Baseball Heaven John Wylde is going to die soon. The cancer says it’s a certainty. He might make it through this summer and has an outside chance to get through the next one. He cares about autumn, winter and spring, but for the last quarter-century, John Wylde has measured his life in summers. He’s hoping he has two left. he Cape Cod Baseball League, founded college ballplayers receive. in 1885, has been the nation’s premier While Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Tamateur league since Grover Cleveland Nantucket are wildly popular during the summer was president – the first time. Each summer, about months for vacationers looking for a slice of beach, 300 elite college baseball players are invited to wicked sunsets and fresh lobster, it’s on the Cape spend seven weeks playing for one of 10 teams on where future big-league stars hone their skills in the Cape, an opportunity that has few equals in front of scouts night in and night out. In Major the world of amateur athletics. League Baseball’s 2008 first-year player draft, 217 Nearly 30,000 baseball student-athletes former CCBL players were selected, including 14 compete in the NCAA, so the chance to spend a in the first round. summer or two playing America’s pastime on the All-stars Lance Berkman, Nomar Garciaparra, Cape isn’t lost on the tiny percentage who head Brian Roberts and Mark Teixeira played on the to easternmost Massachusetts. While baseball Cape during their summer breaks from college. student-athletes spend most of their year receiving Jacoby Ellsbury spent the 2004 summer months an education in the classroom and on the field, with the Falmouth Commodores before heading their summers on Cape Cod provide a cultural 80 miles north to help the Boston Red Sox win and athletics experience only the most fortunate of See Baseball, page 52 By Josh Centor Photographs By Trevor Brown Jr. Andy Oliver laces his cleats before the game starts. 50 CHAMPION SUMMER 2008 SUMMER 2008 CHAMPION 51 Playing Like Baseball Sachs. Instead, he elected to sign a 10-day agree- the Pros continued from page 51 ment with the Hyannis Mets and went to the Cape for a prolonged tryout against some highly In 1985, the Cape Cod Baseball League the 2007 World Series. Future hall-of-famer Craig touted colleagues from other college programs. was one of a couple of premier amateur Biggio played for Yarmouth-Dennis in 1986 before “Most of the players sign on long before the summer leagues available to college play- collecting the first of his 3,060 career hits for the regular season,” Kantrovitz said. “I called all the ers. It competed with the Alaska Baseball Houston Astros just two sum- teams and asked if I could try out. If there was a League for the best players in the country, mers later. spot, I had to market myself. Hyannis said they had but that summer the Cape League made All of the players on the some guys trying out for Team USA and needed 1 2 an important decision that sealed its future Cape come from college insti- some temporary players. It was a really tough deci- as the primary destination for the nation’s tutions. Most are from high- sion because of the opportunity at Goldman Sachs.” best. It elected to return to wood bats. profile Division I programs, Ultimately, Kantrovitz elected to head to “When the Cape went to wood and Alas- but Division II, Division III Hyannis, where he played well during his 10-day ka didn’t, the Cape jumped way ahead,” and junior college players also stint. He was the only player on the temporary said John Wylde, president of the Wareham find their way onto rosters. roster to end up with the team for the entire Gatemen. “A scout wants to see what a On most nights, five games season. After returning to Brown to finish his boy can do swinging wood because that’s John Wylde are played on fields that house degree and play his senior season, Kantrovitz was what he’ll be playing with professionally.” high school contests during picked in the 25th round of the 2001 amateur Dan Kantrovitz, a former Cape League the spring. Families fill the stands, kids shake the draft by his hometown St. Louis Cardinals. He is player and current scout for the St. Louis hands of their future heroes, and admission is confident he wouldn’t have had that opportunity Cardinals, agrees with Wylde. free. Cape Cod may be best known for its beaches without being seen that summer in Hyannis. “You like to see a hitter’s swing not and seafood, but for two months each summer, “Even though I was playing for a Division I team change at all from aluminum to wood,” he the action is on the ballfield, where teenagers at Brown, we didn’t have quite the exposure some of said. “It takes more strength and more of from across the country are establishing memo- the teams in the Pac-10, SEC or ACC had. The only an ability to center the ball consistently ries of a lifetime. way I could play in front of scouts every day was when you swing a wood bat. You can ex- when I was on the Cape,” Kantrovitz said. pect the players not to have quite the same ohn Wylde was an athlete, spending his college Kantrovitz is not the only player from a success as they do swinging aluminum days at Harvard on the tennis court. He inherit- small-school background to receive an invitation J 3 bats in college.” ed his father’s steamship agency, Patterson, Wylde to the Cape. Divisions II and III players also The numbers alone distinguish wood and Co., before developing Howe show they belong. 4 and aluminum bats. Last summer, Chris Statistics and eventually selling the “It’s a little University of Tampa first Dominguez hit .216 with three home runs business to Peter Shipman, who baseman Jose Jimenez spent last and eight RBI in 29 games with the Harwich was a part-owner of the San Diego boy’s thrill summer playing for the Orleans Mariners. This spring, Dominguez hit .375 Padres. Without any financial wor- Cardinals, batting .197 with two with 21 homers for Louisville and was se- ries, Wylde turned his attention having the home runs and 18 RBIs. Jimenez lected in the third round of the 2008 MLB to the Wareham Gatemen, a Cape returned to Tampa for his junior League club that needed his pas- draft by the Colorado Rockies. opportunity season and led the team with 10 sion for statistics, student-athletes “The first thing wood does is humble homers en route to an appearance and the game of baseball. Over the to be around the hitters, which most of them need,” said in the Division II championship years, his gifts of time and money former North Carolina coach Mike Roberts, finals. After the season, Jimenez 6 have become legendary. players who now the field manager for the Cotuit Ket- was drafted in the 33rd round by “It’s a little boy’s thrill having tleers. “The aluminum bat brings a false the Los Angeles Angels. the opportunity to be around will eventually sense sometimes of being a great hitter or “The guys (on the Cape) throw a players who will eventually achieve little harder,” Jimenez said. “There’s a power hitter.” achieve great great success in the game,” Wylde a little difference in the talent than Ten years after the Cape League said. “What does it mean to the in Division II. I think some guys returned to wood, the Alaska Baseball success in the kid today who has the opportunity would find it hard to believe that a League followed suit, as did other summer to rub elbows with boys who will game,” Division II guy can succeed down leagues. And while outstanding college be future Major League players – John Wylde here because they don’t think we players spend their summers competing in and stars?” can handle this competition.” various leagues, the decision to return to But the Cape League is wood in 1985 sealed the Cape League’s about more than playing baseball. It’s about the hether you come from a major Division I reputation as the cream of the crop. dreams of youth, it’s about community and it’s Wprogram or not, once the summer season about how deeply people feel about the game. starts, all players are created equal. There are It’s baseball heaven. no hotels, fast cars or extra cash flying around. Because the Cape League is for amateurs, players he young men who spend their summers in aren’t paid and many have to pick up day jobs to Tthe Cape will make an impact at the next support themselves through the summer. level. In 2007, 212 former CCBL players were on The league does everything it can to ease fi- Major League rosters. nancial worries for players, which is why most are While Dan Kantrovitz didn’t go on to become set up with host families for the summer, paying a Major League star, the former Brown student- minimal rent to live on the Cape for the summer. 5 athlete was still able to use Cape Cod to jump Cape League Commissioner Paul Galop start his professional life. After a successful junior opened his home to players for many years and Clockwise from top: (1) Falmouth players wait in line to have their headshot taken on opening day; (2) The Commissioners Cup was awarded to the Wareham season in 2000, Kantrovitz was preparing to spend Gatemen last year as the league’s outstanding franchise in professional behavior on and off the field; (3) Fans and players watch the action as the sun sets in the summer working as an intern at Goldman See Baseball, page 54 Wareham; (4) A Wareham sticker on the window of Marc Anthony’s Pizza at Buzzard’s Bay in Onset, a small town near Wareham; (5) Former Vice President of Field Operations Bill Reed emcees the pregame ceremonies on John Wylde Night, during which hundreds of youth players were invited to honor the Cape 52 CHAMPION SUMMER 2008 legend; (6) Members of the Gatemen organization and volunteers wore their ‘Wylde’ shirts on John Wylde night.