The future of the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks is looking bright — and a lot more comfortable, too.
When the Sharks, who play in the wooden-bat Futures Collegiate Baseball League, begin their third season in June, they will do so at a much-improved home field, situated at the regional high school.
Spring training is in full swing in Florida, but on the Island summer baseball preparations are also underway. The Martha’s Vineyard Sharks collegiate summer baseball league has announced its roster for the 2013 season, with some familiar faces and a brand new bullpen.
For the third year in a row Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School graduate Tad Gold will take to center field. He will be joined by current regional high school senior Jack Roberts.
The eighth annual Birdies for Baseball golf tournament will take place on Sunday, Oct. 21 with an 8:30 shotgun start at Mink Meadows Golf Club.
The tournament is a benefit to support the Vineyard baseball scholarship and field improvement fund. The cost is $90 and includes breakfast and lunch. To register, call 508-693-0600. For questions, call Gary Simmons at 508-989-8154.
Jim Hickey’s interesting story last spring about baseball, starting with games on the Arctic ice by Vineyard whalers, and moving naturally along to games on Waban Park in Oak Bluffs in the early 1900s, brought exciting memories in the Barnes family.
It is a game played by old men and young boys, by professionals and amateurs alike, at the dawn of spring and at the coming of winter. On the Vineyard, the game of baseball has been played by farmers, sailors, fishermen and businessmen, in Menemsha meadows and makeshift diamonds at Waban Park in Oak Bluffs, Toomey Field in Chilmark and Veterans Park in Tisbury.
