14 July, 2004


Braves Expand Hall of Fame
Mueller, Youkilis among the inductees

     The Bourne Braves Hall of Fame will add nine players to its list Sunday afternoon at 3:30 prior to the Coady Field game against Hyannis.

     The honorees include the late Kempton Coady, Romeo “Mayo” Ferretti, John Jenkins, Don Cunningham and his late brothers Jack and Eldon, Ricky Anderson and current Boston Red Sox players Bill Mueller — who played for Bourne in 1992 — and Kevin Youkilis who was a Brave in 2002 and was just sent down to the minor leagues in the latest Beantown roster shuffle.

     Braves historian Dudley Jensen of Bourne said the new honorees were baseball standouts, who each in their own way contributed to Cape League baseball in Bourne and Sagamore during their time.

     Coady’s son, Malcolm Coady of Monument Beach, will represent his father. Ferretti’s nephew Lewis will represent his uncle.
The roster of Hall of Famers encompasses four eras designed by the Braves franchise: prior to 1923, 1923-39, 1946-1963 and the present.

     Jensen said the Braves would like to incorporate a Hall of Fame area into one of the buildings that might be included in the new Braves Field being designed for the campus of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School off Sandwich Road.

     Events such as the Hall of Fame selection are partly designed to boost community interest in the team as well as the league. The Braves suffered the loss of about $35,000 in corporate sponsorship money this season. The loss affects the franchise organizationally and does not help with prospects for securing sponsorships for the new field, Jensen said.

     The roster last year included early Bourne Selectman Benjamin Bourne, who donated land for a ballfield off what is now Perry Avenue in Bourne village and early Bourne Town Clerk Ordello Swift, who was responsible for raising money that put the team and the league on a sound footing after World War I.

     “In the early days, the Bourne team was housed at Everett Road in Buzzards Bay before the new bridges went in,” Jensen said. “They walked across the old drawbridge to the field that Benny Bourne and Ordello Swift had first made possible.”

     Youkilis moved into the third base position after his fellow Braves alumnus Mueller hurt his knee and was out with surgery. There is a 10-year difference in their ages. They both, however, started their trek to the big leagues as Braves in Bourne. 

     Jensen said the new Hall of Famers will receive appropriate plaques at the Fan-fest next winter. He is hopeful Mueller and Youkilis will be free of off-season obligations and can attend the event.