HARWICH — It was not a night for baseball, much less a homecoming.

The combination of blustery winds, dark clouds, and light fog in the outfield made it a sweatshirt – not T-shirt – evening, and not surprisingly, few fans were in the stands. It seemed, in short, that the weather gods had conspired against left fielder Jared McGuire in his return to Whitehouse Field last Tuesday

But McGuire didn’t care. The former Harwich High School superstar, now a newly-minted member of the Hyannis Mets, relished every moment of his debut match-up against the Harwich Mariners, just as he’s treasured every day throughout his summer-long tour of the Cape Cod Baseball League. 

This was, after all, what McGuire and his baseball-crazy buddies dreamed about growing up: hitting, fielding, sliding into second and getting their jersey dirty in the best summer league in the country – a legendary launching pad to the major league. 

So it didn’t bother McGuire that the weather was less than perfect. Nor was he disappointed at the crowd’s lukewarm reception.

There was no red carpet rolled out for his arrival, no pre-game ceremony held in his honor. He was introduced over the PA system in the same straight-forward fashion as all the other Hyannis players, and he preferred it that way. For McGuire is the type of self-effacing athlete who’s just as uncomfortable in the spotlight as he is at peace on the field. 

Not that his night was completely free of commotion. 

Throughout his first at-bat, McGuire’s wise-cracking teammates playfully taunted him with chants of “hometown hero,” which made it as equally hard for him to wipe the smirk off his face as it did to lay down a sacrifice bunt, which he eventually did on his third try. 

Although McGuire – a veritable slugger – failed to register a hit, he made a few valuable contributions, particularly when he drew a walk on an eight-pitch at-bat in the third inning, and later scored on a sacrifice fly in Hyannis’s 7-2 win. 

“I wish I got a hit, I was really hoping to get one,” said McGuire, who finished with a pair of sacrifices in his 0-for-2 outing. “But I helped my team win, which is all I can ask for.”

The 21-year old McGuire last graced the emerald turf of Whitehouse Field back in 2003, when he led Harwich to an MIAA state tournament win over Provincetown, before embarking on a scholarship career at Boston College. 

“It was a little strange at first sitting in the visitor’s dugout, but it was still exciting to be back,” said McGuire. “Playing in the Cape League is definitely a dream come true, and it’s also a little surreal. I used to be the one wanting the autographs. Now I’m the one signing them.” 

When McGuire fantasized about playing in the Cape League, he pictured himself in Harwich, not Hyannis. But NCAA rules preclude collegians from playing for their college coaches in summer leagues (BC assistant coach Steve Englert skippers Harwich), so McGuire took his game to the mid-Cape.

Brewster, Chatham, Orleans and Yarmouth-Dennis were more suitable locations given their close proximity to McGuire’s Harwich home. But like many draft-eligible juniors, McGuire opted not to sign a Cape League contract in the fall, figuring he would be selected in Major League Baseball’s June draft. 

Undrafted, after illness and injuries spoiled the bulk of his junior year, he learned Hyannis had one open roster spot, and signed a full summer contract upon arriving at McKeon Field. 

It was a fortunate opportunity, but playing for Hyannis meant taking on a bigger challenge than that of playing for any other Cape League team – that of restoring a once reputable franchise, which set a futility mark for most losses (36) in a season last summer. Given the parity-driven nature of the league in recent years, the Mets’ inferiority was, in a word, amazing. 

But this season, with an almost entirely new cast and crew, Hyannis (12-12-2) is out of the West Division cellar and challenging for a playoff berth, thanks mainly to McGuire, who’s played a leading role in hitting .274 at the week’s start (.303 at one point last week) while driving in six runs as the team’s number two hitter.

“Jared doesn’t have too many weaknesses,” Hyannis Mets Field Manager Greg King said of McGuire’s appeal. “He’s a triple threat because he’s good in the outfield, can swing the bat well, and has speed on the bases. 

“And maybe his biggest strength is that he comes ready to play everyday and goes about his business in a very professional type of manner, which is something our younger guys can learn from. It seems that any time we’ve ordered a hit-and-run, asked him to lay down a sacrifice bunt, or hit one to the gap, he’s gotten the job done.”

That’s high praise considering every Cape Leaguer struggles to hit with wood bats – a task made tougher by battling the nation’s alpha dog pitchers each and every game. Even McGuire, who labored with lumber in lieu of aluminum in the New York College Baseball League (in ’03) and the prestigious Alaska Baseball League (in ’04), has tussled and toiled at times. 

“The Cape League is more frustrating than any other baseball I’ve ever played,” said McGuire. “You’re going to go 0-for-4 three nights in a row. But no one goes 44 games and has success day in and day out. Everyone struggles in baseball. You just have to accept it’s going to happen and fight through it.” 

The Eagle Has Landed 

One of Harwich High School’s most revered three-sport athletes, McGuire was a perennial South Shore League All-Star who excelled at soccer, hockey, and most of all, baseball. The Rough Rider’s golden glove shortstop, he hit .618 with metal bats his junior year and .518 with wood bats as a senior, while leading the small, 400-student school to three straight south sectional title games. 

So good, in fact, was McGuire on the field, frozen water, and diamond that he was named New England Male Athlete of the Year in ’03. It was an accolade that carried even greater meaning bearing in mind he beat out competitors from top prep and division one high schools for the award.

But the moment McGuire arrived at BC (enrollment is 14,000), he quickly became aware he was one of many heralded high school heroes, and would have to prove himself all over again. It was at Chestnut Hill where McGuire “found failure for the first time,” playing in only 16 games for the Eagles his rookie season. 

“In high school I was sort of a free swinger, I’d swing at everything,” admitted McGuire, who soon learned his grip-it-and-rip-it approach would no longer pass at the collegiate level. “I also learned that baseball is more of a mind game than anything else and that it’s tougher mentally than it is physically.” 

But resilient as he is ultra-competitive, McGuire bounced back and established himself as the Eagles’ starting third baseman and main offensive weapon his sophomore season, in which he led the Big East in hitting with a .397 average and 27 stolen bases, drove in 41 runs, and was named the conference’s player of the year. Such a meteoric rise had the BC coaching staff raising their eyebrows in wonder. 

“We knew what Jared was capable of doing and that he could swing that bat well, but if you told me at the beginning of the season he would put up those types of numbers, I’m not sure I would’ve believed you,” said Englert. “We never expected he would carry the way he did, but he just took off.”

As far as McGuire had come, he got a glimpse of just how far he still needed to go in order to make it to the show when he faced Boston Red Sox ace Curt Schilling in a preseason scrimmage in Ft. Meyers, Florida this spring. 

“He threw seven fastballs right by our first two guys, so I expected a first-pitch fastball,” said McGuire. “Instead he threw me a splitter. I popped it up to short stop (and I later hit into a 6-4-3 double play), but all I could think was, ‘wow, I just faced Curt Schilling.’ He’s a Hall of Famer and I can look back one day and tell my kids that I faced him.” 

Just making contact against Schilling, who hit his spots with an unparalled blend of velocity and accuracy, McGuire said, was something of a moral victory. And it was also the main highlight of a season in which there were few, or at least, far fewer than the year before. 

“I had jammed fingers, I was sick, and I lost a lot of weight,” said McGuire of his injury-ridden season. “I played through it, but I wasn’t playing 100 percent. For a while I was in a big slump.”

Though McGuire found his form late in the year and finished with a respectable .264 average, 37 RBIs and 20 swiped bags, his name was left out of the 50-round major league draft. 

“It wasn’t that disappointing because I knew ahead of time I wanted to finish my four years at BC,” said McGuire, a sociology major. “Once you get drafted, it’s tough to go back and get your degree, so my mindset has always been to finish college first, then go pro.” 

Facing An Old Friend 

On a sultry Sunday afternoon at Stony Brook Elementary School in Brewster, 

the parking lot was nearly full, the air swelled with the sweet smell of popcorn, and attentive fans clutched their cameras and scorecards. 

There was, in other words, nothing remarkable about this particular day in the Cape League, as the Mets and Brewster Whitecaps prepared to tangle – aside from the fact that McGuire would face his boyhood friend and former Harwich High School teammate Cody Crowell in the most anticipated pitcher-to-hitter match-up around these parts this side of Pedro versus Manny. 

Crowell underwent a variable and at times pressure-plagued summer last year with the Harwich Mariners. But this year, one town over and no longer in the seismic spotlight, the Vanderbilt southpaw is having an MVP-caliber season with the Whitecaps. Heading into Sunday’s game, he was leading the league in strikeouts (35 in 30.2 innings) and fashioned a 2.93 ERA. 

That fact didn’t escape McGuire’s attention when he came up to the plate to face his former classmate. But it didn’t stop him from smiling either. 

Maybe McGuire was reacting to the sheer irony of the situation, or more likely, trying to break his buddy’s concentration. But Crowell, completely stone-faced, wouldn’t bite, and promptly got McGuire to pop up to right on a first-pitch fastball. 

McGuire got the best of his compadre the next time around, breaking up Crowell’s no-hitter with a single up the middle – a hit that awoke Hyannis from its slumber, as the Mets scored twice in that inning, then doubled their total in the next frame to take a 6-2 lead. 

“I hung my change-up high and he hit it well,” said Crowell in a markedly downshifted tone. “I knew the second I let it go I made a mistake and he hit it well. But good for him.” 

Though Crowell won the rubber match, getting McGuire to pop up to right in the fifth, McGuire got the last laugh, as Hyannis walked away with an 8-7 victory.

James Darnell doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth, which narrowly scored pinch runner Jon Townsend in a contentious play at the plate, and Hyannis centerfielder Milan Dinga threw out Matt Cusick at the dish in the ninth to preserve the Mets’ win over the East Division leading Whitecaps.

Afterward, there was cause for celebration, but McGuire – true to his nature of modest reflection – didn’t boast or brag. 

“When we look back on this years from now, I’m sure we won’t remember the outcome of the game, just that we got the experience of facing each other in the Cape League,” said McGuire. “Although I’ll probably remember that I got a hit. I’m glad I did, because I’m sure if I didn’t, Cody would’ve given it to me the rest of my life,” he said, with a chuckle.

McGuire will also remember one cheer in particular. 

“It was kind of funny because during my third at-bat, I heard Cody’s mother cheering for me,” said McGuire. “I could see Cody looking at her like, ‘What is she doing?’” 

When it was all over, the two young men who began playing baseball together at age four, hang out often at each other’s houses, and keep in daily contact when they’re at their respective schools, shook hands and exchanged a few friendly words on the dusky diamond. 

It was a brief encounter, though a memorable one. For there’s no guarantee McGuire and Crowell will get the opportunity to square off against each other again, be it this season, or somewhere else down the line. And there’s no certainty either they’ll succeed in their lifelong dream of making it to the majors. 

But watching two Cape natives compete on the Cape’s biggest stage, in front of their friends, families, and legions of adoring fans, you can’t help but wonder, maybe they’ve already won. 

by Eric Adler
Eric Adler