Gone fishin’
Merry Christmas, summer league fans! This fall I started a new blog about fly fishing. I started the blog about fly fishing because I fell in love with the sport a couple years ago. The bug bit me hard. I haven’t been bit this hard since I first laid eyes on the Cape Cod Baseball League. This blog was my outlet for summer college baseball, and Flyrod Nimrod is my outlet for fly fishing. The net result is that I’ve been fishing a whole lot more than I’ve been writing about baseball. Speaking of fish and Cape Cod, did you know that True Cod is the fish found in the Pacific Northwest? When I became a co-owner of the Walla Walla Sweets in the West Coast League I thought about starting a new baseball blog called True CodBall! Truth is I love all...
Read MoreLong ball for Longoria
I know CodBall has been silent since the end of the Cape Cod season. Normally we chat it up a whole lot more. I didn’t want to let last night’s dramatic Wild Card Wednesday pass without noting the central role of one of the best Cape Cod hitters in a generation. Evan Longoria, who was perhaps the first Cape League star I followed from college through MLB heroics, capped the most exciting evening of regular season baseball I can remember. The Chatham A’s have a nice tribute to Longoria on their site this morning. I know Longoria played on the Cape in 2005, but I had thought he also played the 2006 season on the Cape. I can’t quickly find a reference for that, however. Did he just play the CCBL’s 2005...
Read MoreHarwich Takes 2011 CCBL Title
By John Garner, Jr. Director of Public Relations & Broadcasting For the second time in the past four years, the Harwich Mariners captured the Cape Cod Baseball League championship Saturday with a gut-wrenching 7-5 win over Falmouth before a late-night crowd of over 3,000 fans at Guv Fuller Field. After overtaking Brewster, two games to one, in the opening round, Manager Steve Englert and Co., swept past Y-D in the East and the upstart Commodores in the finals to win the coveted CCBL crown. Harwich won Game 1 of the finals with a tight 5-4 victory over the Commodores at Whitehouse Field Friday night.Falmouth had plenty of chances to extend it to Game 3 as it stranded 17 runners and out-hit Harwich, 16-12. East Carolina’s John Wooten led the Mariners’...
Read MoreArea Code Games Today, Cape Tomorrow?
Having read about the Area Code Games for years, I finally had the opportunity this week to attend several days and catch about some or all of 5 games. A son of the couple who introduced my wife and I nearly 20 years ago caught for the Washington Nationals squad, and we jumped at the opportunity to join for our friends for a few days at Long Beach State, the sun-drenched home of the Dirtbags. Just a few weeks ago I was at Oregon State University’s campus in Eugene to see the West Coast League All-Star game. I was struck when visiting LB to see the posters promoting MLB alums. While Long Beach has legions of greats (Weaver, Tulowitzky, Vargas, Giambi), Oregon State also sports banners outside its stadium of a growing list of young pros. For the baseball...
Read MoreWCL All-Star Game: East Wins 4-2 but West takes honors
CORVALIS, Ore. — The West won individual honors but the East won the game. MLB scouts voted LHP Ben Wetzler (Oregon State/Corvalis) top pro prospect for two innings of scoreless pitching and Spencer O’Neil (Oregon/Cowlitz) was named MVP for his three hits including a solo home-run to deep right off of Owen Jones (Portland/Wenatchee). O’Neil also drove in Royce Bollinger (Gonzaga/Bend) in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn’t enough. The East beat the West 4-2 on a sparkling summer evening on the campus of Oregon State University. Next year’s WCL all-star game will played in Walla Walla, Washington. As a co-owner of the Walla Walla Sweets, I’m more than a little biased in my thinking that Elliot Stewart (Cal Poly/Walla...
Read More