Page 19 - Chatham Anglers 2017 Yearbook

JOHN SCHIFFNER, CAPE COD’S SENIOR MANAGER
REFLECTS ON A QUARTER CENTURY OF CHATHAM BASEBALL

he start of the 2017 Cape Cod Baseball League season when a schooner sailed through the canal during the game, the
marks an important moment in Cape Cod Baseball League umpire stopped the action for several minutes so everybody at
and Chatham A’s/Angler’s history: it is the 25th anniversary the ballfield could watch and enjoy. Or a team dinner at Nick’s Deli
Tof John Schiffner’s tenure as manager. As we spoke to during the championship 1998 season. A late-arriving Schiffner
“Schiff” this spring he reflected on his most memorable Cape found his pizza had been drenched in hot sauce by his players,
League experiences. but not before he took a bite, much to his anger and to the delight
On a typical Chatham summer afternoon, some five hours before of the team, which included seven future major leaguers (“We
the first pitch at Veterans Field, most Anglers fans can still be had been going through the motions, but things turned around
found at the beach, riding along the Cape Cod Bike Trail, or after that. That really seemed to spark them. They turned it on
winding their way through the shops on Main Street and deciding at the end.”).
whether to head to the Squire for dinner and drinks before or To Schiffner, these are the quintessential, “only on the Cape”
after the game. For them, the action begins around 7:00, when moments,” and he can rattle off a dozen just like them in the
they settle into the packed bleachers or on blankets on the hill course of a conversation. However, when pressed for the moment,
behind the right centerfield fence. he hesitates for only a second, before responding:
For Manager John Schiffner, though, those early afternoon hours “Five of my ex-players have come back to get married in Chatham.”
at Veterans Field are one of the best parts of a job he has held Included among the group is University of North Carolina’s Jeremy
since 1993. Cleveland, a member of the 2002 squad that was the subject of
“One of my absolute favorite things to do is sit on the home Jim Collins’s seminal Cape League book The Last Best League. Also
bench at 2:00 and look out at the field,” said Schiffner. “There included among the five is Wake Forest’s David Bush, who met
isn’t another coach or players around. I have spent so much of his future wife while pitching for Chatham in 2000, and would
my life here, it just gives me a sense of peace.” go on to a decade-long career in the big leagues.
From that bench Schiffner (or just “Schiff” to any of his former “That means more to me than wins and titles. It shows what we’re
players or coaches you speak with) has built a résumé that is all about here,” said Schiffner.
second to none in Cape League history. It includes the most wins When asked to elaborate, he responds “I tell every guy that plays
of any manager in league history, two league championships as here, even if it’s just for a week, ‘Once a Chatham A, always a
Chatham’s manager (1996 and 1998) and two more as an assistant Chatham A.’
coach (1982 and 1992). Of course, he has also coached dozens of “It’s a family here.”
future major leaguers, including Kris Bryant Matt Harvey, Evan
Longoria andTodd Frazier, as well as former Boston Red Sox In his quarter century at the helm, John Schiffner has been an
players like Mike Lowell, Andrew Miller and Jason Bay. Oh, and integral member of the Chatham family, watching, from that
actor Brian Dennehy played John Schiffner in the 2001 motion home bench, as those quiet afternoons turned into perfect nights,
picture Summer Catch. “Schiff” is the closest the Cape League and history unfolded and lasting memories were created by and
comes to having a living legend. for players, coaches, and fans alike.

It would take a book to properly tell the story of the magical One more thing about the view from the bench, as serene as it
moments that have taken place between Veterans Field’s can be several hours before first pitch, it’s really the place to be
white lines under Schiffner’s watch - the players, the wins, the during the middle innings of night games, when the sky over
battles with rival Orleans, the Fourth of July night games, the left-centerfield turns shades of orange and purple you will not
championship seasons. And when asked about the past few see anywhere else. It is an incredible oft-photographed image
decades of baseball, Schiffner can speak in the kind of pitch-by- (have your camera ready around 8:00), and one Schiffner recalls
pitch detail most of us would be lucky to do for last night’s Red vividly seeing during his playing days with the Harwich Mariners
Sox game. However, when pressed to pick the standout memories in the late 1970s:
from 25 years on the bench, he opts to reflect on what’s occurred “It was ‘78 or ‘79, and I’m sitting on the bench next to Tim Clifford,
outside those lines. a pitcher from Harvard, We’re looking at the sunset over right field,
Like the time Chatham was playing at the Bourne Braves, who and Tim said, “Only God can paint a picture like that.”
then played their home games at the Massachusetts Maritime
Academy. Buzzard’s Bay lay just beyond the outfield fence, and Written by Andrew Felper

2017 CHATHAM ANGLERS YEARBOOK 17