Bourne Braves

The Bourne Braves are an amateur baseball team based in Bourne, MA. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League and plays in the league's Western Division. Bourne currently plays its home games at Doran Park in the town of Bourne. The Braves are owned and operated by the non-profit Bourne Athletic Association, and, like other Cape League teams, are funded through merchandise sales, donations, and other fundraising efforts at games such as fifty-fifty raffles.

The Braves won the Cape Cod Baseball League's Western Division Regular Season title in 2007, finishing the year with 52 points and earning a playoff berth for the first time since 2005. Bourne would be swept in the playoffs, however, by the Falmouth Commodores, two games to none. The Braves remain the only current Cape League team to have never won the league championship.

History

The Pre-Modern Era

Bourne's baseball history is one of the longest of all teams on the Cape, dating as far back as the 1860s when the town was still part of Sandwich. Bourne's own baseball team first joined the Cape League in 1933 and, when the league reformed in 1946, was represented by two teams, the Sagamore Clouters and the Bourne Canalmen [2001 Cape Cod Baseball League Official Yearbook, p. 11] .

The Modern Era

Bourne was eliminated from the first round of the playoffs in 1963, the first year of the Modern Era. The team would not qualify for the post-season again in the next ten years and would cease operations in 1973.

The present-day Bourne Braves were re-formed in 1988 when both they and the Brewster Whitecaps joined the Cape League. The next year, the Braves qualified for the post-season after winning the Western Division Regular Season crown for the first time. The Braves would be swept in the Western Division Championship Series by the Hyannis Mets two games to none.

Bourne would qualify for the playoffs three more times between 1997 and 2001 after finishing in second place in the Western Division each year. The Braves, however, were eliminated each time in the Western Division Championship Series by the division champion Wareham Gatemen.

The Braves finally broke into the championship series for the first time in 2003 after they defeated the Hyannis Mets two games to one to win the Western Division Post-Season title. The Braves, however, would be swept in two games by the Orleans Cardinals, dropping the series two games to none. Bourne would make the championship series again in 2005, only to fall to Orleans a second time, losing two games to one. The Braves remain the only present-day Cape League team to have never won a league title. [ [http://www.capecodbaseball.org/archives/Records/awards_Champions.htm Cape League Championships] . Retrieved 2007-07-04.]

Notable Alumni

*Brian Anderson 2001
*Chris Capuano 1999
*Conor Jackson 2001
*David DeJesus 1998
*Mark DeRosa 1995
*Jeremy Giambi 1994
*Jerry Hairston 1996
*Bobby Higginson 1991
*Brandon Inge 1997
*Mark Kotsay 1994
*Lou Merloni 1991
*Bill Mueller 1992
*Mark Mulder 1997
*Ron Villone 1992
*Kevin Youkilis 2000
*Micah Owings 2004
*Joe Blanton 2001

References

External links

* [http://www.bournebraves.org/ Bourne Braves official site]
* [http://www.capecodbaseball.org/ CCBL Home Page]