Cape Crusaders by Mike Thomas
Overall, Cape Crusaders is worthy of its spot amongst the literature about the Cape Cod League. The four premier books about the league each have their own place. Baseball by the Beach by Christopher Price focuses on the history of the league. The Last Best League by Jim Collins focuses on the 2002 Chatham A’s and follows the team throughout the season. Beach Chairs and Baseball Bats by Steve Weissman takes a modern day approach and goes behind the scenes of a typical season. And finally, Cape Crusaders tells a lot of the stories about the players and other people involved in the league.
Cape Crusaders is not without its share of typos, and the author made an unusual decision naming the book the same name as an amateur soccer team. Nevertheless, it was a pleasurable read and the author seemingly holds nothing back. For example, I am sure Jeff Kent would be embarrassed to find out that the book mentions how he cried and eventually ended up quitting the Cotuit Kettleers.
Another part of the book I really enjoyed was Chapter 7: “The Icons.” The chapter looks at a dozen of the people that have dedicated their time and energy to the league. It was nice to see a section on Arnie Allen, the longtime Falmouth Commodores equipment manager who eventually passed away from cancer, and another section on Ivan Partridge, a Cotuit Kettleers fan who is famous for shouting “have a hit” and “have an out” at games. Ivan is practically the team mascot, and he does not have to wear a silly suit.
I’d recommend this book to baseball fans curious about the past lives of current major leaguers, and Cape League fans looking to hear some of the stories they may not have heard. I would not recommend this book as a first introduction to the Cape League. For that, I would recommend the documentary on DVD entitled Touching the Game: The Story of the Cape Cod Baseball League and Beach Chairs and Baseball Bats by Steve Weissman.
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