, Hyannis and Bourne field manager The University of Connecticut switch-hitting infielder managed the Hyannis Mets to back-to-back Cape League championships in 1978-79, leading the ’78 edition to a 31-11 record and doing even better in ’79 with a superlative 33-7 mark for the most wins in CCBL history. The 1979 squad, led by fellow Hall of Famers Ross Jones and Ron Perry Jr., set a league record for highest...
Read More2009 Cape League Players?
As we keep an eye on emerging 2008 Cape League rosters, I decided to really go out on a limb and speculate about 2009 rosters. Since the Cape Cod Baseball League draws a lot of top college freshmen each summer, I peeked ahead at high school prospects who are completing their secondary school careers and signing letters of intent with major university baseball programs. According to Student Sports Baseball.com, the UCLA Bruins have signed 7 student athletes, including a few who are making news this fall from top prep baseball competitions like the Area Code Games and the World Wood Bat Association (WWBA) fall championship. Baseball America has reported on some of the top prep school prospects this summer and fall. Based on those reports, here are some names to...
Read MoreCollege Baseball: The Book
A little pricey ($65), but this book is a must if you love college baseball. College Baseball by SABR Collegiate Baseball Committee chair Rick Benner is now available on a variety of websites. This book is the real deal. The story of college baseball opens on July 1, 1859 when college baseball officially began with a game between Williams and Amherst. (Early evidence of the old Massachusetts Game.) This book is reportedly the first complete college baseball history. The author is as interesting to me as the book itself. Banner is the longtime chair of the Collegiate Baseball Committee, a research committee of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). He is also a member of the Historical Committee of the College Baseball Foundation, and a voting...
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