Chatham Anglers
Information
League	Cape Cod Baseball League (East Division)
Location	Chatham, Massachusetts
Ballpark	Veterans Field
Nickname(s)	Chatham A's
League championships	1967, 1982, 1992, 1996, 1998
Former name(s)	Chatham Athletics Chatham Red Sox
Colors	Blue, White, and Red
Manager	Jeremy Sheetinger
General Manager	Mike Geylin
President	Steve West
Website	www.chathamanglers.com

The Chatham Anglers, more commonly referred to as the Chatham A's and formerly the Chatham Athletics, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chatham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. Chatham plays its home games at historic Veterans Field, the team's home since 1923, in the town of Chatham on the Lower Cape. The A's have been operated by the non-profit Chatham Athletic Association since 1963.^[1]

Chatham has won five CCBL championships, most recently in 1998, when they defeated the Wareham Gatemen in the championship series.

History

Pre-modern era

The early Cape League era (1923–1939)

In 1923 the Cape Cod Baseball League was formed and included four teams: Chatham, Falmouth, Osterville, and Hyannis.^[2] This early Cape League operated through the 1939 season and disbanded in 1940, due in large part to the difficulty of securing ongoing funding during the Great Depression.^[3][4] Chatham competed in the Cape League from the league's inaugural 1923 season through the 1926 season, then from 1927 to 1929 competed as a combined Chatham-Harwich team with home games split between Veterans Field and Harwich's Brooks Park.^[5][6][7]

Chatham's 1923 team included CCBL Hall of Famer Merrill Doane. Doane, a 1924 graduate of Chatham High School, remained involved in the Cape League and Chatham baseball for over 60 years. One of the longest-tenured general managers in Cape League history, Doane was instrumental in the league's transition to an NCAA-sanctioned collegiate league in the early 1960s, and helped build the powerful Chatham teams of the 1960s.^[8] In 1925, Brockton High School star Pat Creeden played third base for Chatham, and went on to play briefly for the Boston Red Sox in 1931.^[9][10]

In the 1927 season, the combined Chatham-Harwich team finished fourth in the five-team league, but nevertheless was described as "the hardest hitting team in the league."^[11] 1927 Chatham-Harwich first baseman Jack Burns went on to play in seven major league seasons for the St. Louis Browns and Detroit Tigers.^{[12][13][14][15]} In all three seasons of the joint Chatham-Harwich team, the club featured Boston College batterymates pitcher Pete Herman and catcher George Colbert, as well as flashy infielder Artie Gore. The trio of Herman, Colbert and Gore later teamed up again with Barnstable to bring that club multiple Cape League championships in the 1930s.^[16][17] Gore went on to a major league umpiring career, working ten years in the National League, including two World Series assignments.

In 1930, Chatham again fielded its own team, as Harwich split off and became a separate club. Pete Herman remained with the Chatham team as its player-manager in 1930 and 1931, leading the team on an exciting stretch run and second-place finish just two games behind pennant-winning Wareham in 1930.^[18][19]

Chatham withdrew from the league prior to the 1932 season as a result of the town's decision not to appropriate funds for the team.^[20] Throughout the rest of the 1930s, Chatham's town team competed in the Cape Cod Twilight League, winning that league's title seven consecutive seasons from 1933 to 1939.^[21]

The Upper and Lower Cape League era (1946–1962)

After a hiatus during the years of World War II, the Cape League was reconstituted in 1946, with Chatham joining the Lower Cape Division.^[22] Chatham has been a member of the Cape League ever since.

CCBL Hall of Fame skipper John Carroll took the helm at Chatham in 1961.^[23] The following season, Carroll's club finished the regular season in first place atop the Lower Cape Division, but failed to reach the Cape League title series, losing to Harwich in the Lower Cape championship series.^[23][24]

Modern era (1963–present)

The 1960s: A new league and a first championship

In 1963, the CCBL was reorganized and became officially sanctioned by the NCAA. The league would no longer be characterized by "town teams" who fielded mainly Cape Cod residents, but would now be a formal collegiate league. Teams began to recruit college players and coaches from an increasingly wide geographic radius.^[25]

The league was originally composed of ten teams, which were divided into Upper Cape and Lower Cape divisions. Chatham's team, known as the Chatham Red Sox,^[26] joined Orleans, Harwich, Yarmouth and a team from Otis Air Force Base in the Lower Cape Division.

Chatham continued to be managed by John Carroll, whose 1963 club featured CCBL Hall of Famer Ken Voges of Texas Lutheran University, who led the league with an astronomical .505 batting average.^[27] The Red Sox finished the regular season with a 28–6 record, good enough for first place in the Lower Cape Division, but fell to Orleans in the playoffs.

Chatham continued its regular season dominance in 1964, 1965 and 1966, finishing atop the Lower Cape Division each year, but falling in each season's CCBL title series. The 1964 team was piloted by Bill "Lefty" Lefebvre, who had played in the Cape League for Falmouth in the 1930s, and had later played in the major leagues with Boston and Washington.^[28][29] Lefebvre's team featured CCBL Hall of Fame second baseman Steve Saradnik of Providence College, who batted .314,^[30] and pitcher Charlie Hough, who went on to a 25-year major league knuckleballing career.

In 1965, Lefebvre was succeeded by CCBL Hall of Fame manager Joe "Skip" Lewis, who led the team through 1969.^[31][32][33] Lewis' 1965 squad returned Saradnik, and added another two CCBL Hall of Famers in University of Connecticut righty Ed Baird, who posted a 3–0 record with a 0.45 ERA,^[34] and George Greer, who batted .349 and led the league in doubles and triples.^[35]

The star-studded 1966 Chatham team returned Saradnik, Baird and Greer,^[36][37] and added another three CCBL Hall of Famers: catcher Tom Weir, who led the league with a .420 batting average,^[38] all-star hurler Joe Jabar, who went 7–0 with a 1.53 ERA and took home the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award,^[34] and Pittsfield, Massachusetts native Tom Grieve. Drafted out of high school in the first round, sixth overall, of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft by the Washington Senators, Grieve played in 25 games for Chatham and batted .416 prior to signing with Washington and moving on to a lengthy major league career.^[38]

In 1967, it finally came together for Lewis' boys. Saradnik, Greer, Baird and Jabar all returned and were hungry for a title.^[39] Added to the mix was Kent State University catcher Thurman Munson, who hit .420 on the season and was named league MVP. During the regular season, Chatham pitcher Don Gabriel tossed a no-hitter against Harwich at Veterans Field.^[40] Chatham again finished in first place in the Lower Cape Division,^[41] and met Upper Cape powerhouse Falmouth for the second consecutive season in the title series. In Game 1 of the championship, Chatham pitcher John Frobose twirled 13 innings in a game that was called due to darkness and ended in a 1–1 tie. Chatham took Game 2, 7–1, behind the stellar pitching of Baird. Jabar, the league's Outstanding Pitcher, was the star of Game 3, tossing a complete game five-hitter, and knocking in the game-winning RBI in Chatham's 3–2 victory, clinching the series and giving Chatham its first Cape League championship.^[42][43][44]

Munson went on to be selected by the New York Yankees in the first round, fourth overall, of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft. A perennial all-star for the Bronx Bombers, Munson won two World Series and was named the Yanks' first captain since Lou Gehrig. His tragic 1979 death brought fond reminiscences from those who knew him at Chatham.^[45] Munson was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class of 2000, and his name graces the league's annual award for batting champion.^[46]

The 1970s

In the late 1960s, Chatham had dropped the nickname "Red Sox", and reverted to the colloquial Chatham Townies moniker of earlier years. In 1972, the Chatham Athletic Association settled on Chatham Athletics as the team's new moniker, and the Chatham A's were born.^[47] The A's finished the 1973 regular season in first place atop the Cape League under skipper Ben Hays. The team featured future major leaguer Dave Bergman, the CCBL batting champ who hit at a .341 clip, and CCBL Hall of Fame hurler John Caneira, the league's Outstanding Pitcher, who posted a 9–1 record and led the league with a 1.37 ERA while striking out 118 and walking only 23 in 92 innings.^[48]

CCBL Hall of Fame manager Ed Lyons took the reins in 1976, and led the A's to another first-place finish.^[46] Chatham was led by the league's Outstanding Pro Prospect Steve Taylor, and CCBL Hall of Famer Mickey O'Connor, a 6-foot-6 southpaw who went 9–0 with a 1.07 ERA and eight complete games, and was the league's Outstanding Pitcher.^[8] The team ousted Hyannis in the playoffs,^[49] but was shut down by Wareham in the title series.^[50] Lyons skippered the Athletics for seven seasons, with the team qualifying for postseason play in six of the seven years.

The A's of the late 1970s featured Jim Lauer, who set a CCBL record with three home runs in a single game against Hyannis,^[51] Harvard University slugger and CCBL Hall of Famer Mike Stenhouse, who starred for Chatham from 1977 through 1979,^[52] and longtime major league hurler and CCBL Hall of Famer Walt Terrell, who went 9–4 with a 2.20 ERA in 1979 while working a league record 122.2 innings on the season.^[30]

The 1980s and a second championship

Lyons again skippered Chatham to a first-place finish in 1980 before succumbing to Falmouth in the championship series.^[53] The 1980 A's starred CCBL Hall of Famers Glenn Davis, who batted .377 on the season, and Jim Sherman, who batted .339 and returned to Chatham in 1981 and enjoy another all-star season, batting .335.^[23][54]

In 1982, skipper Ed Lyons announced mid-season that he would be retiring after the summer.^[55] Lyons had managed six seasons at Wareham in the early 1970s, and was now in his seventh season with Chatham, but had yet to win a league title. Lyons' 1982 A's finished the regular season in fourth place with a pedestrian 20–21–1 record, having slipped into the playoffs on the final day of the season with a victory over Orleans. The team starred future major league all-star Kevin Seitzer, who hit .291 on the season and .677 in the playoffs, slugger Billy Merrifield, who clouted eight homers on the season, team MVP Brett Elbin, all-star centerfielder Greg Schuler, and the league's Outstanding Pro Prospect, pitcher Gary Kanwisher, who led the league with a 1.57 ERA. Lyons' staff included young third base coach John Schiffner. The A's matched up against first place Wareham in the playoff semi-finals, and promptly disposed of the Gatemen in two games.^[56]

In the championship series, Chatham met up with Hyannis in a best three-out-of-five title tilt. The A's went on the road for Game 1, and came away with a tight 5–4 win in 11 innings. Game 2 at Veterans Field also went to extra frames, with the Mets taking a 4–3 lead in the 11th, but the home club tied it in the bottom half, and then took the lead in the 12th to win by another 5–4 tally. Reliever Kurt Lundgren got the win in both games, coming on in the eighth inning of Game 1, then in the 12th inning of Game 2 to nail it down after starter Kanwisher held the mound through eleven.^[57] After two nail-biters, Game 3 at McKeon Park was a runaway. The A's led off the game with a dinger by Elbin and another by Merrifield, scoring four runs in the first for starter Jeff Brewer, and never looked back. Brewer tossed a complete game four-hitter, and the A's pummeled the Mets, 9–0, to complete the three-game sweep and claim Chatham's second league crown.^[58][59][60]

In 1983, A's slugger Bob Larimer tied a league mark by crushing three home runs in a single game; his feat demonstrated power to all fields as his trio of clouts against Falmouth left the yard in left, center, and right fields respectively.^[51] Chatham boasted the league MVP in 1984, as CCBL Hall of Famer Joey Cora was the A's all-star second baseman, batting .373 and leading the league with 28 stolen bases.^[61] The 1985 A's returned to the league championship series behind the play of CCBL Hall of Famers Tim McIntosh and Mark Petkovsek, but were shut down by Cotuit. McIntosh led the league with a .392 batting average,^[61] and Petkovsek went 7–1 for the A's and returned to Chatham the following season to win another seven games.^[62]

The late 1980s saw a pair of future major league sluggers in the Chatham lineup. Albert "Joey" Belle played for the A's in 1986, and went on to crush 381 major league homers. Jeff Bagwell spent the summers of 1987 and 1988 in Chatham. He struggled in his first season, but followed up with an all-star 1988 campaign in which he hit .315 with a .449 on-base percentage, and went 4-for-4 with a home run in the CCBL All-Star Game. Bagwell was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, the fifth former Cape Leaguer to be so honored.^[63][64]

The 1990s: a decade of dominance

Chatham was one of the league's most successful teams throughout the 1990s, finishing in first place atop the East Division five times, qualifying for the playoffs in eight of the ten years, reaching the league championship series six times, and taking home three CCBL crowns.

Skipper Rich Hill's 1992 Chatham squad posted an impressive 31–11 regular season record, and featured ace reliever Scott Smith and CCBL Hall of Fame hurler Steve Duda. Duda had pitched for the A's in 1991, posting a 4–4 record and tossing a no-hitter against Y-D. He was even better in 1992, going 6–1 with a 0.90 ERA.^[65][66] Duda led the A's into the 1992 playoffs against Brewster by tossing a complete game in Chatham's 4–2 Game 1 victory. The A's completed the sweep of the Whitecaps with a 1–0 victory in Game 2 to secure Chatham's spot in the league title series against Cotuit.^[67]

The A's took Game 1 of the 1992 championship series at Veterans Field, powered by a two-run blast by Mike Smedes. Game 2 at Lowell Park was an all-time classic. The game went into the 12th inning tied at 2–2 thanks to 11 stellar innings by A's starter Duda, who threw 125 pitches on three days' rest, and appeared to get stronger as the game moved along. Chatham played small-ball in the top of the 12th, pushing across Jeremy Carr, who had walked and reached third on a stolen base and a Cotuit error, then scored on a Brian Garrett single. Smith came on in relief of Duda in the bottom of the frame, and set down the Kettleers in order to clinch the series for the A's and secure Chatham's third CCBL title, with Duda taking home playoff MVP honors.^[68][69][70]

Midway through the 1993 season, manager Rich Hill left to take a head coaching job at the University of San Francisco, and assistant coach John Schiffner took the helm at Chatham.^[71] Schiffner, who had been Hill's assistant since 1990, had played in the CCBL for Harwich from 1974 through 1976, and had served previously as Chatham assistant coach from 1978 to 1982. He went on to pilot Chatham for a league record 25 years, and was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2018.^[72] Schiffner's 1994 squad featured CCBL Hall of Famer Mike Lowell, an all-star second baseman who hit .307 for the A's.^[73] Lowell went on win World Series MVP honors with the 2007 Boston Red Sox. In 1995, Schiffner took the club to the CCBL title series, but lost to Cotuit.^[74]

In 1996, Chatham featured the league's Outstanding Pro Prospect, fireballing reliever Matt Anderson, but the team struggled early on, losing eight in a row at one point. The A's finished the regular season a hair over the .500 mark, and met first place Brewster in the East Division playoffs. In Game 1, Chatham's Matt Purkiss clobbered a two-run homer in the third and ace Keith Evans worked 11 innings allowing only four hits as the A's and Whitecaps took a 2–2 tie into the 12th. In the top of the 12th, Chatham's Scott Friedholm smashed a three-run homer to left, and Anderson came on in the bottom half of the frame to nail down the victory. Chatham completed the sweep with a 3–0 win in Game 2 on the strength of second baseman Jermaine Clark's two-run double, and advanced to the title series against Falmouth.^[75]

The 1996 championship series opened at Guv Fuller Field, with Chatham catcher Scott Fitzgerald stifling the Falmouth attack early on in Game 1, cutting down three stolen base attempts in the first three innings. Chatham pushed across three runs playing small-ball and A's starter Seth Etherton was masterful, twirling eight shutout innings and striking out 14 before turning it over to Anderson for the ninth-inning save in the A's 3–0 win. Evans took the mound for the A's in Game 2 at home and followed up his 11-inning semi-finals outing with a complete game gem. Clark, whom Schiffner described as the team's spark plug all season,^[76] went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles to go with his usual stellar work in the field, and the A's downed the Commodores, 6–2, for the title. Evans and Clark shared playoff MVP honors as Chatham sealed its fourth Cape League championship and its first to be clinched at Veterans Field.^[77][78]

Schiffner's 1998 club was loaded with talent. Slugger Matt Cepicky was a .327 hitter who won the All-Star Game Home Run Derby, and took home East Division MVP honors in the East's 3–2 All-Star Game victory at Veterans Field.^[79] In addition to Cepicky, the A's boasted an abundance of top moundsmen. 6-foot-8 righty Kyle Snyder was the league's Outstanding Pro Prospect, Tim Lavigne was the Outstanding Relief Pitcher, and CCBL Hall of Famer Rik Currier had an all-star season, posting a 5–2 record with a 2.37 ERA.^[66] After sweeping Brewster in the playoff semi-finals, the A's met Wareham in the best-of-five championship series.

Snyder started Game 1 of the 1998 title set for Chatham at Clem Spillane Field, but got roughed up by the Gatemen, who took the opener, 6–4.^[80] The A's held serve in Game 2 at Chatham as Jeremy Wade tossed a complete game five-hitter in the home club's 5–1 victory. Game 3 at Wareham was a classic pitcher's duel as Currier was matched up against CCBL Hall of Famer and future major league all-star Ben Sheets for the Gatemen. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 14th when the Gatemen walked off with the game's only run. The A's evened the series again in Game 4 at home, taking the lead in the bottom of the eighth on RBIs by Ryan Earey and Barry Gauch, and hanging on to win, 4–3.^[81] Behind the solid mound-work of Devon Nicholson, Chatham clung to a 3–1 lead through seven in a tense Game 5 finale that saw Gatemen skipper Don Reed tossed in the seventh. The A's broke it open in the eighth on a Brian Peterson two-run double, and tacked on another to make it a 6–1 title-clinching win. Cepicky, who went 12-for-32 with six RBI in the playoffs, shared MVP honors with Earey, who was strong in two relief appearances on the hill while going 3-for-10 at the plate.^[82][83]

The 1999 A's enjoyed a 30-win season and finished first in the East Division, falling to Cotuit in the championship series.^[84] The team returned Currier who had another brilliant season, posting a 7–0 record with a 1.34 ERA, and being named the league's Outstanding Pitcher. Currier was joined on the staff by CCBL Hall of Famer Derrick DePriest, who did not allow an earned run in 22.2 innings of work, and was named the league's Outstanding Relief Pitcher.^[52]

The 2000s and the advent of the Anglers

The early 2000s saw a pair of CCBL Hall of Fame relievers take the mound for Chatham. Hard-throwing righty David Bush posted a 0.84 ERA and led the league with 11 saves in 2000, then returned in 2001 to record an even stingier 0.34 ERA.^[73] Fireballer Zane Carlson spent three sparkling seasons with the A's from 2001 through 2003. He earned 12 saves in each of his first two years, and 10 more in his third, with a combined three-year ERA of 2.23.^[85][33] Bush and Carlson led the 2001 squad to the CCBL championship series, but the team was defeated by Wareham.^[86][87]

Former A's manager Ed Lyons was honored by the team in 2001, as the 1982 title-winning skipper's uniform number "29" became the first number to be retired by the franchise.^[88] In 2006, the team paid the same honor to longtime assistant coach Matt Fincher, retiring his number "23".^[89]

The 2005 A's boasted a wealth of talent, as CCBL batting champion Chris Coghlan^[90] was joined by future major league all-stars Todd Frazier,^[91] CCBL MVP Evan Longoria,^[92][93] and second-year Chatham hurler Andrew Miller, the CCBL's Outstanding Pitcher and Outstanding Pro Prospect, who was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2012.^[94][23]

In late 2008, Major League Baseball announced that it would enforce its trademarks, and required those CCBL teams who shared a nickname with an MLB team to either change their nicknames or buy their uniforms and merchandise only through MLB-licensed vendors. Chatham opted to drop its "Athletics" moniker, and became the Chatham Anglers, a name which celebrated the town's nautical heritage and allowed for continued use of the "A's" nickname. The team also retained its uniform colors and pinstripe pattern.^[95][96]

The 2010s and the end of the Schiffner era

The Anglers qualified for postseason play in seven of ten years in the 2010s, but remained in a championship drought for a second consecutive decade. The 2011 Anglers featured future major league all-star and National League MVP Kris Bryant^[97] and CCBL Home Run Derby champ Richie Shaffer.^[98] In 2013, the Anglers finished in first place atop the East Division, and starred the CCBL's Outstanding Pitcher, Lukas Schiraldi,^[99] and all-star infielder J. D. Davis, who took home All-Star Game MVP honors for the East Division for his double and three-run homer in the East's 9–4 victory.^[100]

Chatham boasted the CCBL's Outstanding New England Player in consecutive seasons in 2013 and 2014. West Haven, Connecticut's Tommy Lawrence of the University of Maine took home the honors in 2013 after a stellar season in the Chatham bullpen. Lawrence posted a 3–0 record with a 1.58 ERA, striking out 23 and walking just a single batter in 28 1/3 innings.^[101] The following summer, it was Lexington, Massachusetts native and Boston College slugger Chris Shaw. Shaw clubbed seven dingers to lead the league for Chatham in 2014, and finished second in the league with 31 RBIs.^[102]

Manager John Schiffner stepped down after the 2017 season, having held the post for a league record 25 summers.^{[103][104][105]} In 2018, first-year skipper Tom Holliday^[106] led the Anglers to the league championship series, where they were downed by Wareham.^[107][108] Holliday's club finished first in the East Division in 2019, but was bounced from the playoffs by Harwich.^[109]

The 2020s

The 2020 CCBL season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[110]

Chatham missed the CCBL Playoffs in each season 2021 to 2023, marking the first time since the league moved to an eight-team playoff format that the Anglers failed to qualify for the postseason in three consecutive seasons.

The 2023 season saw the end of the Holliday era after Chatham's skipper was forced to resign mid-season due to "personal health reasons."^[111][112] Assistant coach Marty Lees was named acting manager on July 12, and led the team to a 3-11-1 record before stepping down to accept a job as head coach at Stillwater High School.^{[113][114][115]} Assistant coach Todd Shelton was named interim manager on July 28, and led the team to a 5-1 record over its final six games, highlighted by a four-game winning streak to end the season.^[116][117]

On August 21, 2023, Georgia Gwinnett College head coach Jeremy "Sheets" Sheetinger was named the 13th manager in Chatham history.^[118]

CCBL Hall of Fame inductees

The CCBL Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame honoring past players, coaches, and others who have made outstanding contributions to the CCBL.^[119] Below are the inductees who spent all or part of their time in the Cape League with Chatham.

Notable alumni

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