Page 21 - Chatham Anglers 2017 Yearbook

league championship series in 1989 and 1991, but they would not come up short in Offensively, San Francisco’s Matt Purkiss clubbed a team-best five home runs and 24
‘92. Hill went on to a notable coaching career at the University of San Francisco and has RBI’s., while UConn’s Jason Grabowski added three homers and 17 RBI’s. Grabowski would
been the long-time Head Coach at the University of San Diego. reach the big leagues with both the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles.
“We didn’t have superstars, but they just enjoyed playing together,” recalls Schiffner, Southern California’s Seth Etherton led the rotation in wins (four) and strikeouts (68),
then an assistant for Hill. “We just went out and won and kicked people’s butts.” and would go onto play for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland
Cape League Hall of Famer Steve Duda, fresh off winning the College World Series at Athletics, and Kansas City Royals. Etherton is currently a minor-league pitching coach
Pepperdine, was the staff ace, posting team-best marks in wins (6), innings pitched for the Cincinnati Reds. Rice’s Matt Anderson (three saves and 1.50 ERA), was the team’s
(69), strikeouts (54), and ERA (a miniscule 0.91). closer could throw over 100 miles per hour was named Pro Prospect of the Year. In 1997
Anderson was the overall first player taken in the 1997 draft by the Detroit Tigers.
A quarter century later, Duda, who spent two seasons in Chatham and multiple years in
the Milwaukee Brewers organization, seems to echo Schiffner’s memories of the ‘92 team. Western Kentucky’s Steven Stemle (4-0 and 2.01 ERA) and outfielder, Mike Colangelo
would also the reach majors.
Said Duda, “First and foremost the 1992 team knew how to compete. We played the The team’s spark plug was second baseman Jermaine Clark, who made it to the Major’s
game hard, throwing quality pitches and having quality at bats. We did what it took to
win and had fun doing it. After the game every player was dirty.” with the Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds and Oakland
A’s. Over the course of his four years in the majors, Clark played nine different positions.
On the back end, Kentucky’s Scott Smith picked up eight saves to go along with a 0.70 ERA Clark has remained in the game as a scout for the Oakland A’s. Clark led the Chatham A’s
and perfect 3-0 record, and “just shut the door all season along,” according to Schiffner. with 46 hits, 30 runs (best in the league) and 17 stolen bases.
LSU’s Harry Berrios, who later played 14 seasons in professional baseball, clubbed six In the playoffs, Chatham knocked off a Brewster Whitecaps team featuring Auburn’s David
home runs and 36 runs batted in. Duda’s Pepperdine teammate Scott Vollmer (who Ross (before he was a World Series champion with the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, as well
Schiffner called “the skinniest catcher I’ve ever seen”) chipped in 27 RBI’s and split as a Dancing with the Stars standout) and Seton Hall’s Jason Grilli, a 15 year veteran
catching duties with Seton Hall’s Alex Andreopoulos, who has spent the past 15 seasons and former All Star currently pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays. In the finals, Chatham
as the Toronto Blue Jays ullpen catcher. defeated the Falmouth Commodores.
The perpetual motor on the team was speedster Jeremy Carr of California State – About the ’96 team, Quattlebaum remembers, “We were committed to winning. I think
Fullerton. Hustling on every plate appearance and on base moment he went on to set everybody stayed through the end of the season...I remember how we cared about
the then CCBL record for stolen bases with 47 thefts. winning the title.”

In the finals, Chatham topped the Cotuit Kettleers in an extra innings dramatic game 1998
at Cotuit’s Lowell Park.
By 1998, Chatham was emerging as the Cape League’s dominant franchise, as they were
When staff leader Duda looks back at ‘92, the memories seem to supercede baseball, and in the middle of reaching five championship series in seven years.
ring familiar to any person who has been lucky enough to spend even a few summers’
days on the Cape. Two years after Schiffner captured his first title, the Anglers brought another championship
to Chatham with one of the more star-studded rosters in team history. Future major
“When I reminisce about the summer of 1992, the things that come to mind are morning leaguers Kevin Mench (Delaware) and Kyle Snyder (UNC), along with future All-Star
breakfasts at Sandi’s Diner, working the camps with the little kids, fishing for bluefish, Brian Roberts and Missouri State’s Matt Cepicky, who would spend five seasons in the
“Duda recalled. He fondly remembered games cancelled due to fog, the Troy’s opening big leagues and led the team in hits (53), homes runs (five), and RBI’s (33).
their home to cook the players’ catch, water skiing with trainer AJ, and getting to the
Old School House ice cream.shop prior to closing The off the field activities impacted Mench, who slugged more than 20 home runs for the Texas Rangers in both 2004 and
2005, remembers the summer fondly, “We just had a really good group of guys who
us as much as our on the field success.
1996 loved to compete and playing together.”
Schiffner was named manager during the 1993 season, and after falling to the Kettleers In the finals, they squared off against a Wareham Gatemen team with the remarkable
one-two pitching tandem of future major league All-Stars Ben Sheets and Barry Zito.
in the 1995 championship series, he claimed his first title at the helm of 1996 squad with
a roster that was light on big names, but big on character and intangibles. The Gatemen had the odds going for them in the five-game championship series. As fans
When asked about the team, he remarked instantly, “The ‘96 team was fun. I don’t think know, the game is not played on paper. After see-sawing through the first four games,
the series was tied at 2-2. Game five would be played on the road at Wareham. Zito
any team I’ve ever coached had more fun.”
already a star and the Gatemen’s number-one starter would be opposed by the A’s fifth
While the team played and had a good time off the field, do not be fooled – they made starter, Devon Nicholson who was coming off his junior college season and headed to
a statement on the field. Tennessee that fall. The A’s never got the message that the odds were against them. The
“We didn’t have the biggest prospects, but we played with a real chip on our shoulders,” Chatham crew was gritty and aggressive that night and prevailed. Manager Schiffner and
remembers Davidson’s Gus Quattlebaum, a jack of all trades player. “Everybody got Pitching Coach Jon “Doc” Strauss drew up a game plan that was executed to perfection.
their uniform dirty.“ The ‘98 team was indeed special; they had to be to win the title.
Notable among those players was catcher Scott Friedholm, who is currently the Head Mench, who also played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Washington
Coach at the University of North Carolina Asheville; right-handed pitcher and three-year Nationals in his decade-long career, has kept Chatham close to his heart. In his home,
player, Keith Evans, and Jason Fitzgerald, outfielder from Tulane Mench keeps his championship ring and a bat from the Barnstable Bat Company. He
Quattlebaum never reached the big leagues as a player, but he has earned a couple of also remains in contact with his host family from that summer.
World Series rings as a member of the Boston Red Sox front office. Currently the team’s “I think I was the first and last player they hosted,” he said with a laugh. “I think I scared
Vice President of Pro Scouting, Quattlebaum was a local kid from Andover, MA who lived them off.”
the dream of playing on the Cape.
2017 CHATHAM ANGLERS YEARBOOK 19