Coronavirus cancels summer baseball in Cape Cod for future major leaguers
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A summer baseball showcase in Massachusetts for future big leaguers has become a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Cape Cod Baseball League announced the cancellation of the 2020 season for college players on Friday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s devastating. I’ve been in it [for] 34 years. We have never had a delay or canceled season, so it’s significant,” the league’s president Chuck Sturtevant told Fox 25 Boston on Sunday.
The Cape Cod Baseball League canceled its 2020 summer season due to coronavirus. (iStock)
Sturtevant said summer night games usually draw crowds of 1,500 or more fans. With current social-distancing measures in place, it would have been impossible to safely seat fans along the sidelines.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It was the hardest decision that all of us had to make, but I believe in my heart that it was the right decision and we just have to go forward to have a better league next year,” he told the station.
Cape Cod baseball season runs from June to early August with 10 teams vying for the league championship.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The league has been in existence since 1885 and hasn’t missed a season since 1945, the last year of World War II.
MLB Hall of Famers who have played Cape Cod ball include: Craig Biggio, Frank Thomas, and Carleton Fisk.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Hall of Famers also includes Pie Traynor, considered the greatest third baseman of all time. He played Cape Cod ball in 1919.
MLB is still mulling how to hold a 2020 season. Reports say one plan under discussion calls for playing games in the Phoenix area with players under quarantine during the season.