I have spent the past couple of hours at Red Wilson Field, home of the reigning Cape Cod Baseball League champion Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. It has taken me less than two hours to come to one simple conclusion – I’m in heaven.

Right now, Orleans and Yarmouth-Dennis are in the bottom of the second inning, and about 1,500 of us are taking in the action. None of us had to pay, many of us have looked forward to this game all day, all of us are watching the best college baseball players in the country.

For two months each summer, Cape Cod is transformed into a baseball fan’s paradise. On most days, five games take place on the Cape, all of them featuring future Major
League players.

During my time in Yarmouth, I have chatted with a teacher who spends his summer coaching the Orleans Cardinals, a gentleman from London who is taking in his first game on the Cape, a player from two-time defending Division II national champion Tampa, the league leader in saves who hails from Baylor and many others.

Before the game began, about 30 kids hustled out with the Yarmouth-Dennis players to stand on the field during the national anthem. Their smiles stretched about as far as you can imagine.

Orleans first baseman Jose Jiminez (Tampa) says folks would be surprised that a Division II player is succeeding on Cape Cod.