by Roy Reiss
November 20, 2013
It was business as usual at the November monthly meeting, the last session of the calendar year for the Cotuit Athletic Association
- Coach Mike Roberts and GM Bruce Murphy reported 4 members of the championship 2013 team are scheduled to return in 2014, Rhett Wiseman (Vanderbilt), Drew Jackson (Stanford), Garrett Stubbs (Southern Cal), and Max Schrock (South Carolina). In addition 3 members of Texas A&M will be headed to Cotuit this summer, Hunter Melton, Logan Taylor, and A.J.Minter. Prospects from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Texas, and Pepperdine are also on the projected roster.
- Meanwhile work on the new dugouts should commence before the end of the year and be ready in late spring as part of the Capital Improvement Project undertaken by the CAA. The home and away dugouts will be much wider and longer than the old structures and should provide both teams with ample room. They’ll also fit in with the rest of the beautiful architecture of Lowell Park with the green roofs and shingled sides. In other business both the operating and capital budgets were approved while Coach Roberts announced that Brian Scott will be returning for his 5th season as assistant coach. Coach Roberts called Scott “the best assistant I’ve ever worked with”.
Garrett Atkins slides home (Coach Mike Coutts 22 in background). Photo courtesy of Cape Cod
Times
One of the November highlights of the CCBL is the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony where former Kettleers infielder Garrett Atkins (1998-99) was one of the 8 new inductees to be honored. Prior to the ceremony we had the opportunity to interview the new HOF member.
What are some of your recollections of your time in Cotuit?
It’s been almost fifteen years so it’s a bit difficult, but I remember coming out and staying with a great host family (Bernie and Geoff Rehnert) and the baseball side of playing with a lot of guys who wound up in the big leagues (Chase Utley, Aaron Harang and Dane Sardinha) . The first season I don’t think we were very good, but the second season in ’99, we were able to win the championship so that was a lot of fun . It was the first experience of what pro ball would be like, waking up and playing baseball is kind of your only job and traveling around the Cape was a lot of fun.
How did the experience shape your playing career?
Garrett Atkins congratulated by teammates. Photo courtesy of Cape Cod Times
My experience on the Cape was really so important to my future development in the major leagues. It’s actually your first extended use with the wood bat having used the aluminum in college. Some guys struggled to get used to it, but I was kind of lucky as my swing was able to translate pretty well to the wood bat. It really helped my draft stock being able to put up a couple of good years out here on the Cape against some of the top competition in college.
Outside of baseball did you do anything special on the Cape?
We really didn’t do a heck of a lot. They didn’t give you too many off days back then. If you were lucky enough to get a rain out or something like that, my host family would take us out on a boat or go the beach. I had a pretty good setup and the Rehnerts took very good care of me.
- A couple of left-overs with Cotuit ties from the gala CCBL Hall of Fame weekend. Two former Kettleers served as presenters during the induction ceremonies. Joe Russo, one of the slickest fielding Kettleers shortstops back in the 60’s who later went on to coach at Chatham, presented pitcher Mickey O’Connor, while David Duncan (Georgia Tech), a southpaw pitcher on the Kettleers 2006 squad, had the honor of presenting his college teammate Matt Wieters (Orleans) … One of the nice moments was when CCBL Hall of Famers Arnold Mycock and Dick Bresciani were spotted reminiscing about the old days as Bresciani recalled a 1969 visit to sun splashed Lowell Park.
Kettleers Korner will be anything and everything that might interest fans, past and present, about the Kettleers. Roy Reiss, who started his career working for Curt Gowdy Broadcasting, was a former sportscaster on Channel 7 and several radio stations in Boston. His son Mike now covers the Patriots for ESPNBoston.com.