Whitehouse Field
Harwich, MA
Review by Gary
Opening in 1969, the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) ballfield in Harwich, Massachusetts was named for its benefactor, Ben Whitehouse, who donated the original field lights to the ballpark. Whitehouse Field is accessible only via an extended tree-lined trail that spills into a clearing surrounded by more trees.
Like many of the CCBL stadiums, the Whitehouse Field press box and concession stand is a simple 20’ by 15’ by 20’ building with shaker shingles on all sides in the Cape Cod-style. The field is home to the Harwich Mariners of the CCBL and the Monomoy High School Sharks, whose campus is nearby.
An 8’ chain link fence connects to the 12’ backstop and protects the fans down each base line before reducing in size to a 4’ fence halfway to the foul pole. As a result, every seated view of the playing field is through a metal fence. The foul territory behind home plate is situated a good distance from these fences, leaving the fans a bit disconnected from the action unless they want to sit closer to the outfielders. The symmetrical field features 330’ markers at the foul poles and a deep centerfield placard indicating 395’.
Attendees of Mariners games have the option of bringing folding chairs to sit anywhere around the field, including beyond the outfield fence, or they can sit in the numerous bleachers down the base lines. A narrow space at the base of the press box is reserved for scouts to bring the potential Whitehouse Field capacity to about 4,000.
Notably, Whitehouse Field received a “new” scoreboard that was provided by longtime Cape Cod summer resident and Harwich fan, Fay Vincent, Jr., the former commissioner of Major League Baseball. This scoreboard was installed in 1998. As one of the premier collegiate wood bat leagues in North America, one in every six Major League Baseball players has played in the CCBL, including famous Harwich Mariners alums Tim Lincecum, Kevin Millar, and D.J. LeMahieu.
2024
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