Children throughout Cape Cod will soon get to live one of their biggest baseball dreams thanks to Barnstable Little League and The Boston Red Sox. May 6, when the new Little League® Tee Ball season opens, it will do so on a brand new field. But this isn’t just any new field. It’s a little slice of history and dreams right in Horace Mann Public Charter School’s backyard. Fenway Cape Cod, as it will be officially named, will be a built-to-size version of Boston’s Fenway Park. Construction has already started with the opening slated to come in time for the 2017 season.
The field, designed for the league’s youngest divisions known lovingly as Blue Fish and Striped Bass, will be a complete and perfect replica built 70 miles south of the original Fenway Park. All of the most storied elements of Fenway will be present in Cape Cod, including the Green Monster.
Local league volunteers see the one-of-its kind field as a way to bring the area’s youngest eligible little leaguers out to play.
“The hope with this project is to spark more interest for kids in town to join our farm program because we know that’s where young athletes are trying sports out to see what they like,” said Joe Scott, Barnstable Little League President.
Fenway Cape Cod was designed and named in conjunction with the Boston Red Sox. The local league and its officials worked extensively with the Red Sox to use Fenway Park’s likeness. And the name “Fenway Cape Cod” was approved by the Red Sox organization.
This project is another step in a long line of work with Massachusetts State Little League for the Red Sox. Since 2013, the Boston Red Sox Foundation has partnered with many of the state’s Little League programs to provide uniforms. They have also supported the Massachusetts Little League Division Tournament in Westwood and presented the Massachusetts Little League Volunteer Coach of the Year award at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox are not the only baseball organization with ties to the Barnstable Tee ball leagues though. The Cape Cod Baseball League, a premier collegiate summer baseball league, has completed an agreement to name the 2017 teams that play on Fenway Cape Cod after its teams. This youngsters will wear replica jerseys so they look like their collegiate counterparts.
“Hopefully this helps establish lifelong fans for the Cape Cod Baseball League because that’s what keeps them going as well,” said Mr. Scott. “And, who knows, maybe one day they will be wearing the real uniforms which has happened for a few players from our league in the past.”
The Cape Cod Baseball League has developed some of baseball’s brightest stars including 2015 Home Run Derby Champion and 1998 Little League Baseball® World Series Champion Todd Frazier from Toms River, N.J., and 2015 NL Rookie of The Year Kris Bryant, a graduate of Las Vegas’s Peccole Little League.
The experience all around is one these young baseball players will carry with them for life on and off the diamond.
“Our goal is to inspire the next generation of Little Leaguers by creating the best experience possible,” said Mr. Scott. And between dressing like local stars and playing on their own version of Fenway, it’ll be hard to find a local league with more big league style than the one on Cape Cod.