Three Cotuit Catchers who Managed in the Major Leagues

Someone must have doctored the drinking water in the tiny village of Cotuit in the decade between 1980 and 1990 to produce a group of three Cape Cod League Kettleer catchers who, after distinguished playing careers in the big leagues as defensive standouts, went on to a second professional life as pennant- and World Series-winning managers: Joe Girardi, who played the 1984 summer season of his Northwestern University college career at Cotuit, followed in 1988 by Dan Wilson of the University of Minnesota (current Seattle Mariners manager), and in 1990 by Mike Matheny, from the University of Michigan.

Girardi was a Cape All-Star and led Cotuit to one of its record-breaking 17 Cape Cod League championships. He played in the majors from 1989 to 2003 and won three World Series rings catching for the New York Yankees in 1996, 1998, and 1999. He won a fourth World Series championship managing the Yankees in 2009. In 2006 he was named NL Manager of the Year with the Florida Marlins. Girardi managed the Yankees from 2008 to 2017.

Matheny’s Gold Glove playing career lasted from 1991 to 2006. He set records for consecutive chances without an error (1,562 in 2004 with the St. Louis Cardinals) and led both leagues in fielding percentage in 2003 and 2004 while cutting down over 35 percent of basestealers. His career fielding percentage over 13 years as a catcher was .994.

Five years after retiring as an active player in 2011, Matheny was named manager of the Cardinals, succeeding Tony La Russa. He was the youngest manager in the major leagues and in 2013 took the Cardinals to the World Series, losing to the Boston Red Sox in six games. He later managed the Kansas City Royals.

Dan Wilson took over as manager of the Seattle Mariners in 2024. He played two seasons for the Cincinnati Reds in 1992-93 before being traded to Seattle in the American League, where he flourished from 1994 to 2005. He was an All-Star in 1996 and was elected to the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame in 2012. He spent his post-playing days in various capacities in the Mariners organization.

Girardi and Matheny are active in broadcasting with major-league organizations.

The village of Cotuit, with the smallest population of any Cape Cod Baseball League enterprise and only one store, when it comes to producing managers for the majors, is in a league of its own.

SOL GITTLEMAN is the author of Reynolds, Raschi and Lopat: New York’s BIG THREE and The Great Yankee Dynasty of 1949-1953. He taught baseball history at Tufts University. Retired in 2015 and a member of SABR since 1986, Gittleman has summered in Cotuit on Cape Cod, where he has faithfully observed the Cotuit Kettleers for nearly a half-century.