Cape Cod League: Chuck Sturtevant, Former Bourne Braves Hall of Fame General Manager

Chuck Sturtevant and grandson Cullen Dunn, 2025. (Courtesy of Chuck Sturtevant)

 

The Cape Cod Baseball League is operated by a devoted team of volunteers. From front office personnel for each team with a president, a general manager, a secretary, a treasurer, a housing coordinator, an intern coordinator, a corporate development director, a merchandise coordinator, a corporate philanthropy coordinator, a game-day operations director, medical operations director, and directors, summer baseball on Cape Cod is a labor of love.

There are also the volunteers at the league level: a president, three vice presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, a director of broadcasting and communications, a league historian, a writer and director of publications, and a hall of fame curator.

Accompanying these volunteers, there are additional volunteers in administration: a commissioner, four deputy commissioners, a director of officiating, a director of baseball operations, a league statistician, a liaison with Major League Baseball, and a coordinator of athletic training.

Many people volunteer to make the Cape Cod Baseball League play smoothly with a summer season of 40 games for each of the 10 teams. There are also the all-star game and three rounds of best-of-three postseason games: divisional semifinals, a divisional final, and a championship of best of three.

One volunteer who has had numerous roles in the league is Charles Sturtevant of Mashpee, Massachusetts. Known as Chuck, he has been involved with the league for 38 years. His expertise with the league and its operations is well known.

Chuck was raised in Wakefield, Massachusetts, a town known for raising musician Buffy Sainte-Marie and writer Russell Banks. The town supports youth sports. He considers himself an average athlete. He played baseball, football, and basketball. He follows baseball.

After graduation from Wakefield Memorial High School, Chuck graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. By education and training, he has been an accountant for 39 years. He has been a comptroller for a construction company in Melrose, Massachusetts. He has also been a controller for Teledyne Test Services of Marion, Massachusetts.

Chuck moved to Cape Cod in 1982. There was a business opportunity to explore. He became co-owner of Ocean Research Equipment in Falmouth, which made seismic SONAR, an acronym for Sound Navigation And Ranging. SONAR is used to find objects underwater by sound. The company manufactures underwater tracking systems. Used by 13 navies around the world, these systems can detect a ship or a mine within 12 inches of its location from 3,000 feet. The company has an association with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

It also manufactures transducer systems, which help power plants and water systems to be efficient with flow rates. The company has been divided with headquarters in Wareham, Massachusetts.

Chuck began his association with the league by attending a game. Indeed, he attended many games of the Falmouth Commodores. In an early act of generosity, he donated $100 for baseballs. Knowing that volunteers were and are needed, he joined the Falmouth Commodores organization. He agreed. Over the years, he has been a president, a treasurer, and a general manager of the Commodores. He is the Commodores’ only life member.

Chuck has represented the Commodores on the executive board of the league. He once retired from the Commodores, but retirement did not last. He was asked to be a vice president of the league as Phil Edwards of the Brewster Whitecaps had died. He also served on the league’s hall of fame committee and finance committee. The Bourne Braves called Chuck to be their general manager. He served four years and was also treasurer. Chuck retired again. Retirement did not last. Judy Walden Scarafile retired as president of the league. He served as president for seven years, from 2016 to 2023.

The rosters of the Cape Cod Baseball League are filled with many of the best amateur players. Players want to play in the league because of the presence of major-league scouts. The players take their baseball seriously, knowing that they could be close to playing in the major leagues. The coaches in the league have relationships with the top college baseball teams, including Division II teams. There will be conversations with the league coach, the school coach, the player, and the player’s family. When the team believes a player would be a fit for the team, a contract to play in the league will be offered to him. Online statistics help with decision-making when approaching a player. In former days, a coach would contact a representative with the Major League Scouting Bureau to get a player signed.

Players will recruit players. A player will attempt to recruit a player from his own college team to play in the league, perhaps his own Cape Cod team.

For Chuck, there are challenges today for the Cape Cod Baseball League.

One challenge is the portal, a database that makes players available to be recruited from one college team to another. Coaches can look at players and reach out to them to transfer from one college to another. The portal increases the market competition to play with so many players looking for more playing time, a better baseball program, scholarships, and opportunities for NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) financial remuneration. Players may switch from one Cape Cod Baseball League team to another or switch to another summer college baseball league.

“The portal puts a lot of strain on recruiting players,” says Chuck. “They could move to another league. College leagues are tied to contracts. If the league is sanctioned by the National Association of Summer Baseball, players cannot move to another team within the Cape Cod Baseball League or to any league. There is an agreement not to ‘steal’ signed players.”

Another challenge for the league that concerns Chuck is salary to be paid. He is concerned that a player may want to be paid to play or to be paid to have his photograph in the team’s yearbook.

When asked about league expansion to include towns such as Mashpee, Plymouth, or New Bedford, Chuck said, “There is no committee within the league to look at expansion. There is difficulty with expansion. Two teams would need to be admitted to balance the league with an even number of teams. There would be competition to find housing for the players and coaches. At one time, one could say there would be competition to find jobs for the players Most players today work only at the baseball skills clinics the teams offer to children.”

Chuck has memories of his involvement with the Falmouth Commodores, the Bourne Braves, and the Cape Cod Baseball League.

The first memory that came to mind was drafting Tino Martinez to play for the Commodores. “At the time, the Falmouth coach had a relationship with Martinez’ college coach. Tino wanted to play in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He signed with Falmouth. There were no contracts as we know of contracts today. It was between the Falmouth coach and his college coach.”

Another memory is laying claim as the general manager who had the most first-round draft picks in major-league baseball to have played for him.

Still another is of Darin Erstad. He was the starting punter for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. Along with other players, he would maintain the diamond for the Falmouth Commodores. He would practice hitting a baseball from a tee into a tire. When not practicing his baseball skills, he would practice his punting. He was a teammate on the Cornhuskers’ 1994 national championship football team. He is also the first Cape Cod Baseball Leaguer who played in the 1990s to be inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame. He is with the Class of 2001.

Chuck remembers Khalil Greene. He struggled as a hitter with the Commodores, batting .225 to .230 in two seasons. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres to play third base. He was the first Clemson Tigers baseball player to bat .400, with a .480 batting average in his senior year.

Chuck also remembers Eric Milton. He was a first-round pick of the New York Yankees in 1996. In July 1996 he threw a no-hitter for the Commodores against the Orleans Cardinals. He was on his way with a perfect game, but walked one batter who was eliminated from the basepaths with a double play. He faced the mandatory 27 batters. This was the season in which Milton set the league’s lowest season earned-run average record of 0.21.

Another memory is equipment manager Arnie Allen. Arnie began his association with the Commodores as a batboy at age 7. He stayed with the team for 46 seasons. His uniform number 30 has been retired by the team. The diamond at Guv Fuller Field is named for Arnie Allen. His name is on the scoreboard. His dedication to the team was and is so important that the Commodores paid for his funeral.

Chuck Sturtevant has been a volunteer for years in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He has served two teams. For all of his talents, gifts, and time given to the league and teams, Chuck was elected to the Cape Cod Baseball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2017. He also has been honored with the Dick Sullivan Executive of the Year Award and the John Wylde General Manager of the Year Award.

STEPHEN TRIMBLE has followed baseball for many years. He first joined SABR in 1981. In addition to following baseball, he enjoys serving as a Scout leader, exploring family history, listening to classical music, playing the piano, reading and collecting books, and playing Strat-O-Matic Baseball. He pastors First Baptist Church of North Attleborough, Massachusetts, where Bernie Carbo gave his faith testimony. He also works as a realtor on Cape Cod.

 

SOURCES

The author interviewed Chuck Sturtevant on November 19, 2025 and January 2, 2026.