Hyannis Harbor Hawks (Cape Cod Baseball League) @ Judy Walden Scarafile Field at McKeon Park (Hyannis, MA)
The Cape League's "Capital Club"
SUMMER OF BASEBALL 2023: STOP 13
*For more on the Cape Cod Baseball League, I wrote about it here, and I personally recommend you check it out.
Given Hyannis' status as the "Capital of Cape Cod", you might be surprised to learn that the Hyannis Harbor Hawks are a “newer” member of the Cape Cod Baseball League, having been founded in 1976 as the Hyannis Mets (and named after the New York Mets); they became the Harbor Hawks after the MLB trademark situation of 20101. They’ve won the Cape League championship three times, though their last title was WAY BACK in 1991 (and the first two were back-to-back titles in the late 70s). Part of the reason they became the Harbor Hawks in 2010: in honor the osprey that nest near their stadium: Judy Walden Scarafile Field at McKeon Park (that’s the official name; Scarafile is a former Cape League president).
I’ll be honest: I haven’t explored around this stadium as much as most of the other Cape League stadiums, and I actually FORGOT to do any write up back in 20232. The stadium is behind the former Barnstable High School that is now a Catholic school (named after St. John Paul II); from what I can remember of my last visit, most of the “action” is on the third base side as that’s the side nearest the parking lot, and I haven’t really bothered to venture out much further than that. There’s a set of old bleachers on top of a hill in left with a fun view, but outside of that, there’s only one other set of bleachers near third base and the “everything building” (concessions and merch on the lower level, press box on the upper level).
Parking here is kinda crazy: there’s a few VERY SMALL lots near the stadium, but you’re only a few blocks from downtown Hyannis if you can find any parking there (though given Hyannis’ status as the “capital of Cape Cod”, that parking can be hard to come by and I don’t know the payment rules).
MERCH
As I mentioned earlier, concessions and merchandise are sold next to each other on the first floor of the press box; based on what I remember, the Harbor Hawks are the only team on Cape Cod with this setup (with the closet second being Wareham having a small concession stand in their press box; their main concessions are in the outfield).
The very first time I came here (2021), the team had old player jerseys available. I ended up not getting one for various reasons - something I cannot completely say that I regret, but it must be noted that I've yet to see them have jerseys since (not to mention the few times I've seen them offer jerseys online since then, they've only had "shirseys").
ON DECK
Cape Cod's longest title drought (y'know, like Clevelandtown - which is a REALLY funny connection because Travis Bazzana).
BUT...it may have to wait a day.
Footnotes
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It should be noted, however, that the Harbor Hawks aren't the first CCBL team to play in Hyannis. ↩
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I did write about the ten Cape League stadiums as far back as 2021, but those notes have gotten lost over the years due to me switching computers (I can't even find them in iCloud for cripes sake!). ↩