Visiting the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame

HYANNIS, Mass.

On Main St. in this town, between the post office and the library, John F. Kennedy still walks barefoot through the sand. A bronze statue of the 35th President, in khakis and a polo shirt with the logo of the Hyannisport Club, stands outside the entrance to the JFK Museum in the hamlet that might be more of a hometown to the Kennedy clan than Boston.

The modest museum features about four rooms dedicated to JFK and his family's group of summer homes a few miles away. Their story is told mostly in photographs, with a few videos playing on a loop in one room and a case of campaign ephemera marking the 1960 election -- which Kennedy monitored from his Hyannisport home before accepting the nomination at the Hyannis Armory. Two sections of the museum are dedicated to Ted Kennedy and JFK Jr., who, one display explains, would visit the museum unannounced and stroll through his family's history.

After our visit to Camelot, my wife and I stepped into the elevator and descended to the basement. The doors opened on a bright-green Astroturf carpet, white baselines stretching out in front of us and to the right. Down here, much like many sports fans' basements, is a collection of artifacts, memorabilia and stories marking the long history of baseball on Cape Cod. It's the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame, something that I didn't know existed until a few months ago. (And an idea that has only been around for the last decade.)

To me, it's the perfect layout. The Cape League is simple and classic. It's baseball played by college kids -- the best college kids each year -- using wood bats and living with host families in a summer paradise. I found it fitting that its Hall of Fame resides in a refurbished, well-lit basement, a basic location that was set up well. Each of the league's 10 current teams are represented, as are towns and clubs that used to play organized games on the Cape, whether or not they were part of what's now known as the Cape Cod Baseball League.

There's not much more to be said, so I'll just get to the photos.








These two early photos show teams from Orleans. The first features several different uniform styles; the second one appears to have just two -- but note the two guys in jackets with Red Sox logos on them. It seems Orleans wasn't always home to Cardinals. Both appear to be photos of Orleans Athletic Club teams, based on the "A.C." on several jersey sleeves. (If there's one complaint I had about the displays is that quite a lot of artifacts -- particularly photos like these -- were not dated, or even labeled. A simple marker saying "circa 1930s" or "date unknown" would've at least told us that the date has been lost to history and not left it up to us to guess.)






Here's a 1963 Cotuit team that went 39-5 in winning the league championship.






Once again, foiled by the lack of a year. My best guess is that this is a 1990s East All-Star team. They really should think about including a year with the banner.






This one is easy -- the 1992 East All-Star team. Note Billy Wagner's signature in the top right. He's No. 36, third from the right in the second row. He was named the East MVP after striking out the side in his one inning. The West won, 3-1.






As best I can tell, these are the 2005 East All-Stars -- so long as that's Daniel Bard's signature along the top. The interesting thing about the autograph's place on this photo is that Bard, playing for the Wareham Gatemen, would have been on the West All-Star squad.






A Harwich championship ring. I'm guessing it's from 2008 -- the Mariners have only won it in '08, 1997 and '83.














Some highlights of the Hyannis Mets display. I like the lack of black (naturally) in all but the one hybrid cap. I think the No. 28 jersey might be Jeromy Burnitz's, because his baseball card is set on top of it. And the photo of Varitek on the 2000 Hyannis program might be from his 1993 stint, because he signed my stat sheet in '91 with "#45" after his name (though that may have indicated his college jersey number).










Some old and unlabeled photos. Not sure which team the player in the first one represented. The second is obviously of a pair of Wareham guys hamming it up. And the third is a postcard -- and perhaps my favorite photo in the entire museum, the Kennedys included. I visited Highland Light for the first time back in January and love its history. It's perched on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic and had to be moved a few hundred yards from the edge in 1996 because erosion endangered it. Also, my dad used to run down the dunes near Highland Light with his brother when they were kids visiting their uncle.





I'm not sure if this old scorebook is the 1867 one mentioned in the press release, but it's still beautiful.














Time for old uniforms! The first is, obviously, an umpire's cap, jacket and brush. I love the inset C's on the cap. We then have an old Falmouth jersey. Next is a 1947 Cotuit Kettleers jersey worn by Joe Souza in Cotuit's first year in the CCBL, followed by spikes worn by "A. Brennan" in the '40s. Finally, my second favorite thing in the entire museum, a very old jersey from the town of Sandwich. Seriously, who wouldn't want a jersey with "SANDWICH" emblazoned across the front? (Also hilarious: The police cars in the town say, naturally, "Sandwich Police" on the doors. I like to think they give out tickets for too much mayo.)






This mural flanks the corner of a movie room featuring old seats from Fenway Park and many of the Hall of Fame classes. The case in the foreground features more modern CCBL pennants and memorabilia on the near side; the opposite side holds hundreds of baseball cards of Cape Cod baseball alumni.

And, finally, a few of the Hall of Famers' plaques that jumped out at me.





I liked Jeff Innis as a Met. He had that funky sidearm/submarine delivery, and he wanted to become an FBI agent after his playing days.






Mo Vaughn, still a favorite.






Ha! Look at this! New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello is a Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Famer! Who knew?






Another personal favorite. I always liked Robin Ventura, both before and after his days with the Mets. His induction in 2001 is the likely reason for his depiction with the Mets rather than the White Sox, with whom he spent most of his career.








And, lastly, the plaque for the only player in both the Cape Cod and National Baseball Halls of Fame, with a letter from Bud Selig acknowledging that distinction.

Mets -- and baseball -- history on iTunes

Happened to be browsing through the games available for purchase at Baseball's Best on iTunes and noticed these Mets-related gems:

Game 5 of the 1969 World Series

Game 3 of the 1986 NLCS

Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS

Game 6 of the 1986 World Series

Game 7 of the 1986 World Series

Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS (Ventura's "grand slam single")

Plus, these heartbreaking or bittersweet games:

Sept. 16, 1978, Tom Seaver's no-hitter

Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS (Scioscia and Gibson homer as L.A. wins in extras)

May 14, 1996, Dwight Gooden's no-hitter

July 18, 1999, David Cone's perfect game

Game 2 of the 2000 World Series (Clemens' roid rage)

And, for a bit of schadenfeude:

Game 7 of the 1993 World Series (Joe Carter's walk-off)

Game 7 of the 2001 World Series (Luis Gonzalez singles off Mariano Rivera)

Hall of Fame electioneering

Sixty-three-point-four.

That's the magic number, 63.4 percent. Top that, and your chances of gaining access to a club many of us could only dream of entering are greatly improved.

Seventy is even better. Seventy is a nice, round number, and seeing that crooked 7 at the beginning of the figure must send a jolt of euphoria through someone who is hoping for that immortal benchmark: the 75 percent of the vote needed to gain election to baseball's Hall of Fame, which Andre Dawson today learned he received. The Hawk has reached baseball's ultimate perch.

Now, while 70 percent doesn't get it done, every player to get 70 percent has been elected the following year. As for the 63.4, that's the percentage that Gil Hodges got in his final year of eligibility, 1983, and it remains the highest figure a player has received without eventually being elected. Gary Carter (64.9 in 2001), Bruce Sutter (66.6 in 2005), Jim Rice (64.8 in 2006), Goose Gossage (64.6 in 2006) and Andre Dawson (65.9 in 2008) have all topped 63.4 in the past 10 years and eventually received the call. And Gossage and Rice each found himself in that 70-74.9 percent purgatory in the year immediately before each finally got his call.

I agree that Dawson is a Hall of Famer, and he probably should've gotten in sooner. I remember the symmetry of Dawson hitting his 300th home run at Shea Stadium early in April 1989, after his former Expos teammate Carter had hit his 300th at Wrigley the previous August, after a nearly three-month drought following No. 299 (how great is Baseball-Reference's HR Log?) It might've been nice to see the two former Expos share the same stage (and hopefully Dawson becomes the second to go in wearing an Expos cap), but the gap in their inductions means one more January week and one more summer weekend when we can remember the team that used to play in Montreal.

I can't really get into the Bert Blyleven debate because I don't remember much of his career. I started following baseball only during his last couple of seasons, so all I have to go on are the stats -- and I'm not sure the stats hold up to Hall of Fame standards. Roberto Alomar, however, I do remember, and I think he's easily a Hall of Famer -- and should've been in on his first ballot. He was a Gold Glove second baseman who could switch-hit. Early in his career, he had 40-50-stolen-base speed. Later, when his legs lost a little juice, he became a 20-homer, 30-steal keystone. Penalizing him for the spitting incident is petty when you consider some of the transgressions by athletes that we overlook. And if John Hirschbeck, the umpire who was spit upon, can forgive him, what grudge do the rest of us have to hold? It's not as if Alomar harmed anyone peripherally.

Both Blyleven (74.2 percent this year, just five votes short of election) and Alomar (73.7) should be in next year, if the 70-percent trend holds. And both might've made it this year if not for the five blank ballots (particularly in Blyleven's case) or those voters who, on principle, don't vote for players on their first ballot. (If Rickey Henderson can't get 100 percent of the vote, no one ever will -- unless Ken Griffey Jr. somehow manages to capture Osama bin Laden between now and his first ballot, transports him to the U.S. and forces him to stand in the batter's box without a helmet and face Justin Verlander throwing inside heat.) Not voting for a player on the first ballot on principle is ridiculous. That's what the five-year waiting period is for, so that a player's career can be evaluated and put in perspective with those he played with and against.

The blank ballots actually bother me more than the token votes thrown at players like Robin Ventura, Ellis Burks, Eric Karros, etc. (Seriously, if you turn in a blank ballot -- or at least if you are a serial blank balloteer -- you should have your voting privileges revoked.) Writers are human and, despite what they claim or write, enjoy the drama and excitement of the games. If a player was a good, reliable source of quotations during his career or provided some truly memorable moments, why not honor him with a vote in what you're certain will be his only year of eligibility? I was a big fan of Robin Ventura when he was with the White Sox, I loved it when he came to the Mets, and in my mind, his "grand-slam single" -- in extra innings, in the rain, in the NLCS, in New York, against the dynastic Braves -- is worth one vote from one writer out of 539. One MLB.com writer and six others agreed. I don't know what the instructions on the ballot say, how they phrase what each writer's responsibility is with his or her vote, but with up to 10 slots to fill, a tip of the cap to a personal favorite doesn't bother me. Were there only three or five slots per ballot, it'd be a different story.

We'll have plenty to discuss in the coming years of Hall of Fame balloting, what with Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds, Rogers Clemens and Sammy Sosa allowing us to really delve into how to treat the Steroid Era. I think as the years go by and I get older, I'll have more passionate opinions on Hall of Fame arguments, because with all the changes in the game, plus the steroids, comparing players to their eras will be more important than comparing them to other Hall of Famers. While I understand the thought, I don't get why it should matter who is joining the ballot in future years. It's not like Barry Bonds' arrival will take a spot away from where Jack Morris' name could go.

But Jay Mariotti had better not be giving Sammy Sosa a vote on the first ballot if he couldn't be bothered to find a Hall of Famer out of this year's group.