A Summer Etched in Memory: Cape Cod Baseball and the People Who Made It Home
UNBOXED with Doug Glanville
By the end of the 1990 college baseball season, my sophomore year, I had an opportunity to play in the storied and prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. Our Penn team had just completed a three-peat as champion in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, the streak having started the year before I arrived. It was a special season, and the Cape league felt like a natural next step.
I heard from three teams. One was Bourne, a team that would have made the most sense. A few of my Penn teammates had played there the previous summer and helped dispel the myth that Ivy league ballplayers could not hang with top-tier college talent. Their performances opened the door for me, making my entry into the league more about merit and less about biased charity.
As I screened these teams for baseball opportunities, I also learned that players typically held summer jobs, ideally ones that were not too demanding given the near-daily grind of games. Many mentioned local grocery stores as options. I was a systems science and engineering major and hoped for something that aligned with my area of study. Bourne did not seem to offer much in that vein, but Wareham called and offered me a job at Town Hall in the Economic Development department. That tipped the scales. I said yes to Wareham. Three of my Penn teammates ended up at Bourne that same year, so I knew I would be facing familiar faces on the field.
Players traditionally stayed with host families who supported the league. I was fortunate to be placed with the Donahues who lived at the top of the hill by the field. Everything was walkable. Our home games were at the high school field and next to that was town hall. Before I figured any of that out, though, I was greeted by my new six-year-old host sister, Lizzie, who immediately grabbed my hand and marched me to the park. I appreciated her confidence.
The Donahues became family, along with my roommate, catcher Charlie Greene Jr. I made breakfast every morning that I could, serving up my signature “Aunt Doug’s French Pans.” A cross between French toast and pancakes, complete with Aunt Jemima syrup (now known as Pearl Milling Company syrup). Lizzie and her older sister Mary were enthusiastic guinea pigs, and my breakfast concoctions eventually earned me a chef’s hat as a gift.