Cape Cod Baseball League has produced 1000 major league players including Frank Thomas and Buster Posey

7/24/13, "Baseball on the Cape," NY Times, David La Spina

"The 10 teams of the Cape Cod Baseball League play in low-key neighborhood parks: an archipelago of pristine fields, perfect for showcasing top talent from college powerhouses across the country. You can watch a game from the brim of a grassy knoll and have no signs of commercialization within your sight line. Instead of walk-up music, wooden bats are the only sound that you hear, cracking as dusk overtakes the game.

The league recently exceeded the mark of 1,000 major league players produced, including 253 on active rosters in 2012 alone. You can see players pitch faster than 90 miles an hour, turn slick double plays and throw out runners from the outfield with no-hop bullets. 

The league is the first chance for many of the players to get a feel for hitting with a wooden bat against consistently strong pitching. The teams play almost every day in a 44-game regular-season schedule, but the players come home most nights to share meals with their host families. 

Instead of seeing one or two top players in a college game, scouts and agents can see up to six full rosters perform, counting batting practice, early afternoon games and evening games. 

Vacationers and residents root for their home team, or sometimes both teams, either of which might include the next Frank Thomas (Orleans, 1988), Buster Posey (Yarmouth-Dennis, 2007-8), Will Clark (Cotuit, 1983) or Pie Traynor (Falmouth, 1919)." image David La Spina

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