Poll: Franchise of the Decade
To close out the year, we invite you to vote for which team you think was the top franchise of the 2000s. As a quick refresher, below are the championship results from the past 10 years. One thing that strikes me is that the championship series only went to a third game three times in the past decade. 2009: Bourne Braves won series 2-0 vs. Cotuit Kettleers 2008: Harwich Mariners won series 2-0 vs. Cotuit Kettleers 2007: Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox won series 2-0 vs. Falmouth Commodores 2006: Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox won series 2-1 vs. Wareham Gatemen 2005: Orleans Cardinals won series 2-1 vs. Bourne Braves 2004: Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox won series 2-0 vs. Falmouth Commodores 2003: Orleans Cardinals won series 2-0 vs. Bourne Braves 2002: Wareham Gatemen won series...
Read More2010 Schedule Announced
Well, here’s an early Christmas present… The 2010 Cape League schedule was released on December 11th. To those who follow CodBall, there are not many surprises. There are 10 doubleheaders scheduled in June, which is a reversal of a previous league position that tried to avoid doubleheaders altogether. In addition, the schedule features the newly revised playoff format, where the top 8 teams compete in three best-of-three rounds. The All-Star Game is scheduled for Wednesday, July 28th, perhaps signaling a return to Fenway Park. Like last year, there is also no rain date scheduled for the showcase game. The only other thing I noticed was that there are no games scheduled at other fields (e.g. Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Sandwich, New Bedford,...
Read MoreDick Schoonover Passes Away at 81
Dick Schoonover, pitching coach in Falmouth in the 90′s and with Bourne earlier this decade, passed away on Monday, December 7, at the age of 81. To refer to Mr. Schoonover as a Cape League assistant coach does not begin to tell his story. Mr. Schoonover played six years of professional baseball in the Philadelphia Athletics and Cincinnati Reds organizations. He worked with present Bourne coach Harvey Shapiro as the pitching coach of the Dutch National Team. He also served as an assistant coach with the Nicaraguan Olympic Team, teaching the art of pitching to coaches and players. Mr. Schoonover served as an assistant coach at Kent State University in 1986. After spending the 1988 season on the staff at Ohio State, Mr. Schoonover returned to Kent...
Read MoreA Year-end Note to CodBall Readers
500 and 2,000 are important numbers in baseball — homeruns and hits worthy of the Hall. I don’t apply that honor to CodBall, but by the end of 2009 we will complete 500 posts and well over 2,000 comments from readers. When I wrote the first in the summer of 2006, I didn’t expect those kinds of numbers. I recently went back into our archives and dug out a post I wrote shortly after we started but never posted. I dusted it off and decided to post it. When I originally wrote this post, I was worried about the level of discourse early on in our blog culture. People were beginning to snipe at one another in vulgar ways. I wanted CodBall to be a place where knowledgeable, gentlemanly (and occasionally gentle-womanly) discourse about the...
Read MoreThe 2010 Brewster Whitecaps
The Brewster Whitecaps have posted their 2010 roster. Check it out at: http://www.brewsterwhitecaps.com/roster.htm At a quick glance, I don’t see any returning players. Washington State, UC Riverside and Mississippi are sending three players to Brewster. Luke Bard (RHP; Georgia Tech) will be the third Bard brother to play on the Cape, following in the footsteps of Daniel (Wareham ’05) and Jared who pitched in four games for Brewster this past season. There will be more to follow, but here is a look at some of the incoming Whitecaps: Defending NCAA champion Louisiana State will be sending two lefty pitchers to the Whitecaps. Chris Matulis, armed with a low 90′s fastball, won 6 games last spring. Freshman Forrest Garrett...
Read More