New Book Tells Cape Baseball’s Story As League Navigates Era Of Change

Last November, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith stared down Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the World Series.

The series had already shaped up to be one of the most dramatic in baseball history, and the deciding game followed suit. Los Angeles had first trailed 3-0, then eventually forced extras with a miraculous game-tying home run in the top of the ninth.

Smith would launch a Bieber slider to give the Dodgers the lead. They’d go on to clinch the series.

A decade before that moment, Smith and Bieber were Cape Leaguers. Smith caught for the Brewster Whitecaps and Bieber pitched for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. They played each other on June 19, 2015. The Game 7 go-ahead home run was just another example of how so often the seeds of the sport’s elite echelon were sown in the Cape Cod Baseball League. 

A new book published this spring by the Society for American Baseball Research — “Cape Cod Baseball League: From College Stars to Big League Futures” — distills that story. The book is edited by Sandwich resident Mike Richard, the historian of the Cape Cod Baseball League (and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association), and Bill Nowlin.

“To see that 10 years previous these guys were here and you could go any night of the week and bring your lawn chair and watch them for free, and here they are playing for the highest stakes game in the major leagues — Game 7, extra innings of the World Series — to me, that just brings it all home of how important Cape Cod baseball is and what a gem we really have here,” Richard said.

The book is a compilation of essays covering the various aspects of the league, and that scope goes well beyond solely serving as a chronology of the games and players, which date back to 1865. There are pieces about the volunteers, interns and host families, the scouts, even the umpires. At least one person from each club is profiled. Other stories explore the relevance of “moneyball” (data, essentially) to the league and the more hidden wrinkles of Cape baseball’s history (teams in the league’s early 20th century years, for example, played against a barnstorming club of Black ballplayers called the Philadelphia Colored Giants).

One article depicts the (nonprofit) league’s changing economics — that uncertain future of collegiate athletics with school transfers sans limits and Name, Image and Likeness deals, of an MLB Draft in July instead of June, a host of other factors. The Cape didn’t always have rosters of 60-plus players ever-changing by the week.

“Because of the dedication of the people in this league, they can overcome any kind of obstacles and still put out a great product here,” Richard said.

Those things shaping and molding Cape baseball currently make now as good a time as any to set the record. The book is likely the most comprehensive account of the league written to date. Included with the essays is a register of every single Cape Leaguer who appeared in Major League Baseball (37 pages long, not including the list of Cape alumni pre-1963 who went on to play professional baseball, which gets its own section). There’s also a list of league champions and Hall of Fame inductees by year. The book is essentially Cape baseball’s preeminent reference database.

To purchase a copy of “Cape Cod Baseball League: From College Stars to Big League Futures” email Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com. The book’s associate editors are Len Levin and Carl Riechers. Baseball Hall of Famer Peter Gammons wrote the foreword.

What becomes clear after reading the book is that the league is changing. What also becomes clear is that it will persist as the crown jewel of not only summer collegiate baseball but Cape Cod itself.

“You're going to see great baseball being played in the summer here on Cape Cod,” Richard said. “Regardless of who comes here, they're all going to give their best effort, and every team is going to trot out what they feel is their best product. And they'll have the ballpark, and the volunteers and the interns will just put forth 100 percent effort to make sure that it continues to be the best college league in the country.”