University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tar Heels Thrive On Cape
July 27, 2007 | Baseball
July 27, 2007
By Adam Lucas
CHATHAM, Mass.--Wednesday night, Alex White was a star. He struck out eight batters in six innings, wowing a host of major league scouts and putting together what Chatham A's manager John Schiffner called, "One of the most dominating performances we've seen this year."
Thursday night, White was just another worker bee, walking through another overflow crowd with a box full of Chatham media guides. As he walked, he paused to chat with fans and distributed a media guide to anyone who asked.
That's life in the Cape Cod League, the nation's best summer league, where a player can be on the cusp of stardom one night and the cusp of manual labor the next.
The shirts at Chatham's Veterans Field read "Cape League IS Baseball," and it's an apt description of the environment. Games on the Cape present a unique dichotomy. On the one hand--at least in Chatham--every night looks like it was painted by Norman Rockwell. Fans bring their lawn chairs hours before the game to claim a coveted spot along the fence. Children play on the playground down the first-base line. Every foul ball sparks a mad rush of kids to recover the ball. Occasionally, fans watching from their cars beyond the center-field fence have to be reminded to, "Please turn your headlights off," by the PA announcer.
They always comply immediately.
But the Cape League is more than quaint. It also happens to be baseball's primary summer proving ground, with hordes of scouts, cross-checkers, and career-makers in attendance at every game. Hitters use wooden bats, providing a more accurate read on their professional outlook than the college game's aluminum bats. And when the league assembles in Wareham this weekend for the annual All-Star Game, the players selected will have taken a huge step toward a lofty spot in the professional draft.
Seven Tar Heels are in the league, including four with Chatham. Thursday night saw a virtual Carolina reunion, as Adam Warren's Brewster squad traveled to Chatham to face Tim Federowicz, Rob Wooten, Kyle Seager, and White. Seager and Federowicz were in the A's starting lineup; Wooten, White, and Warren did not see action. Rob Catapano (Orleans) and Mike Cavasinni (Wareham) are also in the Cape.
Interviewed independently, three Diamond Heels--Seager, Wooten, and Warren--all chose the exact same word for their Cape experience: "Unbelievable."
"It's like an all-star game every single time out in this league," said Seager, who is hitting .282, which qualifies as exceptional in the pitcher-friendly league. "Every pitcher we face throws so hard and is so good. At home, you get mad if you strike out. Here, there are times you strike out and think, `Well, that was a really good pitch.'"
White threw a bevy of those good pitches on Wednesday, a game that saw him lower his summer ERA to 2.29 with 25 strikeouts and just 7 walks in 19.2 innings.
"He was dominant," Schiffner said. "His breaking pitch was very sharp, and I was told by some scouts his fastball was 94 or 95 (miles an hour). He broke four or five bats because his slider was just devastating to righties."
That kind of performance will make White very popular among the scouts and equally adored by the hometown Chatham fans. The Cape environment is very similar to what the Tar Heel players have experienced in Omaha the past two summers. Almost everyone in town is a baseball fan, and sometimes it seems their only goal is to make sure anyone affiliated with the baseball team has a quality experience.
In Chatham, fans and businesses provide a bountiful on-field spread for players after every home game. Throughout the league, players live with host families, who help with laundry, meals, and any other unforeseen aspects of living away from home. And any trip by a player into town usually results in a hearty slap on the back and a comment about the previous night's game.
"If you wear something Chatham, people are unbelievably nice to you," Wooten said. "It's like a little minor league team, and it's their team."
It's a league that has historically been very friendly to the Tar Heels. The media guides White was distributing on Thursday referred to Chapel Hill as a "perennial gold-mine" for players. Carolina shirts and hats were plentiful in what was ostensibly a primarily northeastern crowd. And when UNC head coach Mike Fox stopped by the Chatham press box, he discovered an A's staff full of avowed Tar Heel fans.
"This league is such a classy league," Fox said. "The coaches up here really understand what their purpose is and why the kids are here. They don't abuse them and they treat them with respect. There really are no negatives to the Cape Cod League."
The Chatham/Carolina connection began with Chad Holbrook, who played there as a collegiate star and later coached in the Cape Cod League. College programs usually try to place their players in summer leagues a full year ahead of time--2008 placements are already ongoing--and Holbrook has made sure a steady stream of Tar Heels find their way to Chatham.
"Chad has been gracious enough to make sure we get quality kids," Schiffner said. "We reciprocate by treating them well. There's Carolina blue in Chatham blue and vice versa."
Adam Lucas most recently collaborated on a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina Basketball with Wes Miller. The Road To Blue Heaven will be released on September 1. Lucas's other books on Carolina basketball include The Best Game Ever, which chronicles the 1957 national championship season, Going Home Again, which focuses on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
