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Baseball by the Beach by Christopher Price

Published in 1998, Baseball by the Beach, is perhaps the best attempt to capture the history of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The book isn’t perfect by any means, and could have used one or two more edits, but it is a must-read for fans of the league. Before reading the book, I was unaware of the popularity of the league in the early-mid 20th century.

In contrast to The Last Best League, this book does not peer into the lives of the players. It is a high-level view of the league, past and present (up to 1997). The bulk of the book summarizes each generation of the league, from the town team beginnings to the modern day NCAA and MLB-sponsored league. It is mostly sequential, but jumps around a little in the individual chapters. The last part of the book summarizes the history behind each team.

I really think this book deserves another publication with an update. Another Cape League book that I will read at some point is Beach Chairs and Baseball Bats by Steve Weissman. That book was released for the 2005 season, and I foolishly passed up an opportunity to buy it and get it autographed by the author at the last game of the season at Y-D. Maybe I’ll wait for next season and see if he is there opening day at Y-D