On Mother’s Day we went to our Cape Cod house, and while my wife and sisters-in-law were yapping I opened a drawer in the sideboard and noticed a roster and stat sheet that I’d gotten at a Cape Cod Baseball League game back in 2003. It was the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox hosting the Wareham Gatemen at Red Wilson field at D-Y high school.

Looking at the sheet I noticed some familiar names. On the Yarmouth-Dennis squad there was Justin Verlander, now the ace of the Detroit Tigers pitching rotation. He won 17 games in 06 and 18 in 07, and is the current major league leader in strikeouts. And Huston Street, closer for the Oakland A’s (37 saves), who was traded to the Rockies for slugger Matt Holliday. And Chris Carter, who’s now an outfielder/1st baseman for the Boston Red Sox. And Rob Johnson, now a catcher for the Seattle Mariners. And Nick Hundley, now a catcher for the San Diego Padres. Nick hit a walkoff homer in the 16th inning at Petco Park on Saturday night. And Curtis Thigpen, now a 1st baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Flip the page and look at the Wareham roster. Jeremy Sowers, now a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He was on the mound on May 9th of this year when Boston scored 12 runs in one inning against Cleveland. Also JP Howell, a late-inning reliever/closer for the defending AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays. And Andy LaRoche, 3rd baseman for the LA Dodgers who was traded to Pittsburgh last July 31st as part of the 3-team trade that sent Manny Ramirez from Boston to LA and Jason Bay from Pittsburgh to Boston.

And this was just a quiet little Cape Cod Baseball League game at a high school field in Yarmouth, MA on July 3rd, 2003. There were excellent fireworks the next night at West Dennis beach.