Cotuit Kettleers
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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.
In 2013, Cotuit finished in third place in the Western Division with a record of 25-18-1 for a total of 52 points. However, they were just one point out of finishing in first place in one of the tightest division races ever. The Kettleers went on to defeat the Orleans Firebirds 2 games to 0 en route to winning the 2013 Cape Cod Baseball League title.
Cotuit has won more Cape League titles in the Modern Era than any other team in history with fourteen. They have sixteen titles overall.
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.
Cotuit would return to form in the late-2000s and early-2010s, reaching the Cape League Championship Series four times in six seasons under Head Coach Mike Roberts. In 2010, the Kettleers defeated the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox 2 games to 1 to win their first title since 1999. Just three seasons later in 2013, the Kettleers again became Cape League Champions, defeating the Orleans Firebirds 2 games to 0.
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 fourteen in the modern era and sixteen overall.
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
- Ryan Braun 2002
References
- ^ a b Cotuit Athletic Association, Inc.. Retrieved 2007-07-04
