2022 is a very special year for the Cotuit Kettleers as we celebrate the 75th year of baseball on Cape Cod. Many people have contributed over the past 75 years-players, donors, house parents, coaches, volunteers and of course the many fans who have flocked to Lowell Park to watch and cheer for the Kettleers. This is another in the series as we recall the many memories people have of the Cotuit Kettleers!
Will Vieth – A batboy, scoreboard operator and assistant coach-a Kettleers through and through.
If you look down the first base line, just beyond the brand-new bleachers, you’ll see where the scoreboard used to stand. Ask my mother about Kettleers’ games and she’ll tell you all about how kids would hang numbers to show the score. She loves to remind us that she has been going to games the longest. Meanwhile,
take a second to talk with my dad and he’ll tell you about his conversations with scouts watching batting practice over the years. My sister may tell you about her years operating the scoreboard, electric by that time, or her time as a CCBL official scorer. With me, I don’t know where to start—I’d have a hard time deciding between stories of being a bat boy, or passing the kettle with Ivan, but would be remiss if I didn’t start with Coach Roberts giving me the greatest summer job in the world by allowing me to be an assistant coach during the Summer of 2012.
I don’t mention these stories to make this about myself, or my family, but to illustrate the greatest aspect of the Kettleers: that it has been and will always be a family made possible by families. You could ask anyone who has spent time in Cotuit and every person would tell you their own set of stories of what the team has meant to them and the individuals who 
made that possible. Whether it’s memories of any one of the many championship seasons, Ivan, the original “have a hit” man, or Arnold, who made these championships possible by turning Cotuit into a Cape League dynasty. Everyone has their own specific reasons or memories for why they make the summer pilgrimage to Cotuit to watch Kettleers’ baseball.
As the saying goes, it takes a village. Now, as I hit my thirtieth birthday, I can’t help but look back and reflect on how this Kettleers village has welcomed me into its family and watched me grow, dare I say, old. As I mentioned previously, there’s Ivan, who initially had me passing the kettle back before I was 10. Sue Pina and the Murphys, who worked with me ever since my first years as a bat boy and who, if you know about the Kettleers, really don’t need any introduction. Additionally, all the players and coaches throughout the years who have
entertained, especially the few I had the privilege of working with alongside my fellow coaches during that summer of 2012. And finally, the
head coach himself, Coach Roberts, who beyond giving me the opportunity to coach, has been like a second father since the very first game I worked for him almost two decades ago.
The Cotuit Kettleers are the greatest baseball organization in the world and it’s because of each and every person reading this. As I said before, it’s a family, run by families. From the fans who fill the stands, to the players on the field and the house parents who house them, and those handling the front office logistics. I hope that every member of the community and the Cotuit Athletic Association understand how much they mean to the organization, the other fans, 
and to me. To the current and future members of the Kettleers family, I can only hope you take a moment this, and every, summer, to appreciate how lucky we all are for everything this organization gives to its fans and the members who make it possible. Being a member of the Kettleers family is unlike anything I could have imagined when I first heard those stories of the manual scoreboard. As I found out though, come around every summer and you’ll end up with your own stories to tell. 
Cotuit, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.