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Cape League Hall welcomes 10 more

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Cape League Hall welcomes 10 more

13 November, 2009


 


By CAPE COD TIMES
[email protected]

The 10th annual induction ceremony of the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame will feature a distinguished group of former players and managers, including for the first time an incumbent member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

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In an AP file photo from 1999, Cincinnati Reds Greg Vaughn (23) is forced out at second base as Boston Red Sox short stop Nomar Garciaparra makes the catch in the second inning. Vaughn, who led the Cotuit Kettleers to two Cape League championships in his two seasons (1984-85) with the Cape Cod Baseball League, will be inducted into the Cape League Hall of Fame this weekend. Vaughn played for the Brewers, Padres, Reds, then-Devil Rays and Rockies.
AP

The enshrinement celebration is at noon tomorrow at the Chatham Bars Inn. A reception for the Class of 2009 is this evening at the Cape League's Hall of Fame at the John F. Kennedy Museum in Hyannis.

Headlining the list of 10 new inductees are five former major leaguers, including Harold “Pie” Traynor, the former Pittsburgh Pirates great. Traynor played for both Falmouth and Oak Bluffs in 1919 and went on to become a seven-time all-star third baseman with Pittsburgh. He was inducted into Cooperstown in 1948. Accepting on behalf of Traynor will be his two nieces, Marilyn Traynor Lenick and Mary Lou Fisher. 

Tomorrow's other Cape League Hall of Fame honorees who went on to play in the big leagues are Cotuit outfielder Greg Vaughn, who starred for the Milwaukee Brewers; Harwich hurler Joe Magrane, who pitched for the Cardinals, White Sox and Angels; Hyannis catcher Bill Schroeder, a former Brewers player and current television analyst; and Orleans' Art Quirk, who pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Senators. 

Rounding out this year's class are Wareham and Yarmouth-Dennis designated hitter/first baseman Mark Angelo, Orleans slugger John Awdycki, Chatham closer Zane Carlson, all-star player and manager Lou Lamoriello and Chatham manager Joe “Skip” Lewis.

This year's 10 inductees brings the total membership in the Cape League Hall of Fame to 98. 

Tomorrow's festivities will also include several baseball dignitaries. Expected to be in attendance are ESPN analysts Peter Gammons and Bobby Valentine. 

Gammons is on the advisory board of the league's Hall of Fame committee and Valentine is a former major league player and manager who played in the league for Yarmouth in 1967, when Lamoriello was his manager.

Former Boston Red Sox manager Dan Duquette is scheduled to be a presenter for Vaughn.

Tomorrow's induction ceremony will be preceded by the “Thurman Munson Commemorative Brunch,” in recognition of the late New York Yankee catcher who played for Chatham and was part of the league's Hall of Fame Class of 2000. 

Lamoriello's induction tomorrow will cap off a special week. On Monday he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Lamoriello was an all-star Cape League player and manager in the 1960s, then spent 20 years as a coach and administrator at Providence College. 

He is now in his 22nd year as president and general manager of the NHL's New Jersey Devils, where he has built three Stanley Cup champions.

In addition to the enshrinement ceremony, two major awards will also be presented tomorrow. 

Sol Yas, the league's deputy commissioner and director of officiating, will be honored as the Dick Sullivan Executive of the Year. Phil Edwards will be honored posthumously with the Fred Ebbett Lifetime Achievement Award. Edwards was a longtime league executive and Brewster Whitecaps volunteer who passed away last June.



Cape Cod Baseball League 2009 Hall of Fame inductees

Mark Angelo, Wareham and Yarmouth-Dennis – The Florida Southern standout, a 1981 All-American and member of the Division II national championship team, Angelo played in the Cape League for three seasons (1980-82) with Wareham and Yarmouth-Dennis, batting .317 with 26 home runs, 33 doubles and 110 RBI. He hit .335 with a league-leading 14 homers and 47 RBI in 1981 for Y-D and followed that with a .325/12/44 campaign in '82. He is the only player to have two seasons with 100 or more total bases and the only player to have hit 10 or more home runs in two separate seasons. 

John Awdycki, Orleans – The UMass product won the Cape League batting title in 1965, hitting .407 for Orleans with 44 hits, 28 RBI and 22 runs scored. A two-time All-New England and All-Yankee Conference selection for the Minutemen in 1963-64, Awdycki led UMass to a 32-22-1 overall record in his three varsity seasons and was named team MVP in 1964, hitting .303 as a first baseman-outfielder. In 1966, he was one of the top hitters in the semi-pro Quebec Provincial League for Thetford Mines, where his manager was fellow 2009 CCBL Hall of Fame inductee Lou Lamoriello. Awdycki was a coach at Orleans in Cape League from 1968-75 and was also GM in his last season.

Zane Carlson, Chatham – The flame-throwing right-hander from Baylor finished his three-year career with Chatham as the Cape League's all-time saves leader (34) to go along with a 2-4 record, 2.23 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 65 innings pitched. After pitching for Team USA in 2000, Carlson compiled a 1.23 ERA with 12 saves at Chatham in 2001 and then won the Russ Ford Award as the league's top reliever in 2002 with a 2-2 record, 3.13 ERA and 12 saves. He topped it off in '03 by posting 10 saves and a sparkling 1.35 ERA. He was chosen by the Kansas City Royals in the 27th round of the 2004 MLB amateur draft.

Lou Lamoriello, Harwich, Orleans, Bourne/Sagamore and Yarmouth – The Johnston, R.I., native via Providence College spent six summers on Cape Cod diamonds as a player and manager. He played at Harwich (1961-62), Orleans (1963) and Bourne (1964), where at age 21 he also assumed the role of manager. He captured the Cape League championship as Sagamore's non-playing field boss in 1965 and he managed Yarmouth in 1967. His 1965 title-winner featured two future CCBL Hall of Famers – UConn shortstop Bob Schaefer and Providence College pitcher Noel Kinski. Lamoriello was a three-time All-Star infielder and outfielder. He had a career regular-season batting average of .325 and hit .372 in 12 career playoff games. He spent 20 years as a coach and administrator at PC before being named president and general manager of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils in 1987 and is currently in his 22nd year with the Devils, whom he has guided to three Stanley Cup championships. 

Joe “Skip” Lewis, Chatham – In five seasons as manager at Chatham in the 1960s, Skip won four Lower Division championships and captured the 1967 league title by defeating Falmouth. His teams finished as runner-up three times, losing to Sagamore and Lou Lamoriello in 1965 and to Falmouth and Bill Livesey in '66 and '69. Like Lewis, both Lamoriello and Livesey would later be elected to the CCBL Hall of Fame. His five-season 132-59-3 record produced a league-best .688 career winning percentage. Lewis was the first manager, and one of only two, to win 30 games in consecutive seasons (1966-67). CCBL Hall of Famer Bob Schaefer (with Hyannis in 1978-79) is the other, and the two remain the only managers in league history to have won 30 games more than once. Lewis averaged a league-best 26.2 wins per season in his five years in the Cape League and was the first manager to capture three straight division titles. 

Joe Magrane, Harwich – A left-handed pitcher out of the University of Arizona, Magrane led Harwich to a league-best 27-15 record in 1984 as he tied for the CCBL lead in wins (6), complete games (6) and shutouts (2), while finishing third in innings pitched (80.1) and strikeouts (77) and fourth in ERA (2.46). Magrane was the starting pitcher in the All-Star Game vs. the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League played at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium and was credited with the win for pitching two shutout innings. The St. Louis Cardinals' No. 1 draft choice in 1985, he made his big league debut in 1987 and pitched eight seasons in the majors – six of them with St. Louis – compiling a career record of 57-67 with a 3.81 ERA. His best season was 1989, when he won 18 games (18-9) and posted a 2.91 ERA for the Cardinals. He is currently a commentator for MLB Network.

Art Quirk, Orleans – A Rhode Island high school star who achieved further prominence at Dartmouth College, Quirk made one of the most memorable Cape League debuts ever. The little left-hander took the mound for Orleans on an early June evening in 1958 and proceeded to strike out 17 and go 3-for-5 at the plate as he led Orleans to a victory over Dennis. Two weeks later, he threw a three-hitter and fanned 15. Quirk's pitching and batting prowess carried Orleans into the playoffs as he compiled a spectacular 9-0 record with a 1.12 ERA and a league-leading .475 batting average. Although sidelined by a late-season leg injury, he signed with Baltimore in 1959 and spent five years in professional baseball, including 1962 as an Oriole and 1963 with the Washington Senators. After baseball, he embarked on a successful business career and earned statewide recognition in Connecticut for his tireless volunteer efforts on behalf of many worthy causes.

Bill Schroeder, Hyannis – A slugging catcher, he led Clemson to the 1978 ACC championship and continued his heavy hitting as he sparked the Hyannis Mets to a dominating 31-11 CCBL season. His 15 home runs set single-season records that still stand for the most ever by a Met and most by a Cape League catcher. He was the seventh player to lead the league in two Triple Crown categories – home runs (15) and RBI (38) – and received three post-season honors – All-League catcher, Outstanding Pro Prospect and Most Valuable Player. He was voted the first-team catcher on the CCBL 1970s All-Decade Team. He played eight MLB seasons, the first six with Milwaukee, which drafted him in the eighth round in 1979, and has been an analyst on Brewers telecasts since 1995.

Harold “Pie” Traynor, Falmouth and Oak Bluffs – The first incumbent member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (inducted in 1948) to be elected to the Cape League Hall of Fame, Traynor played for a team which represented both Falmouth and Oak Bluffs in 1919. He hit a robust .447 with Falmouth and led the team to a combined 18-7 record with his overall batting average of .322. A seven-time NL All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Traynor compiled a .320 lifetime batting average during 16 seasons, hitting .300 or higher 10 times. He was voted the best third baseman in the first half of the 20th century.

Greg Vaughn, Cotuit – The Sacramento City star led Cotuit to two Cape League championships in his two seasons with the Kettleers. He hit .261 with four home runs and 12 stolen bases in 1984 and returned in 1985 to win league MVP honors by batting .343 with 10 home runs, 29 RBI and 15 stolen bases. He is one of six players to reach double digits in both steals and home runs in a season. Vaughn signed with Milwaukee after being drafted in the first round in 1986. He also played for the Padres, Reds, Devil Rays and Rockies. Vaughn belted 50 home runs in 1998 and was a four-time MLB All-Star.
 


 



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