Cotuit Kettleers vs. Bourne Braves, June 14, 2022 in Cotuit, Ma. (Photo/Alysa Rubin)

By Clara Richards | Washington University in St. Louis 

Seventy-five years ago, Lowell Park looked a little different. For one, there was no electronic scoreboard, and they relied on children to adjust the metal numbers under a maple tree. At its core, Cotuit has been, and will continue to be, the village that rallies around its team. Seventy-five years later, the Ketts will celebrate that on Monday, August 1 with Legacy Night. 

The foundation of the Kettleers mostly rested on the shoulders of

Arnold Mycock, the personal touch.

two men, Arnold Mycock and Manny Robello. They spent hours at the field each weekend, acting as groundskeepers and ball shaggers and managers, wrapped into one. Then, the team was in its very nascent stages; there was one single bathroom, just a diamond in the woods along the busy waterway of the harbor. There were tailgates between doubleheaders, and they used an old cloth drawstring bag and then a hat for donations before the use of the kettle.

“Mother used to say she was a widow because she was at the field all the time,” Debbie Campbell, Robello’s daughter said. To this day, she’s still close with the players she met during the 60s and 70s. “In those days, everybody knew everybody.”

Through she isn’t currently involved with the organization, she has fond memories of her involvement

back row: Jim Hubbard, Bernie Kilroy, Connie Denault, Ron Griesmer, Mike Strode, Jack McCarthy, Dick Mayo, Keith Weber, Arnold Mycock
front row: Ken Huebner, Bob Butkus, Dick McAvoy, Steve Syriala, Jimmy Murray, Jeff Scudder, Matty Galante, Joe Russo

with the early days of the Ketts, which she described as the Norman Rockwell of baseball. It all tracked back to the efforts that her father and Mycock put in. “The field was pristine, and if it didn’t get done, it would get done by Arnold and my father,” she said. “It gave Cotuit the reputation of a small village that would have this ballpark and be able to pull [the ballgames] off as well.” 

Even the early Ketts had a number of players ascend to the highest level of baseball; in that sense, nothing has really changed. The Kettleers will celebrate that legacy along with its rich history on Monday with a variety of events. The Robello’s and Mycocks will throw the first pitches, and the evening will conclude with fireworks. The game will start at 4:30, with festivities starting shortly before. The event will coincide with youth night, where children of all ages will be able to roast marshmallows and play games with the Cotuit players postgame.