Cape Cod: All Signs Point to Simplicity :: Summer baseball league is home to future Major League Stars

Cape Cod: All Signs Point to Simplicity :: Summer baseball league is home to future Major League Stars: "Cape Cod: All Signs Point to Simplicity
TexBall Ed. Note: This article appeared first on July 8, and is the first of a two part series on the infamous Cape Cod League. We'll bring part two to readers next week.

Summer baseball league is home to future Major League Stars

Harwich, Mass. - It's the simplicity that will get you. There are no admission prices, just two elderly gentlemen sitting in folding chairs behind a table that has rosters and a donation bucket at the gate. Tickets are for 50-50 raffles, not entrance fees. Hot dogs go for two dollars, a coke for one. Just like at the little shops, it is also true for baseball: Simplicity sells on Cape Cod.

The facilities are fields, not stadiums. The players are amateurs, not yet professionals. They come from the West and the South, the North and the East, to play a little hardball. Surrendering the possibilities of warm weather and consistent climate, they migrate to Cape Cod for a summer of employment and enjoyment. No internships at big accounting firms or entry level management positions for these college students. No, their summer is a little different. They work for their future, just as their contemporaries do. But they aspire to play for pay. And they plan to do it on a field, not in a corner office.

Gone are their hometowns and regular summer activities. No return to high school glories or past accomplishments. Instead, they travel to an island where New Englanders migrate for vacation and relaxation. Sure, there are players from the region, but it is the influx from the College World Series and farther distances that brings the attention. Flying in from places as far away as Arizona and Washington, they all add a national flavor to the regional feel.

It's a brand of baseball that is neither minor nor major in terms of its affiliation"