Cotuit Kettleers

Cotuit Kettleers
League	Cape Cod Baseball League (Western Division)
Location	Cotuit, MA
Ballpark	Lowell Park
League championships	1963, 1964, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1995, 1999, 2010
Post-Season Division championships	1992, 1995, 1999, 2008, 2010
Regular Season Division championships	1992, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2008
2011 season	16-25-3, 35 points 5th place, Western Division
Management	Paul Logan (President) Bruce Murphy (General Manager)
Manager	Mike Roberts (Field Manager)

The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League and plays in the league's Western Division. Cotuit currently plays its home games at Lowell Park. The team has been owned and operated by the non-profit Cotuit Athletic Association since 1947 and, like other Cape League teams, are funded through merchandise sales, donations, and other fundraising efforts at games such as fifty-fifty raffles^[1].

The Kettleers finished the 2008 regular season in first place in the Western Division with a total of 54 points. The team advanced to the Championship Series, but lost to the Harwich Mariners.

In 2009 the Kettleers qualified for the playoffs, but were swept in the Championship Series by the Bourne Braves. In 2010, Cotuit won the Cape Cod Baseball League title against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, 2 games to 1. Cotuit has won more Cape League titles in the Modern Era than any other team in history with thirteen.

History

The Pre-Modern Era

The Cotuit Athletic Association began sponsoring the Cape League's Kettleers in 1947^[1]. Cotuit won the last two Cape League titles of the Pre-Modern Era in 1961 and 1962.

The Modern Era

The Kettleers won the first two Cape League championships of the Modern Era. After finishing the regular season with an astonishing 28-4 record in 1963, Cotuit defeated the Orleans Cardinals two games to none to win the title. The next season, the Kettleers finished the year with a 31-3 record and won the Cape League championship three games to one over the Chatham Athletics.

From 1969 through 1987, Cotuit was the most consistent team in the Cape League, making the playoffs in eighteen out of the nineteen seasons. The Kettleers would reach the championship series ten times during that span and win the title a total of eight times, including winning four consecutive championships between 1972 and 1975.

It would take five years for Cotuit to return to the championship series after this astounding run. In 1992, the Kettleers won the Western Division Regular Season title and then defeated the Wareham Gatemen to advance to the championship series. There, however, Cotuit was swept by Eastern Division champions Chatham two games to none.

In 1995, exactly ten years after their last title, Cotuit got revenge on Chatham, defeating the Athletics two games to one for the Cape League championship. The Kettleers would win the title again in 1999, again defeating Chatham in three games.

With all of their success from the late 1960s through the early 1980s, Cotuit is seen as the historically most prolific Cape League team of the Modern Era. The Kettleers hold the record for most league championships with thirteen and most playoff appearances with 28 and are second to only Chatham with fifteen championship series appearances.^[2]

Famous alumni

• Garrett Atkins 1998–99
• Mark Bellhorn 1993
• Will Clark 1983
• Scott Erickson 1989
• John Franco 1980
• Joe Girardi 1984
• Jeff Kent 1988
• Jason Kipnis, 2008
• Mike Matheny 1989
• Lou Merloni 1992
• Bill Richardson 1967
• Tim Salmon 1988
• Scott Spiezio 1993
• Drew Storen 2008
• Chase Utley 1999
• Greg Vaughn 1984–85

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Cotuit Athletic Association, Inc.. Retrieved 2007-07-04
2. ^ Cape League Championships. Retrieved 2007-07-04.

External links

• Cotuit Kettleers official site
• CCBL Home Page