Orleans Firebirds

Baseball in Orleans has been played at Eldredge Park since 1913, when the land for the park was donated to the town by baseball enthusiast Louis Winslow "Win" Eldredge, “in consideration of [his] affection for and interest in the young people of Orleans and [his] desire to provide a playground for them.”[1][2]

In 1923 the Cape Cod Baseball League was formed and included four teams: Falmouth, Chatham, Osterville, and Hyannis.[3] This early Cape League operated through the 1939 season and disbanded in 1940, due in large part to the difficulty of securing ongoing funding during the Great Depression.[4][5] Orleans' entry into the league came in 1928. Wareham had been added in 1927 to bring the number of teams to five,[6] and Orleans and Plymouth were to be added in 1928, though the Plymouth entry never materialized.[7]

Blondy Ryan and Red Rolfe played for Orleans during the early Cape League era. Both went on to enjoy long major league careers. Ryan was starting shortstop for the 1933 World Series champion New York Giants, and Rolfe was starting third basemen for five New York Yankees World Series championship teams.

Orleans featured several notable figures during this era. Lynn, Massachusetts native John "Blondy" Ryan played for Orleans in 1928 and went on to play for the World Series-winning 1933 New York Giants.[8][9] New Hampshire native Red Rolfe played for the team in 1930 and would be the starting third-baseman for the New York Yankees of the late 1930s.[10] Rolfe was a four-time American League all-star, and won five World Series titles with the Bronx Bombers. While at Orleans, Rolfe played for skipper Patsy Donovan, a longtime major league player and manager who had managed the Boston Red Sox in 1910 and 1911, he piloted the Orleans team in 1929 and 1930.[11][12][13] Al Weston and Ed Wineapple played for Orleans in 1931. Weston was a former Boston College star who had played with the major league Boston Braves in 1929,[14][15] and Wineapple a 1929 Washington Senator who had played for Osterville in the CCBL for three years previously.[14][16] Lawrence, Massachusetts native Johnny Broaca played for Orleans from 1930 to 1932, and later pitched for the 1936 world champion Yankees.[17][18][19]

Orleans withdrew from the league after the 1934 season due to funding issues, but returned in 1937.[20] Massachusetts Governor Charles F. Hurley was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to open the 1937 season in Orleans as the team faced Harwich.[21][22] Orleans fielded a team again in 1938, but then was forced to withdraw from the league again for the 1939 season, after which the league itself disbanded.[23]

Orleans' 1938 team featured Danvers, Massachusetts native Connie Creeden, who batted over .400 for the season to lead the league, and went on to play for the major league Boston Braves.[24] The team's ace pitcher in 1938 was Somerville, Massachusetts native Al Blanche. Blanche was a Cape League veteran who had led Harwich's 1933 title club, then spent two seasons in the majors with the Boston Braves before returning to the Cape League in 1938 to play for Orleans.[25][26][27] CCBL Hall of Famer Bill Enos played for Orleans during this period, and would go on to be a longtime scout for the Boston Red Sox, as well as the first-ever scouting liaison for the Cape League to Major League Baseball.[28]

The Cape League reorganized in 1946 after a hiatus during World War II, and Orleans began play in the revived league in 1947. The team was originally known as the Orleans Sparklers, but soon became known as the Orleans Red Sox.[29] Orleans dominated the post-war period, winning a total of seven league championships between 1947 and 1957, including back to back titles in 1949 and 1950, and again in 1952 and 1953.

The club was skippered by Herb Fuller in 1947 and 1948,[30][31] and featured CCBL Hall of Famers Roy Bruninghaus, who was a Cape League all-star pitcher for three decades for Orleans, and had been playing with the team since the 1930s,[32] and Allen "Buzzy" Wilcox, another three-decade player, who was an infielder for Orleans for 17 years from the 1940s to the 1960s.[33] Orleans won the league title in its inaugural 1947 campaign, defeating the Upper Cape champion Mashpee Warriors in that year's championship series, which was played as a Labor Day home-and-home doubleheader. In Game 1 at Eldredge Park, Orleans got an 11-strikeout performance by Bruninghaus, and slugger Dave Bremner went 5-for-5 with a homer in the 12–7 win. Facing Mashpee's CCBL Hall of Fame ace hurler Donald Hicks in Game 2, Bremner continued his torrid pace, going 4-for-6, but Orleans trailed by two going to the final frame. In the top of the ninth, Orleans exploded for seven runs, then brought in Bruninghaus to close out the 15–10 win and clinch the club's first Cape League crown.[34]

In 1949, CCBL Hall of Famer Laurin "Pete" Peterson joined the team as catcher/manager and piloted the club for the next 14 years.[29][35] Peterson's 1952 Red Sox faced perennial Upper Cape powerhouse Sagamore in that year's best-of-five Cape League championship series. The Red Sox swept the Clouters, with pitchers Bruninghaus and Bill McCrae allowing Sagamore only two runs in the series, as Orleans took Games 1 and 2 by tallies of 5–1 and 3–1, then sealed the deal with a title-clinching 3–0 Labor Day shutout at Eldredge Park.[29]

The 1957 Orleans club was pitted against Upper Cape champ Wareham in the league title series. The Red Sox sent Doug Higgins to the mound in Game 1 and jumped ahead early with four runs in the first and never looked back, routing the Gatemen by a final of 10–1. Orleans completed the two-game sweep before a home crowd in Game 2, getting a homer and a pair of singles from Stan Wilcox on the way to a 5–3 victory that secured the club's seventh CCBL crown in 11 years.[36] CCBL Hall of Famer Art Quirk posted a remarkable 9–0 record in 1958 with a 1.12 earned run average as a pitcher for Orleans, while also leading the league with a .475 batting average. Quirk went on to play in the majors for the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Senators.[37]

In 1963, the CCBL was reorganized and became officially sanctioned by the NCAA. The league would no longer be characterized by "town teams" who fielded mainly Cape Cod residents, but would now be a formal collegiate league. Teams began to recruit college players and coaches from an increasingly wide geographic radius.[38]

The league was originally composed of ten teams, which were divided into Upper Cape and Lower Cape divisions. The Orleans team was dubbed the Orleans Cardinals, and joined Harwich, Chatham, Yarmouth and a team from Otis Air Force Base in the Lower Cape Division.

Boston Red Sox legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk played for Orleans in 1966.

Orleans was skippered in the 1960s by Dave Gavitt,[39] an Orleans pitcher in the late 1950s,[40] and later the CEO of the Boston Celtics and member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Gavitt brought Orleans to the league championship series in the 1963 inaugural year of the modern era, but the team fell short against Cotuit.[41] CCBL Hall of Famer Lou Lamoriello played for Orleans in 1963,[37] as did fellow CCBL Hall of Famer Tom Yankus, a three-year league all-star who threw a no-hitter for Orleans on July 4, 1965. Yankus would later manage Orleans from 1974 to 1980.[42] The 1965 season also saw CCBL Hall of Famer John Awdycki lead the league with a .407 batting average.[37]

In 1966, University of New Hampshire star Calvin Fisk played first base for Orleans. Near the end of the season, Calvin's younger brother Carlton Fisk joined him in Orleans, and proceeded to belt a homer in his first at-bat for the Cardinals. Though the younger Fisk played in only a handful of games for the Cardinals, he made a lasting impression. Carlton would be drafted in 1967 by the hometown Boston Red Sox, where he would be a perennial all-star throughout the 1970s, and in 2000 would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.[43][44][45]

In 1967, the CCBL All-Star Game was held at Eldredge Park, and the Cardinals' own Chuck Seelbach emerged as the winning pitcher.[46] Seelbach also tossed a no-hitter that season at Eldredge Park against a Chatham team that featured future major league star Thurman Munson.[47] The 1968 Orleans team featured CCBL Hall of Famer Phil Corddry, who went 9–2 with 108 strikeouts in 92 innings for the Cardinals to win the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award.[48][49] Another future CCBL Hall of Famer, Jim Norris, batted .415 for the Cardinals in 1969, and claimed the league MVP Award.[32] Norris returned in 1970 to bat .333 with 19 stolen bases, but surrendered his league batting crown to teammate Mike Eden, who led all hitters with a .378 mark. Holy Cross hurler Mike Pazik tossed a no-hitter for Orleans against Harwich in 1971, allowing his only base runner via hit batsman.[50] CCBL Hall of Fame first baseman Brad Linden led the Cards in 1971 and 1972. Linden was a league all-star in 1972, batting .372 with a league-leading 10 homers.[51]

Orleans failed to capture a league title in the 1960s and 1970s, but reached the league championship series four times, including back to back losses in 1970 and 1971 against a powerful Falmouth team that was in the process of completing a string of four consecutive league titles.[52][53][54] The 1974 Cardinals advanced to the title series, but were downed by Cotuit.[55][56] Orleans' Chuck Dale was the league's Outstanding Pitcher in 1978.[57]

In 1980 and 1981 the Cardinals featured shortstop Wade Rowdon, the league's Outstanding Pro Prospect Award winner in 1981, he was also the MVP of the CCBL All-Star Game at Fenway Park, a game that ended in a 4–4 tie.[58] Rowdon tied a league record with three homers in a single game against Wareham,[59] and led the 1981 team to the playoffs where they bounced Harwich in the semi-finals, but were downed by Cotuit in the league championship series.[60][61] The 1985 season was highlighted by Cardinal hurler Bob O'Brien's no-hitter against Cotuit in which he came short of a perfect game by just two walks, and benefited from outfielder Glenn Fernandez's home run-robbing catch at the fence of a smash by Kettleers' slugger Greg Vaughn.[62]

Slugger Frank Thomas (1988) was said to have hit the longest ball ever out of Eldredge Park. He made it to Cooperstown in 2014.

The Cardinals won their first league championship of the modern era in 1986. The team featured slugger Gary Alexander, who hit .313 with 12 home runs, and ace hurlers and future major leaguers Jeff Conine and Mike Ignasiak. Led by manager John Castleberry, the Cards boasted the league's best record in the regular season, and met Chatham in the playoff semi-finals. In Game 1 at Eldredge Park, the Cardinals got a three-run clout from Bart Heffernan, and Ignasiak twirled a complete game to best the A's, 6–4. Game 2 at Veterans Field went to extra innings tied at 2–2. Chatham's ace, CCBL Hall of Famer Mark Petkovsek, dominated Cardinal hitters, allowing only two hits through ten frames. In the 11th, Petkovsek gave up a lead-off single to Alexander, and was left in the game to face Kevin Garner, who popped one just over the right field fence for the series-winning walk-off score.[63]

The 1986 championship series pitted the Cardinals against two-time defending champion Cotuit. In Game 1 at home, Orleans gave starter Conine plenty to work with. The Cards exploded for four home runs, three of them by Alexander alone, and one by Garner off the bandstand in center field, in a 9–4 win. Ignasiak spun another gem in Game 2 at Lowell Park, going the distance and holding the Kettleers to just two hits and no runs. The Cards got a homer from Alexander in the first, his fourth long ball of the title series. Todd Haney added the insurance with a two-run blast in the seventh to give Orleans the 3–0 win and title series sweep, with Alexander taking home playoff MVP honors for his brilliant power display.[64][65]

In 1988, Orleans reached the championship series again, powered by CCBL Hall of Fame slugger Frank Thomas, who was said to have hit the longest ball ever out of Eldredge Park, and hit three home runs in one game at Wareham.[28] The team lost in the finals to Wareham,[66] but Thomas went on to a stellar career with the Chicago White Sox and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014. Eldredge Park hosted the CCBL All-Star Game in three consecutive seasons from 1988 to 1990. The 1988 event featured the league's inaugural All-Star Game Home Run Derby, won by the Cards' mighty Frank Thomas. The host team claimed the derby crown each of the three years, with Mike Thomas matching Thomas' feat in 1989, and Mike Gropusso doing the same in 1990.

CCBL Hall of Famer Nomar Garciaparra of the 1993 champion Orleans Cardinals.

Orleans would win another Cape League title in 1993 with a team led by skipper Rolando Casanova and starring future Boston Red Sox all-star and Cape League Hall of Famer Nomar Garciaparra, who hit .321 with 50 hits and 17 stolen bases for the Cards.[67][68] The team also included future major leaguers Aaron Boone and Jay Payton. In the playoffs, the Cardinals met Chatham in a dramatic three-game semi-final series. In Game 1 at Veterans Field, Orleans hurler Chris Ciaccio went the distance in a pitchers duel that was knotted at 1–1 going into the ninth. Payton clubbed the game-winning homer in the final frame to give the Cards the 2–1 victory. The A's answered in Game 2, shutting out the Cards, 4–0, at Eldredge Park. Orleans got the last laugh however, dominating the Game 3 finale at Chatham, taking the decisive game by a 7–1 tally.[69] In the championship series, the Cards faced a strong Wareham team, and took Game 1 at Clem Spillane Field by a 2–1 margin on a first-inning two-run homer by Aaron Boone.[70] In Game 2 at Eldredge Park, Ciaccio sparkled again, allowing only four hits. Catcher Steve Fishman snuck a two-run homer down the line in the sixth, and the Cards walked away with a 5–1 win to sweep the series and claim the crown, with Ciaccio taking home playoff MVP honors.[71][72]

The Cardinals' 1994 team starred league Outstanding Pro Prospect Award winner Dave Shepard and future major league all-star Todd Helton, who carried on a Cards tradition by winning the All-Star Game Home Run Derby at Eldredge Park.

The 1999 Orleans team featured two future CCBL Hall of Famers in pitcher Ben Sheets and league MVP Lance Niekro, as well as future major leaguer Mark Teixeira, who was named the league's Outstanding Pro Prospect.[73] Sheets, who was an all-star the previous season with Wareham, posted a 1.10 ERA in 16.1 innings for Orleans in 1999.[74] Niekro batted .360 and clobbered 13 home runs on the season,[33] and also recorded a save on the mound as the Cardinals and Wareham Gatemen set the record for the longest game in modern-era CCBL history with an 18-inning, 5 hour, 14 minute affair in Wareham. Four years later, Eldredge Park saw that record broken, as the 2003 Cardinals were downed in 20 innings by Harwich after 5 hours and 52 minutes.[75]

The 2001 Cardinals featured second baseman Russ Adams, the league's Outstanding Pro Prospect who would become a first-round pick in the following year's MLB draft. In 2002, Orleans was led by the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award winner Brian Rogers, who posted a microscopic 0.40 ERA for the season, and all-star catcher Ryan Hanigan, an Andover, Massachusetts native who was named the league's Outstanding New England Player. The team finished atop the East Division with an impressive 29–13–2 record, and prevailed over Y-D in the playoff semi-finals, but was shut down by Wareham in the title series.[76]

Emmanuel Burriss won playoff co-MVP for his exciting performance in Orleans' 2005 championship run.

Manager Carmen Carcone brought the Cards back to the title series for a second consecutive season in 2003, the team powered by playoff MVP and CCBL home run derby champion Cesar Nicolas.[77] After taking the semi-final series from Brewster, the Cardinals faced Bourne in the championship series. Game 1 was a low-scoring extra-innings affair at Eldredge Park. After Bourne went ahead, 1–0, in the third, the Cards tied it in the fourth on a deep Nicolas dinger to left, his third homer of the playoffs. The teams remained even at 1–1 going into the bottom of the tenth, when the home team loaded the bases and won it on Myron Leslie's walk-off RBI single. Game 2 at Bourne was another tight one, with Game 1 winner Ryan Schroyer coming on in relief to get the final six outs, five of them by strikeout, to nail down the 5–4 Orleans victory and complete the series sweep.[78][79][80]

Skipper Kelly Nicholson took the Cards' helm in 2005, led the team to a first-place finish in the East Division, and was honored as the league's manager of the year.[81] Nicholson's Cardinals featured CCBL Outstanding Relief Pitcher Steven Wright,[82] and Emmanuel Burriss, who led the league with 37 stolen bases. After taking the semi-final playoff series from Chatham by winning both ends of a day-night playoff doubleheader,[83] Orleans once again met Bourne for the title. Game 1 at Eldredge Park was scoreless going into the bottom of the ninth when the speedy Burriss scored the game's only run in dramatic walk-off fashion by tagging up on a foul pop. The Braves proceeded to clobber the Cards in Game 2 at Bourne by a score of 10–1. But Orleans answered early in Game 3, scoring nine runs in the first three innings. The Cards shut down Bourne hitters behind the stellar pitching of Brad Meyers and closer Wright, and cruised to a 13–1 title-clinching victory.[84][85][86] Meyers shared playoff MVP honors with Burriss, who reached base five times and scored three runs in the finale.[87]

In 2006, Nicholson's team starred future CCBL Hall of Famer and Outstanding Pro Prospect Award winner Matt Wieters.[88] A league all-star catcher, Wieters batted .307 with eight home runs, including a colossal shot off the right-centerfield bandstand at Eldredge Park.[89]

The 2009 season saw the team change its nickname, following an agreement between the Cape League and Major League Baseball which stated that if a CCBL team shared a nickname with an MLB team, the team would have to obtain its uniforms through a Major League Baseball Properties-licensed vendor. Wanting to maintain its independence and longstanding relationship with local vendors, the Orleans team opted to change its moniker to the Orleans Firebirds.[90]

CCBL Hall of Famer Kolten Wong was league MVP for the Firebirds in 2010.

Throughout the 2010s, the team continued to be skippered by Kelly Nicholson, who surpassed Laurin "Pete" Peterson as the longest-tenured manager in team history.[91] The team qualified for the playoffs in nine of ten years in the decade, winning East Division titles in 2011, 2015 and 2017, and reaching the championship series in 2013 before falling to Cotuit.[92][93] Eastham, Massachusetts native Sue Horton, the team's general manager since 2000, received the league's Dick Sullivan Executive of the Year Award in 2016.[94][95][96]

Notable players of the decade included CCBL Hall of Famer Kolten Wong, who hit .341 with 22 stolen bases to claim the league MVP Award in 2010.[97] Future major league all-star Marcus Stroman pitched for the Firebirds in 2010 and 2011, and Trevor Gott was the league's Outstanding Relief Pitcher for Orleans in 2011.[98] The Firebirds boasted the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award winners in back-to-back seasons with Kolton Mahoney in 2014,[99] and Mitchell Jordan, who tied a CCBL modern era single season record with a 0.21 ERA in 2015.[100]

Firebirds Stephen Scott and Carter Aldrete won back-to-back All-Star Game Home Run Derby crowns in 2017 and 2018, and center fielder Jimmy Herron was MVP of the 2017 All-Star Game for his game-winning RBI in the East Division's 5–3 win.[101] The 2018 Firebirds featured league Outstanding Pro Prospect J.J. Bleday, a CCBL all-star outfielder who hit .311 with five home runs,[102][103] and hurlers Mitchell Senger and Aaron Ochsenbein, who tossed a combined no-hitter against Brewster.[104] New Bedford, Massachusetts native Jared Shuster was the league's Outstanding New England Player in 2019. A league all-star, Shuster posted a 4–0 record with a 1.40 ERA in 30 innings, striking out 35 while walking only five.[105]

The 2020 CCBL season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.[106]

* During the CCBL's 1923–1939 era, post-season playoffs were a rarity. In most years, the regular season pennant winner was simply crowned as the league champion.
However, there were four years in which the league split its regular season and crowned separate champions for the first (A) and second (B) halves. In two of those
seasons (1936 and 1939), a single team won both halves and was declared overall champion. In the other two split seasons (1933 and 1935), a post-season
playoff series was contested between the two half-season champions to determine the overall champion.