Nov. 14, 2002
CAPE COD, Mass. – Former Georgia Tech stars Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek headline a list of twelve former players, coaches and officials that have been inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League’s Hall of Fame. The 3rd Annual Cape League Hall of Fame Class was inducted Saturday, November 2 with a ceremony in Chatham, Mass.
Included in this year’s class are the Boston Red Sox dynamic duo of Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek, former major league hurlers Ron Darling and Paul Mitchell, former major league manager and current ESPN analyst Nat “Buck” Showalter, veteran umpire Curly Clement, CCBL Vice President Dick Sullivan, former administrators Russ Ford and Bernie Kilroy and former player/managers George Greer, George Karras and Bill Livesey.
” The diversity and talent of this group is exceptional, ” said Paul Galop, co-chair of the CCBL Hall of Fame Committee. “The Hall of Fame Committee and Advisory Board worked tirelessly and researching nominees and worthy candidates. There is representation of players, managers, umpires and league officials with the range of this class covering over 50 years.”
Nomar Garciaparra, Shortstop, Orleans Cardinals
After being selected to the 1992, U.S. Olympic Team, Nomar Garciaparra was shortstop and Team MVP on the 1993 Orleans Cardinals team that captured the CCBL Playoff Championship. He was the seventh leading hitter in the league (.321), collecting 50 hits and 10 doubles to go along with one home run, 18 RBI and 17 stolen bases and was named recipient of the 10th Player Manny Robello Award. He was an All-Academic and All-American at Georgia Tech, where he was a teammate of fellow Cape League Hall of Fame inductee and Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek. The hard-hitting shortstop led the Yellow Jackets to the ’94 College World Series championship game. After being a first round draft pick in 1994, Garciaparra burst onto the major league scene with the Boston Red Sox as the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year and won back-to-back AL batting titles in 1999 and 2000.
Jason Varitek, Catcher, Hyannis Mets
Jason Varitek sandwiched two seasons (1991, ’93) in the Cape League around a stint with Team USA in 1992. After hitting a respectable .263 in ’91, the switch-hitting backstop returned to win the CCBL’s Pat Sorenti Award as the League MVP and Thurman Munson Award with the highest batting avg. (.371) in 1993, while also compiling a .514 on-base pct and a .552 slugging avg. A teammate of fellow Hall of Fame inductee Nomar Garciaparra at Georgia Tech, Varitek was a three-time consensus All-America in 1992, ’93 and ’94. He was drafted in the first round by Minnesota in 1993 and then Seattle in 1994 and eventually played for the Mariners before being traded along with pitcher Derek Lowe to the Boston Red Sox, where he has become one of the top catchers in the game.
Just finishing its 117th season, the Cape Cod Baseball League is the premier collegiate summer league and currently lists 184 former players competing in the major leagues. For more information on the Cape Cod Baseball League, visit www.capecodbaseball.org.
