Final Post, The Last Best League

Well, this has been a very interesting and exciting end to the book. The Catham A’s, having won their way into the playoffs, are now facing their rival the Brewster Whitecaps. The game was an amazing one, the game went into the tenth inning when the Whitecaps hit a three run blast to put Brewster out 5-2. The A’s slumped on the bench as if they had already lost but the veteran coach, John Schiffner, got the squad up and at ‘em. Schiffner had been in many situations in his life but had never been in one quite like this. Schiffner was a coach that was used to losing, but this specific ball team had something that no other team had, togetherness. They had gone through the tough times and the glorious times as a squad, not individually. Schiffner believed in his squad and in the bottom of the tenth pulled through will small ball and smart strategies. In front of the biggest crowd in Catham Veterans Field history, the Catham A’s won their first playoff game in 5 years. Schiffner was used to losing his players to team USA during the season and abandoning the A’s, but this team had nowhere to go but stay here and win. This book was spectacular and gave me great insight on how the Cape Cod League works. This book ends with commentary on where the players went after the A’s. Most of the players either got drafted and went straight into the majors of went to the AAA teams. A very few of them went on to live successful lives as working citizens, jobs that include doctors, lawyers, architects, entrepreneurs, and so on. I highly recommend this book to any baseball lover who has dreams of making it to the big show, or for that matter anywhere that will get you to the big show.

OR Winter Break #3

In the final chapter I read over winter break the boys arrive in Tampa, Florida where their tournament is being hosted. But first they all needed to check into their hotel room a the AmericInn before they could go exploring before their game tomorrow. All of them had to room with one other guy, some had to go 3 to a room because of the tournament and all the scouts and what not at the event. So all the boys check in and grab some free food from the little buffet area and head down the street walking to the stadium because they definitely dont have the type of money to be spending on 10 cab trips when you can walk there in 15 minutes. Walking into the stadium they see everything from food vendors to merchandise vendors to scouting tents. Some scouts notice the team walking around and talks with a couple of the older players. Everybody knows that when a scout is around you have to be on your best game because one mistake would move you right down the totem poll. This chapter ends with the boys walking home in the dark down a little highway making them a little nervous, but they eventually get home and all go to bed for the big game tomorrow.

OR Winter Break #2

Recently in my book the boys enter a tournament in Tampa, Florida. They play all the teams in their league so I guess its more of an elite showcase rather than an actually tournament. I left off where the boys were going on their trip on the team bus. They all entered the bus and where just jumped to be riding it to their tournament, one player even brought a PS2 with the recent MLB game so that all of his teammates could play and keep their mind on baseball. They are on the bus for 3 hours and decide to take a dinner break at McDonalds where all the guys just pig out because the owner of the Catham A’s is paying and all of these players are very poor. They sit at the McDonalds and converse for about 30 minutes taking up the whole back seating area of McDonalds. This chapter ends with the boys going to bed on the bus, all of them sprawled everywhere from the couches to the beds and even in the chairs.

OR Winter Break #1

I have to be perfectly honest with you and say that during winter break I did not read my book as much as I wanted to. When you have a choice between reading your book indoors or skating at the park outdoors its kind of an easy choice. My book ended off with the boys having dinner with each other and watching the game on ESPN. This section was actually pretty jam packed with baseball. The guys go through a full week of practice before starting a tournament in Tampa, FL. Now usually the boys have to drive their separate ways to every game but the owner, who everyone seems to like a lot, decides to make this tournament a little more fun and gets a team bus for the rides. I only got up to the part where the boys were getting on the bus but this section definitely got me in a mood other than hockey.