Unforgettable memories: Cotuit Kettleers honor the 1995 championship team 29 years later

COTUIT — Nothing was going to stop members of the 1995 Cotuit Kettleers team from celebrating their Cape Cod Baseball League championship season 29 years ago.

The reunion was originally scheduled for 2019 and further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Saturday brought torrential rain and the Cotuit game at Lowell Park, where the 1995 team would be honored, was postponed.

The weather still didn’t prevent it from happening.

“It tells you what that summer meant to them,” then Cotuit manager Michael Coutts said. “They were disappointed during COVID that we couldn’t get together then, and from then on, they were after me about it. ‘Coach, we gotta get back there.’”

The 12 players, who arrived from all corners of the country, spent Friday night at a team barbecue before descending on the Cotuit Federated Church in the heart of the village to reminisce with their former host families, sponsors and the current Kettleers.

Being back in Cotuit, surrounded by former teammates and those they met that summer, quickly brought back all the emotion.

“It just makes your heart warm,” former Kettelers pitcher Kevin Sheredy said. “The relationships are what this is all about. I don’t know if we have that today, but today was a step back in time ― it’s now bigger and better but it’s still little Lowell Park and it’s still Cotuit.”

Sheredy, who bounced around the minors before settling into a career in the mortgage business at Arkansas Federal Credit Union, closed out the championship game and was at the bottom of the pile after the final out.

Championship memories burn bright nearly 30 years later

The Cape League for Sheredy was life-changing, a sentiment echoed by his teammates. He recalled the fine details from toasted hot dog buns to a full parking lot, where fans walked to the ballpark.

Josh Paul, who was the league’s Most Valuable Player and Outstanding Pro Prospect award recipient, said it was his favorite team he had ever played with. Paul went on to have a nine-year career in Major League Baseball. He was inducted into the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame in 2006.

“We enjoyed each other,” Paul said. “We had a natural chemistry, a natural bond and it was amazing. This was a special night to connect with guys I haven’t had a chance to for nearly 30 years, and I wasn’t going to miss this for the world.”

The Kettleers have racked up 17 Cape League championships, which is the most of any team.

What is everlasting more than the wins is the community that Cotuit has built for players coming to the team who have never stepped foot on the Cape. For Paul, he felt at home the moment he drove in.

That sense of community is ever-present, and allowed every member of the team to create memories that they talked about around the fire on Friday night.

“When you look back on it, there’s just so many (good memories) and these guys remember stuff that I didn’t even remember, like holy smokes,” Coutts said. “Some of the stuff I’m glad I didn’t know back then.”

Champions recall playing pure summer baseball

The Kettleers didn’t over complicate things during their run to a West Division crown and championship.

“I always felt in college ball that your coaches were on you all the time, so I felt like the summer was just summer ball,” Coutts said. “It was time to go play, work hard and do your thing.”

The 1995 season was Coutts’ first as a head coach. He had spent 10 seasons as an assistant with his alma mater at Maine. He recalled the first night of practice where he was fired up and Paul told him: “Coach, it’s just summer ball.”

The modus operandi was to go to the park, be ready to play hard, play the game the right way, and things will work out.

“I consider that old fashioned baseball and the terms mix and mingle really well,” current Kettleers manager Michael Roberts said. “I’ve tried in my 20 years to follow George Greer, Mike Coutts and a lot of the other coaches to make sure that the family aspect of Cotuit is carried on.”

Unlike the present day where players are in and out of the league, the 1995 Kettleers had over 20 players from the original roster stay the entire summer.

Cotuit had 10 players accumulate over 90 plate appearances, which included Glenn Davis, who had 142 and hit a three-run bomb in the championship series that sealed the game.

The pitching staff had eight players who threw more than 20 innings. Brendan Sullivan was the Relief Pitcher of the Year.

“This was the highlight of even my professional career and I wouldn’t trade any of it,” Sheredy said. “Nothing will ever replace that summer that didn’t need all the bright lights—this was it.”

Allen Gunn covers high school sports for the Cape Cod Times . You can contact him at agunn@gannett.com and follow him on X at @allentgunn.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Unforgettable memories: Cotuit Kettleers honor the 1995 championship team 29 years later