Profile P E T E R G A M M O N S
Home Game PETER GAMMONS AND THE CAPE LEAGUE: A FEEL-GOOD STORY
BY BILL HIGGINS
Peter Gammons is widely recognized as a giant of baseball journalism. He is the game’s poet laureate for his insightful analysis and voluminous knowledge. Now in his sixth decade chronicling the sport, he shares a place with Babe Ruth in Cooperstown, New York, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. In 2004, Gammons was honored with his profession’s most prestigious prize — the Career Excellence Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing. However, when he isn’t patrolling press boxes at Fenway Park or other venues around the Major Leagues in the summer, he can often be found enjoying Cape Cod Baseball League games at Lowell Park in Cotuit or Fuller Field in Falmouth. Gammons, who lives in the Bourne village of Cataumet, doesn’t need the big leagues to quench his baseball thirst. Cape League action returns him to his youth in the central Massachusetts town of Groton, and to the roots of the game when young players dream of bright lights and stardom. “I love everything about the Cape League…watching players on that final step before they go to the pros,” sys Gammons. “Cotuit is absolutely one of my favorite places anywhere to 66 » capecodandtheislandsmag.com
see a game. It’s just a great atmosphere.” Gammons has been a fan of the Cape League for many years—professionally because it’s a breeding ground for future stars and personally because it’s home. Now 76, he and his wife, Gloria, bought their Cataumet house in 1993 and moved here full time five years ago. When the coronavirus pandemic erupted in March 2020, he was in Arizona covering spring training. Baseball shut down and he returned home, working remotely while enjoying sunsets over Buzzards Bay. He missed spring training earlier this year for the first time since 1971. He also was without his beloved Cape League last summer when the season was canceled. Now he’s anxious to get back to games. “It’s been a pretty strange year for everyone, but at least we live in a beautiful place,” says Gammons. “Looking out at the water, enjoying everything around here has made it a little easier. Not having the Cape League was tough. It’ll be great for all the people and the players to have games again. The league means so much to everyone. I think we’ll all appreciate a little more how much fun it is to be in Chatham or Cotuit, or anywhere around the Cape.”
