Contributed by Roy Reiss

75 Years of Cotuit Kettleers Memories

2022 will be a very special year for the Cotuit Kettleers as we celebrate the 75^th year of baseball on Cape Cod. Many people have contributed over the past 75 years-players, donors, house parents, coaches, volunteers and of course the many fans who have flocked to Lowell Park to watch and cheer for the Kettleers. This is another in the series as we recall the many memories people have of the Cotuit Kettleers! 

Brian Scott-Former Coach 7 Years, 2010-2016

Congratulations to the Kettleers for entering their 75th year of baseball on the Cape! I feel as though I could write a whole book regarding what the Kettleers mean to me and my family, as I was fortunate to be an assistant coach on Coach Roberts’ coaching staffs from 2010-2016. It’s amazing how much has changed in Cotuit for the Kettleers since 2010, including hundreds of players and many different assistant coaches, volunteers, interns, athletic trainers, photographers, host families, batboys, baseball clinic participants, and fans, not to mention a totally revamped, even more beautiful Lowell Park and facilities.  I have no doubt that all of those people have felt very fortunate and blessed to have spent any amount of time in Cotuit with the Kettleers organization. 

I kept returning to Cotuit for seven summers in part because I wanted to try to help play a role in the Kettleers organization’s efforts to give everyone involved a wonderful experience based around baseball in Cotuit (and because Coach Roberts made the mistake of telling me during my first summer that I was always welcome back in Cotuit to coach with him).  I also returned to Cotuit because of many of the things that remain the same: the beauty of Lowell Park, in large part due to the hard, never-ending work of Al and Sue Blanchette and other volunteers, the friendly pep talks and behind the scenes work of Sue Pina, the year-long, tireless efforts of Bruce, Allyson, and Gloria Murphy as the general managers, Stacy Wardwell’s versatile work in whatever role is needed at the time, the iconic voice of the Double R, Roy Reiss, the superfamilies like the Flahertys and the Fishers, clinic night at Lowell Park, slip-n-slide on Fridays at camp, and of course, Coach Roberts. I cannot express enough the immense impact that Coach Roberts has had on so many people in Cotuit, from current Major Leaguers to assistant coaches to interns to campers to fans who chat with him and watch him in action throughout the summer. Coach has poured his heart and soul into the village and into the organization, and the Kettleers are so fortunate to have him as our skipper. I am grateful for his friendship and the other close friendships that I still maintain with the men and women that I have coached with in Cotuit.

Another way to express how much Cotuit and the Kettleers mean to me is evident when I think about how many games my wife, Jessamy has attended at Lowell Park or streamed online (including in the days when the livestream left much to the imagination of the viewers and you were better off with just the sound), or how my daughter Wren (5 years old) knows that we “root, root, root for the Kettleers” or how my son Lincoln (20 months old) loves the book “Good Night Cape Cod.” I cannot wait until I am able to bring my family to visit Cotuit to take in a Kettleers game, visit the Coop, the library, and the beach, but until then we will settle for our tradition of livestreaming the game on opening day and grilling our hot dogs.

Please forgive me if I have left out an important aspect or person for why the Kettleers mean the world to me. I will always consider Cotuit to be home, and the Kettleers mean so much to me because of the relationships, the ballpark, and the memories. 

Cotuit love,

Brian Scott