Cape League Stars Honored By Red Sox

3 August 2007


 

 
Posted in: Sports 
By MATTHEW M. BURKE


    Fenway Park is a place of dreams. Just ask Lipscomb Junior Caleb Joseph, a Cape League All-Star playing outfielder and catcher for Cotuit this summer. 


Fenway Park is a place of dreams. Just ask Lipscomb Junior Caleb Joseph, a Cape League All-Star playing outfielder and catcher for Cotuit this summer. 

    As Joseph and a large number of the other 43 Cape League All-Stars, from both the eastern and western divisions, gathered around the Red Sox bullpen Wednesday, prior to a game in which the Sox would rally to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 5-4, they remained eerily silent. 

    In the pen was none other than Sox rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was throwing a bullpen session in the empty park with pitching coach John Farrell standing in the batters box.

    “Was that a gyro ball?” a player quietly quipped. “What was that, a changeup?” another whispered.

    Joseph and the other Cape Leaguers remained quiet as they watched Matsuzaka in awe, as he threw everything from curveballs to changeups, each with a loud pop in the catcher’s mitt, while CCBL coaches and players looked on smiling, bobbing their heads in silent approval.

    “The best part is, I actually played for Falmouth [in the beginning of the summer] and got cut,” Joseph said afterwards brandishing a baseball from his pocket with a smile. “I thought I was going to go home. Then I got picked up by Cotuit and a month later I’m an All-Star. I’m down here trying to just soak every minute of it up.”

    Joseph had called Matsuzaka’s name after the bullpen session. Daisuke greeted him with a reverent bow, and he flipped the Tennessee native the dirty, scuffed, baseball. Nearby, Cotuit coach Mike Roberts chatted with Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Later he would watch his son Brian, a Cape League alumni and All-Star second baseman for the Orioles, take batting practice. They were both interviewed by the Fox network as well.

    For the Cape League All-Stars, the annual trip planned by the league, and put on by the Cape’s hometown team, is an experience that remains both invaluable as a motivational tool and also as a well-deserved reward for a summer’s worth of hard work. 
The experience is also a lesson for the players. They learn that they have the talent to perhaps play on the grand stage, and that the dream is within their grasp. They also learn to be comfortable around Major League ballplayers and they even get to check out the quality of what could be their competition one day.

    “They’re really awe struck,” Cape League president Judy Walden Scarafile said describing the All-Stars. “They’re having a ball. I think our players are absolutely blown away by the enthusiasm and by the welcoming atmosphere of the Red Sox.”

    Just prior to newly acquired Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett throwing out the first pitch, the Cape Leaguers made their way from the centerfield wall toward home plate. 

    Announcer Carl Beane called their names over the loudspeaker individually and they received an ovation, along with commemorative plaques, as they were greeted at home plate by former Cape Leaguers Eric Hinske (Hyannis ’97) and Doug Mirabelli (Hyannis ‘90).
For Bourne Braves All-Star third baseman Kevin Hoef (Iowa), it was his first trip to Fenway Park and he was floored by the access they had been given. 

    Hoef spent his time before the ceremony walking around the vacant stands. He smiled and shook his head when asked if he could hit Matsuzaka. “Ah, he’s dirty,” he said. “He’s dirty…But that’s awesome getting to see him right up close and everything.”
The Illinois native grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan. “This is my first time to Fenway, and to be this close to the action and everything is great,” he said nodding his head in disbelief. “Unbelievable…unbelievable.”

    Nearby, Commodore Aja Barto (Tulane), sat with teammates soaking in the experience. “I see a few of the guys down there talking to some of the big leaguers,” he said. “They’re so mello, so cool. They’re just like any of us you know?”

    Saturday’s All-Star MVP Dennis Raben from Orleans walked around the park with Brewster’s Yonder Alonso (both are teammates at Miami) with a huge smile on his face. 

    “We were just talking to Eric Hinske, down the right field line,” he said. “He came over and said that he was in our position like eight years ago when he played in the Cape. He just came over and he was like, ‘You guys could be here in eight years – 10 years – saying the same thing to somebody else. It just puts it into perspective. It’s like a reality, because he was in our shoes.”

    The trip to Fenway for the All-Stars was the thing of dreams, a life-defining event…and a chance to be kids again. 

    Joseph not only collected Daisuke’s baseball, but he was also given a pair of batting gloves from Hinske and he collected over 20 autographed baseball cards from stars like Mike Timlin to Jonathan Papelbon.

    “I’m still a fan, even though I’m a player,” he said. “I’m just a big goober fan. I love every minute of it cuz you never know when your last day [playing the game] will be over, so you have to enjoy it.”  


 


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