Cape Cod Baseball League Receives Field Improvement
Grant from Yawkey Foundation

Cape Cod, Mass-- The Cape Cod Baseball League announced today it has received a $300,000 grant from the Yawkey Foundation to support the construction of new baseball fields in the towns of Bourne and Brewster. 

     These two fields support the activities of the Cape League, as well as countless community baseball leagues, including high school, Babe Ruth League and American Legion baseball teams.

     "We're grateful to partner with the Yawkey Foundation in continuing our long tradition of high quality, hometown baseball on Cape Cod. This grant will bring the gift of amateur baseball to so many of those who play for the sheer love of the game," said Dick Sullivan, Chair of the CCBL Field Improvements committee. 

     The Foundation has a long history of supporting the Cape Cod Baseball League and this grant will be part of a continuing effort to sustain and revitalize the area's playing fields. This grant will help fund necessary improvements thereby helping the towns, the community and children, who will have access to the joys of community baseball. 

     "Jean Yawkey was as passionate about amateur baseball as she was about major league play. The Cape Cod Baseball League has been instrumental in nurturing and establishing some of the great players in the game today," noted Jim Healey of theYawkey Foundation. 

     The project in Bourne will build a new field in a lovely setting overlooking the Bourne Bridge and the Cape Cod Canal. This new field will eliminate safety and traffic issues. Students from Upper Cape Regional Technical High School will be instrumental in the design and construction of the Bourne field located on their campus.

     In Brewster, the grant will help bring baseball to the community by building the town's first baseball field complex. Adjacent to the Stony Brook Elementary School, the Brewster field will be readily accessible to local children and citizens. It intersects with the Cape Cod Bike Trail and is near  Nickerson State Park.

     Enjoying its 120th season in 2004, the Cape Cod Baseball League is the premier NCAA-sanctioned summer baseball league in the country. A total of 193 former Cape Leaguers are currently performing in the major leagues. The CCBL attracted a league record 303,728 fans during the 2004 season.

John Garner, Jr.
CCBL Director of Public Relations & Broadcasting
(508) 790-0394 johnwgarner@earthlink.net