Veterans Field is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

venue in

Chatham, Massachusetts Chatham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeast tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by the English in 1664, the township was originally called Mo ...

, home to the Chatham Anglers of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

(CCBL). The

ballpark A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

is located in downtown Chatham along Massachusetts Route 28. Nestled within a natural bowl of embankments that provides ample spectator vantage points, Veterans Field has been called a "panorama of beauty," and "a portrait right out of ''

Yankee Magazine ''Yankee'' is a bimonthly (once every two months) magazine about lifestyle, travel and culture in the New England region of the United States, based in Dublin, New Hampshire. The first issue appeared in September 1935. It has a paid circulation ...

''." The ballpark features a large adjacent playground, and draws from the bustling foot traffic of nearby Main Street shops. The grassy right field hillside seats fans on blankets and beach chairs, and is topped by the quaint backdrop of the town's fire house and the former rail station that is now the Chatham Railroad Museum. The infield is the location of the Town's first high school, constructed in 1858. With the construction of the consolidated school (now the Community Center) in 1924, the high school was moved the several hundred feet and grafted onto the new building thus clearing the way for Veteran's Field to be built. Surrounded on three sides by the sea, the town's geographic location frequently produces "fog delays" during evening ball games, an oddity that has come to be seen as symbolic of the unique flavor of baseball in Chatham. A charter member of the original four-team Cape Cod Baseball League that began play in 1923, Chatham quickly got to work constructing a field that would host its town baseball team and other town events. In 1925, the plot of land for Veterans Field was acquired, and its name was settled upon "as a memorial to those from Chatham who served in the

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

and all other wars." By the early spring of 1927, final grading of the field was being completed, and that season both the Chatham High School baseball team as well as the Chatham CCBL franchise began play at the park. Various improvements to Veterans Field have taken place since its original construction. A 2008 grant from the Yawkey Foundation provided the impetus for significant upgrades to the lighting and outfield playing surface, as well as the installation of a brick backstop and protective netting. In 1984, Veterans Field hosted a contest between the CCBL all-stars and the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

, which was touring in preparation for the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Veterans Field again hosted a CCBL-Team USA matchup in 2000, as the national team prepared for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. The 2000 event drew a reported 10,000 fans, the largest crowd to date ever to witness a sporting event on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. The 2001 Hollywood

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

Summer Catch ''Summer Catch'' is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Tollin and starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel and Matthew Lillard. The film marked Tollin's feature film List of directorial debuts, directorial debut. The settin ...

'' was set in Chatham, and used Veterans Field in its portrayal of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Veterans Field hosted the CCBL's annual all-star game festivities in 1964, 1968, 1971, 1998, 2008, and 2016, and has seen Chatham claim CCBL championships in 1967, 1982, 1992, 1996, and 1998. The ballpark has been the summertime home of dozens of future major leaguers such as

Thurman Munson Thurman Lee Munson (June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979) was an American professional baseball catcher who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees, from 1969 until his death in 1979. A seven-time All-Star, Mun ...

Jeff Bagwell Jeffrey Robert Bagwell (born May 27, 1968) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and coach who spent his entire 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) playing career with the Houston Astros. Originally a Boston Red Sox fourth- ...

, and Kris Bryant.

References

{{reflist

External links

Chatham Anglers official websiteCape Cod Baseball League official website
Cape Cod Baseball League ballparks Chatham, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

See also

References

External links