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In Phil Alden\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Field of Dreams<\/em> a road-weary Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) and Terence Mann (played by James Earl Jones) happen upon a hitch-hiker.\u00c2\u00a0 Looking for any \u00e2\u20ac\u02dckarma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 they can get, Kinsella and his travelling mate decide to invite the youth into their Volkswagen van.\u00c2\u00a0 After a brief exchange of greetings the bright-eyed Archie Graham announces: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I play baseball!\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m lookin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for a place to play.\u00c2\u00a0 I heard that all through the Midwest they have towns with teams.\u00c2\u00a0 And in some places they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll even find ya a day job, so you can play nights and weekends.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 In a sense the youngster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s description from the movie fits the NYCBL.<\/p>\nAs described by league publicist, John McGraw, on the front page of its website, the New York Collegiate Baseball League, founded in 1978, is a summer wood bat development league for professional baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 Major League Baseball funds a small portion of the league\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s annual budget.\u00c2\u00a0 The league gives college players who have not yet signed a professional contract the opportunity to develop their skills at a higher level of play, gain experience with wood bats, and be evaluated by scouts.\u00c2\u00a0 The NYCBL is located in scenic upstate New York.<\/p>\n
Attending a summer wood bat baseball league game is a lot like eating out while traveling out of town.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure you can go with the chain restaurants and feel safe that you will get a decent meal.\u00c2\u00a0 Chances are the host or hostess and waiter or waitress will be pleasant.\u00c2\u00a0 But you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a true impression of the region.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather you will get a slice of what corporate America wants you to enjoy.\u00c2\u00a0 On the other hand you can choose a locally-owned establishment – a ‘greasy-spoon’ sort of joint.\u00c2\u00a0 You may be taking a chance, but you may also experience something special.<\/p>\n
Amateurs play in the NYCBL, so you may see some ugliness at times.\u00c2\u00a0 But catch it on the right night and you may see something special.<\/p>\n
Rudy Tucci served as the original commissioner and the Syracuse Chiefs (no affiliation with the Triple-A team) won the first two league titles.\u00c2\u00a0 Since then teams have come and gone but the league remains.\u00c2\u00a0 The Broome Rangers amassed seven league titles from 1980 to 1991.\u00c2\u00a0 The Cortland Apples took the title in \u00e2\u20ac\u212282.\u00c2\u00a0 The Ithaca Lakers won three titles as did the Cohocton Red Wings.\u00c2\u00a0 Webster Yankee head coach, Dave Brust, led the Red Wings \u00e2\u20ac\u212286 title team.\u00c2\u00a0 The Geneva Knights, Newark Reds, and Rome Indians all won one championship and then moved on from the league.<\/p>\n
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The NYCBL is part of the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball (NACSB).\u00c2\u00a0 The alliance oversees the competition of seven other leagues:\u00c2\u00a0 the Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL), Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League(ACBL), the Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL),\u00c2\u00a0 Southern Collegiate Baseball League, Valley Baseball League, and the Cape Cod Baseball ![](\"http:\/\/www.virginia.org\/uploaded_images\/38067.jpg\")
League.<\/p>\n
Having been in existence for over one hundred years, the Cape Cod League serves as the grandfather of all summer collegiate leagues.\u00c2\u00a0 Its list of alumni is a who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who of Major League Baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2007 one out of every seven major league players spent at least one summer on the Cape.\u00c2\u00a0 With its attractive setting over the Sagamore Bridge the CCBL consists of ten teams: the Bourne Braves, Brewster Whitecaps, Chatham Athletics, Cottuit Kettleers, Falmouth Commodores, Harwich Mariners, Hyannis Mets, Orleans Cardinals, Wareham Gatemen, and 2007 league champion, Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.<\/p>\n
The Valley League boasts its own impressive list of players that have moved on to the pro ranks including the Cubs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Juan Pierre, and Boston\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mike Lowell.\u00c2\u00a0 The Valley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2007 roster includes the Covington Lumberjacks, Fauquier Gators, playing in Bing Crosby Stadium the Front Royal Cardinals, the Harrisonburg Turks, Haymarket Senators, Luray Wranglers, New Market Rebels, Staunton Braves, Winchester Royals, Woodstock River Bandits, and league champ, the Waynesboro Generals.<\/p>\n
Nick Swisher, Paul Quantrill, and Dave Dellucci all spent time in the Great Lakes League.\u00c2\u00a0 Boasting some of the best team logos the Great Lakes includes the Anderson Servants, Cincinnati Steam, Columbus All-Americans, Delaware Cows, Grand Lake Mariners, Lake Erie Monarchs, Licking County Settlers, Lima Locos, Southern Ohio Copperheads, Stark County Terriers, and the Xenia Athletes in Action.<\/p>\n
The ACBL\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Wolff Division consisted of the Jersey Pilots, Kutztown Rockies, Lehigh Valley Katz, and the Quakertown Blazers.\u00c2\u00a0 The Long Island Mustangs, Metro NY Cadets, New York Generals, and Stamford Robins made up the ACBL\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kaiser Division.<\/p>\n
Playing under the lights of Tropicana Field the Leesburg Lightning captured the 2007 Florida League title by knocking off Altamonte Springs Snappers.\u00c2\u00a0 The Sanford River Rats, Winter Springs Barracudas, Orlando Hammers, and Winter Park Diamond Dawgs round out the remainder of the league.<\/p>\n
The Morganton Aggies outlasted the Ashville Redbirds to win the 2007 Southern League Jeffers Cup.\u00c2\u00a0 The two combatants outlasted the Carolina Chaos, Carolina Sox, Davidson Copperheads, Monroe Channelcats, Spartanburg Crickets, and the Tennessee Tornado.<\/p>\n
Last but not least the DuBois Bombers captured the four-team CICL title.\u00c2\u00a0 The Bombers battled the DuPage Dragons, Quincy Gems, and Danville Dans for the crown.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first of a three-part series explores one of the many collegiate summer leagues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collegiate"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}