Cape Cod - Index

Cape Cod - travel_guide_2008 - Index

Top: League broadcaster Dan D’Uva interviews
Chatham A’s pitcher Jeff Lorick of Duluth, Ga., a
sophomore at the University of Virginia. Bottom:
Lorick and teammate Mitch Houck, a junior at the
University of Central Florida, maintain the field.
merchandise shop and food stands. They meet regularly all year
long to plan for the upcoming season.
Bob Phillips is one of the league’s more unusual volunteers:
He cooks hamburgers at home games for the Yarmouth-Dennis
Rex Sox. Y-D is a powerhouse, winning the league championship
three out of the last four years, including back-to-back
championships in 2006 and 2007.
Y-D’s success means big–and hungry–crowds at the
Yarmouth-Dennis High School field. “I love what I do and I
love being around the fans,” says Phillips, who installs alarm
systems for a local security company. “But to be honest, my
passion for baseball is very superficial. I like the game, but that’s
not why I do this. If you look around, you see that it takes a lot
of different kinds of volunteers to make it all work. I’m just a
small part of it.”
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Cape Cod Travel Guide Annual 2008
Phillips loves the cooking and the camaraderie. He also
loves to challenge fans to try the two burgers he invented: the
Sinker and the Hurler. Order the Sinker and you get a
hamburger served between two toasted halves of a Dunkin’
Donuts cake doughnut. Fans get their choice of powdered,
cinnamon or plain. Order the Hurler and you get a patty
topped with about an ounce of canned cheese wrapped inside a
jelly doughnut.
“They’re catching on,” Phillips says, laughing. “Don’t you
just love this league?”
‘I HAD NO IDEA THIS WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN!’
In the end, what may be most appealing about the Cape
league is that it is so fan friendly. Want an autograph? No
problem. Want your picture taken with a future star?
Just ask.
“The fans are amazing,” says Phil Carey, second baseman
for the Falmouth Commodores who attends tiny Winthrop
University in Rock Hill, S.C. “I’m not used to the big crowds.
Back at school you play before hundreds if you’re lucky. Here,
you’re playing before thousands every day.”
During the season, every team holds a morning baseball
clinic for kids, taught by players and assistant coaches. These
clinics help create a bond between players and their youngest fan
base. “The players work with us in the morning, and we get to
watch them play at night. That’s cool,” says Charlie Copeland,
vacationing with his parents from Key Biscayne, Fla.
Each team also schedules some type of regular meet-andgreet
with fans. In Wareham, the team holds special
“Autograph Nights” after Sunday games. In Chatham, the
team allows fans on the field to mingle with their heroes. Still
other teams let kids run the bases. Players and fans can’t get
much closer in this environment.
Jeremy Synan is a late-season call-up for the Chatham A’s.
The fan interaction, the huge crowds, are new to him, but he
adjusts quickly. After Chatham’s final home game against the
Brewster Whitecaps, Synan searches out fellow North Carolina
State teammate Nate Karns, who pitched for Brewster all
summer.
Synan and Karns meet near home plate, exchanging
greetings and handshakes. Within seconds, a teen-ager sidles
up and asks Synan to sign his program. Synan signs. Next, a shy
youngster holds up a baseball. Synan signs. A group of teenage
girls ask if they can pose with him for a picture. Synan obliges.
“Isn’t this incredible?” Synan asks Karns. “I had no idea
this would be so much fun. The whole experience has been a
blast. I’m living a dream.”
For a complete Cape Cod Baseball League Schedule, please see
page 64. ■