WORCESTER, Mass. — Despite a short stint with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League, Boston Red Sox pitcher Richard Fitts looks back on his time there fondly.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Fitts, 25. “It was coming off of COVID-19 in 2021, but still during the COVID regulations so we were in dorms. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some good guys. I really enjoyed my time there.”
Fitts appeared in just two games while in Wareham, but even in that limited time, he formed meaningful, long-lasting connections with his teammates.
“We had some really good players on that team,” he said. “It’s cool to see those guys have success and even see them in the Minor Leagues and the big leagues.”
Even with COVID restrictions in place during the 2021 season — restrictions that prevented players from experiencing the well-known and beloved “host family life,” which returned in 2022 — Fitts still found ways to enjoy the unique circumstances, especially dorm life.
“Once you’re in your sophomore, junior year of college, you’re not in dorms anymore,” he said. “But in Wareham, you’re living with guys in a dorm playing The Show.”
Playing in the Cape Cod Baseball League is a dream for many college athletes. It's more than just a team — it’s a brotherhood and a bond that sticks with players long after the summer ends.
“Now looking back, you see Paul Skenes was on that team,” Fitts said. “You also see the guys who are doing elite stuff or having a lot of success. You get to know them on a personal level, and you wouldn’t have known them otherwise.”
Fitts also shared some lighthearted memories, including the riddles pitchers would challenge each other with during downtime.
“I remember learning some of my best riddles there,” he said. “We would have BP, and it would be me and Paul Skenes and a few other guys hanging around and just talking in one riddle. It was so stupid, but I even tell it to some of the guys now. It took us four hours to figure out the riddle, but it was a good time.”
Some of the connections made in the Cape run deeper than others — especially when you have a great roommate. Fitts still keeps in touch with his former roommate Cade Fergus, now an outfielder for the Reading Fightin Phils.
“I just did a rehab assignment a couple weeks ago in Portland against Reading,” Fitts said. “And one of the guys on the team was my roommate there, Cade Fergus. I got to know him pretty well, and we still talk to this day. We still text back and forth, and I’ve been keeping up with him.”
Fitts also reflected on how players from a wide range of colleges come together in the Cape League, like Fergus, who attended George Washington University.
“It’s good to see him still playing,” Fitts said. “He’s a guy who went to a smaller college, but a guy I really held on to. He was driving me around every day, so we had a good relationship.”
The Cape Cod Baseball League is truly one of a kind. Whether you're there for a week, a month, the summer or multiple seasons, it leaves a lasting impression — and Richard Fitts is a perfect example of just how powerful that experience can be.
