The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream

by Jim Collins, James Maddison Collins

Every summer, in ten small towns across Cape Cod, young college baseball players showcase their talents in hopes of making it to the "show." A vicious filter, the league has produced one out of every six major league players, from Nomar Garciaparra and Todd Helton to Jeff Bagwell and Barry Zito.In this brilliantly crafted narrative, Jim Collins chronicles a season in the life of the Chatham A's, perhaps the most celebrated team in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Set against a seemingly bucolic backdrop--a well-heeled resort town on the bend of the outer Cape--the story charts the changing fortunes of a handful of players, all of whom battle slumps and self-doubt in an effort to impress major league scouts and make the playoffs. Several players go home with career-threatening injuries; one blue-chip prospect fulfills great expectations while another is dubbed "the biggest disappointment on the Cape." A pitcher hides an arm injury while negotiating a minor league contract; another leaves early to tend to his dying father. And nearly all look to the following year's major league draft as a barometer of their worth. Far more than a baseball book, The Last Best League is an engrossing story about dreams fulfilled and dreams destroyed, about Cape Cod and the rites of summer, about coming of age in America.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Business, Biography, History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.


The author of "Good To Great" and "Built to Last" is listed in GoodReads as James C. Collins.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collins gets it. Baseball people have a certain way about them, and Collins obviously is one of them; he also knows how to write about them. This book—an in-depth and endearing look at the 2002 Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League—shines with the polish of good baseball writing about a great baseball subject. The players and team staff come to life, as does the ebb and flow of a summer on the cape. The poignancy of this moment in time, in these specific lives and in this specific baseball season, got me a little misty-eyed at the end. These are the kinds of dreams everyone should have, at least once in awhile, even when they have to come to an end.

This is such a big part of why I love baseball.

[Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

GOD I MISS BASEBALL. The only reason this isn't getting 5 stars is because there was not enough time spent on the dynamics of the team -- which is not particularly a condemnation of the book so much as it is my natural inclination to believe in the inherent romance of baseball. I am sure other people who do not feel as strongly as me that baseball is America's most romantic sport -- and truly, what can match the particular romance of summer collegiate baseball but this book and the so lushly, richly, lovingly drawn descriptions of night games on the Cape -- will be fine with the portraits of the individual players and less on the team as a whole. What a lovely book. When will baseball come back.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Last Best League flatters baseball more than the people that play it. The book takes a coach’s eye view of the world, measuring a roster of human talent and attempting to extract the optimal performance from it. (It so happens that John Schiffner, the head coach of the Chatham A’s, and the rest of the coaching staff escape the book unscathed.) In this view, Collins follows the lives of several collegiate baseball players over the summer of 2002 in the Cape Cod Baseball League. They work summer jobs, they lift, they party, they worry about their draft bonuses (or if they will be drafted at all), they try to pick up women. Occasionally, they play baseball. The afterword in the tenth-anniversary edition depicts a different set of vagaries at the professional level—the injuries, the non-existent job security, the dumb luck. By the end, you marvel that anyone can do it at all.

[Darius Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun depiction of the Cape 15 years before I played there. Well written baseball wise but also fun telling the story of the players involved.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an avid baseball fan (of the Sox, the red kind) spending summers on the Cape and taking in a Cape League game in Chatham, Brewster or Cotuit was heaven. Needless to say, I was excited to see the book on the book shelf at the store and had high expectations.

While the it would never be able to fully capture how incredible it is to see those kids play their hearts out, it does as best it can to paint the picture for people to read. I read it long enough ago that I don't remember specific details about it - but I do recall that it provided a perspective into the league and the teams that you can't get being an outsider and from sitting in the stands, and an idea of the activity surrounding the teams, players and scouts.

A great read, especially for anyone interested in baseball.

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I never thought I'd read a book that mentions the Freddie Prinze Jr.-Jessica Biel romantic comedy "Summer Catch" as often as this book does...

Kidding aside, this is an interesting look at baseball players on the cusp of possible professional success, as they convene for a summer league that is often Ground Zero for major-league scouts looking for the Next Big Star to come to their teams in the draft. Jim Collins spends a summer following the fortunes of the Chatham A's, one of the best teams in the Cap Cod League, and the potential superstar players from college teams across the country who come to the Cape every summer to try and catch the notice of baseball teams in MLB.

The Cape Cod League is primarily an exhibition league for future talent to shine, and Collins portrays how the league's schedule is primarily structured to get the most out of each player, without being able to pay them as such (per NCAA rules, the players have to qualify as amateurs, and pay would, of course, spoil that. I'm being heavily sarcastic in that last sentence, just so you know). That means cushy "jobs" in the local towns that don't require more than just showing up, in some cases, though some of the players do put more effort into their assigned chores than others. Overall, the League means to showcase the potential that each player can bring to the next level, starting in the minors before hopefully making it to "the Show" and the big-league paydays that this entails. Not every player will make it (and honestly, I couldn't tell you if any of the players profiled in this book made it to the Show or not, but they're still interesting to follow), but they will have a summer to perfect their craft, to grow as men and ballplayers, and to also have perhaps one last summer as kids before the real world catches up with them.

This is a great, fun read for any baseball fan, and that's even with the caveat that some of these players act like major-league boneheads (remember, they're in their early twenties, and guys in their early twenties are rarely Rhodes Scholars of maturity, including myself when I was their age). The real story is the manager, John Schiffner, who manages Chatham and has to keep an eye out for possible major-league talent as well as major-league egos. He's not the sort of coach to demand perfection of his players, but he does let them know to take this opportunity seriously (a lesson which resonates for some, but not all). I think this belongs on any baseball fan's shelves, and it will stay on mine for a long time to come.

[Sarah]

If I had a nickel for every book written about the 2003 season of a baseball team called the Athletics, I'd have 2 nickels. Which is not a lot, but...

Seriously, though: this book was a wonderful look into the Cape Cod summer baseball league. Jim Collins brought me seamlessly into this world, and it was a delight to see how the players developed over the course of a season against the most difficult competition they'd ever seen.

[Evan Carvalho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for baseball fans, especially for New Englanders. One of the best I’ve read in a long time!

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone familiar with college baseball has heard of the prestigious Cape Cod League, where the top collegiate players hone their craft playing against each other in New England. In this book, Jim Collins follows one team, the Chatham A's, for the entire 2002 season. We get to know some of the personalities on the team: Jamie D'Antona from Wake Forest, Tim Stauffer from University of Richmond, Tom Pauly from Princeton, to name a few, and hear their thoughts on baseball, the stresses of being a college athlete, their hopes & dreams as they grow over this summer. We also get a look inside the communities that host the players every summer and how the Cape Cod League has shaped the residents. And at the end Collins tells us where the players end up at the conclusion of the next school year...if they were drafted by MLB or not.

You won't be able to put this book down & chances are you'll want to reread it at the start of every summer.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a special book. Every once in awhile I come across a book which generally makes you feel happy after reading it. For me this fell under that category (Although I understand many others won't have this same impression)

I think that I enjoyed this book so much because I love baseball and this was not one of those baseball books such as Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Gamethat was not really about baseball. This is a book that baseball lovers will LOVE but casual fans may not. I liked how the book gave a perspectaive of the game from not only professional players but also players on the verge of that stardom. During the book I felt a connection with the featured players in this book and I think that the author really allowed that to happen. So if you love baseball read this, and if not try it anyways I mightbe wrong.

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book for any baseball fan and a great way to get pumped up about the upcoming baseball season. Really great inside stuff from the players and coaches all set to an almost poetic description of the Cape Cod League. Makes me definitely want to head to the cape for a game some summer. It's also neat to see what has happened to the players of the 2002 Chatham A's -- some of whom have already played in the big leagues and others who are awful close. Might have to head down to Tucson to see Jamie D'Antona over the next few weeks.

[Jayden Bautista]

In the story, "The Last Best League" by Jim Collins, the book is about a team in the Cape Cod League. The book takes place in 2002 about the team called "The Chatham A's". The book follows the season and all of the players on the team, the players consist of all college level baseball players, there are 15 position players and 14 pitchers on the Chatham A's roster. The book explains the life of the players(not all of them) on and off the field. Throughout the book the players are very competitive in this book, due to them playing in front of MLB scouts, they all need to prove themselves and they all push themselves, which causes the best player, Tim Stauffer to get drafted. Another very notable thing in the book is how the team plays together, they weren't the best team in the league in 2002, but the way the book is written, it seems they play very well together and have a lot of good chemistry even though they have not played together before this time.

I had a couple of close favorites in this book, Blake Hanan and Jamie D'Atona were both close favorites, not because of skill because Blake wasn't that good, but i just felt a closer connection to him than Jamie. My favorite character of the whole book was Tim Stauffer. In college Tim was the best college pitcher at the time, For example, "That charged the anticipation, to see how good Tim Stauffer really was-Stauffer, who had burst into the college limelight that spring and won fifteen games, ore than any other picher in Division I' Stauffer, who suddenly ranked on some lists as the best college pitcher in the whole country"(3-4). Tim was very good in college, but he didn't face the best teams which is why he got a lot of wins, he did do very good against some team that were good, but also did good against bad teams. To be specific, "Although Tim Stauffer had beaten Wake Forest and lost a brilliantly pitched game to Nebraska that spring, mot of his success had come at the expense of relatively weak teams in the Atlantic Ten Conference"(56). Tim had a decent season with the Chatham A's but he went 3/2(W/L) with a 2.59 ERA with 62.2 innings, let up 50 hits, had 18 earned runs but the best stat was his 67 strikeouts on the season. He was also a big guy, he was 6 feet 2 inches 190 pounds, he was also one of the youngest players on the team. At the end of the season, he had a lot of MLB scouts looking him, which caused him to go as the 4th pick in the MLB draft that year, he got selected by the San Diego Padres with a $750,000 signing bonus, he was the first player on the Chatham A's that got picked that year, he was a bust in the MLB due to shoulder injurys throughout his career.

Overall, i really enjoyed the book, i feel because of the sport. Also the book wasn't too long, but wasn't too short either, it was a mediocre book skill level wise, it wasn't hard but wasn't the easiest book i've read.The book was really entertaining due to all the competition that was going on in the book, even though they were all on the same team, they were still looking for 1 thing, that was to make the MLB. If i would recommend it to someone it would most likely be a person that likes sports or baseball in general, if they have a little bit of liking towards the sport baseball, I personally think they would like the book. I probably wouldn't recommend this book to someone that doesn't like sports, or hates baseball, because the whole book is about baseball so i don't think they would like it.If i could change one thing in this book it would be that the shortest player made it, his name was Blake Hanan, i wish he made it because he was doubted a lot because of his height and I wish he was able to prove to everyone he was still very good no matter what.

[Gabi Josefson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This past summer, I read the Last Best League by Jim Collins. The Last Best League is a Non-Fiction Book set in Chatham, MA, on Cape Cod, and The Chatham A’s 2002 Baseball Season. The A’s compete in the Cape Cod League, a Collegiate Summer Baseball League featuring the best college players in the country. The Last Best League is focused on the entire A’s especially Ace Tim Stauffer, home run hitting third baseman Jamie D’antona and longtime manager John Schiffner. Along with his managerial duties, Schiffner is also responsible for all of the A’s recruiting. He has built strong relationships with coaches from Wake Forest and Richmond University among others. Schiffner later recruited MLB All-Stars Matt Harvey, Kris Bryant and Evan Longoria.

I thought the book was interesting because Jim Collins provides a unique perspective on the life of college baseball players and on a league I did not know anything about upon reading this book. Collins also reflects on talking to Schiffner on the tough task of recruiting good players. One thing that I dislike in The Last Best League is that it’s not a good “Bathroom Book”. The book has long chapters and goes back and forth on different players and their day jobs and backgrounds. I also feel that Collins gave some unfair airtime to certain players who appeared more in the book. I also think that Collins wrote more on some players in the early parts of the book and mentions them later in the book and I have no recollection of who they are.

I recommend this book to people who are looking for a good non-fiction baseball book. This book is one of my all-time favorites and receive a 5 out of 5!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read about an oft-neglected aspect of baseball—the summer wood-bat collegiate league. In the wake of "Moneyball" and "Summer Catch," Jim Collins spends a season with the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod League. He chronicles the ups and downs of one of the venerable league's charter teams, how the focus shifts from winning games to player development when the results go south.

The big reveal for me involved the scouts bird-dogging the players. We hear from scouts about what they look for in various players, such as the transition from college aluminum-bat ball to the wooden bats, how a pitcher in a run of getting lit up doesn't lose any of his luster in the eyes of the scouts if he keeps his head on straight and doesn't screw up his mechanics, and how, contrary to what Billy Beane insisted, defense does matter. Also, Collins addresses how the game has changed for scouts, from 75-year-old area scouts in food-stained Hawaiian shirts insisting on "intangibles" and "thighs" to 30-year-old crosscheckers in slacks and polos with millions of dollars at stake looking for a statistical edge.

The peeks into the Cape Cod culture add some interest, from one player's affinity for fishing to others' affinity for the, uh, social life. You also learn about the longtime coach of the A's, practically the honorary mayor of Chatham for all the summers he and his wife have spent there. Fun read to start the season, though perhaps I should have waited until the summer.

[Yofish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really more like 4.5 stars.

This was a really fun book. The author follows a particular Cape Cod League team for a summer. (The Cape Cod League is mostly for rising Juniors in college---pretty much the best league for such players to strut their stuff to try to look good for major league scouts.) I have some familiarity, as for about ten years in a row, I spent a weekend out there and almost always went to a game. But I certainly learned a lot about the league---some of how the sausage is made---that I didn’t know.

Mostly the author follows the manager and three particular players, giving their back stories and whatnot. But of course there’s stuff about the other players too. With plenty of asides for a history of the league and various players (and even other similar leagues around the country).

But the main thrust is a more-or-less day by day look at the ebbs and flows of a summer season.

There’s a “one year later” at the end, to give a look at what happened to all the players in the MLB draft. And then my version had a “ten years later” chapter. Very few of the players actually made it to the Majors. But it was still interesting to see how they got injured, or just weren’t good enough, or lost their love of the game.

[Sean Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Last Best League is essentially a summer the author spent embedded with the Chatham A's (grammatical error here to represent the way the team actually spells their logo) of the Cape Cod league in 2002. Future major leaguers populate this summer league, and Collins takes the reader through the lifestyle, hopes, dreams, and disappointments of some of the best young college ball players in the country. Some particular points of interest are the networks the coaches have to cultivate to recruit players, the players living and working arrangements and schedules, and the decided lack of non-white players in the league. It is possible that last part has changed in 15 years, but it seemed that the league definitely did not represent the overall ethnic profile of major league baseball. There are also some interesting anecdotes about overinvolved parents, greasy agents, and some of the life-altering decisions facing these young players. I found the book well-written and interesting, with plenty of background for most of the anecdotes contained within.

[Allie Bayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Damn. I wanted to enjoy this so so so badly. But it was a struggle (a couple reasons why being no fault of the book itself.) I messed up and was expecting the wrong thing, and, I read this during a rough week so *I* wasn’t super into it. I went in thinking I was essentially going to get to read “Summer Catch” and I was *pumped*. Well, this is non fiction. And that’s fine and all; but basically, I read “Summer Catch” minus 90% of the romance, after game shenanigans, and summer fun. (So it wasn’t that fun haha) I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone that isn’t a MAJOR baseball person, because it was also very technical and high level. That aspect was fine, but I personally wanted more player anecdotes and less player game stats. The chapters were LONG, and that made this a slow go. Lots of reading 2-3 pages only to get sleepy or need a mental break. Ultimately, a very thorough look into the summer leagues, but it was really just depressing and not *nearly* as exciting as actually watching a summer league ballgame.

[Kelly Sedinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cape Cod League is a summer league where players from the country's best collegiate baseball programs (or is the best collegiate baseball players?) go to play for the summer. This book accounts the goings-on of one summer of Cape Cod League baseball, specifically following the Chatham A's. College players who have high hopes of MLB success have their first real taste of "pro" ball (though they're not pros here, and in fact they have to get part-time jobs on the Cape to get by)...and some of them struggle with their responsibilities and whether they really want to keep pursuing their baseball dreams at all.

The book was written more than 20 years ago, so each of these players have come and gone, as far as their MLB dreams are concerned. You can google them now to see how they did. (There is an updated edition out there that probably includes some of that follow-up, but I read the original edition.) I've seen this book cited a lot on "Best Baseball Books" lists, and it IS really good.

[James Maskell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to really love this book. Baseball is easily the most poetic sport, has the most American charm, and brings me back to my childhood in ways no other sport is able to. What Collins does well here is capture the essence of Cape Cod, as well as the technical aspects of baseball at this level. Much of this book, however, comes off as a travel manual for driving from town to town. If I weren’t familiar with The Cape, I’d probably be lost in all the town names and route numbers. And while Collins is not shy about the book spanning a season, what was really missing for me was a story. We get lots of stats, lots of coaching and scouting techniques, but it was really hard to root for anyone to do anything other than get into the majors. It’s definitely a book for lovers of baseball, but unlike other sports narratives, there isn’t enough conflict and resolution for passers by just looking for a well-written tale.

[Janis Cram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Our family vacationed in Hyannis one summer and just happened to meet the announcer for the Chatham As who told us about a game there the following night. We went and had an amazing time! This is pure baseball and 100% as written about in this book.

As a fan (and relative of a player from a couple of years ago!), this books does a phenomenal job of explaining the history and importance of the Cape Cod League and the scouting process. Though I had read about the League while planning our trip that summer, I had no idea how big it really was.

A good book will leave you wanting more. After finishing this, I had to Google what happened to these players and coaches following this season. It also makes me want to plan another vacation to the Cape! Very well done!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collins's book is an insightful read into the anachronism that is the Cape Cod League-- an amateur (but highly skilled, populated by top college players) summer league with players working odd jobs (at that time, since not often true) and experiencing the tug between the youthful pace of college and the hoped-for life in the frenetic and unforgiving world of professional baseball. Collins depicts characters and personalities very well, and gives this book an entertaining tone which makes it positively fly by. My edition was the updated one, where he follows up with these players a decade later-- and that was an outstanding addition to the text! A very good baseball read.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong narrative of the human experience in the Cape Cod Summer League, an odd specimen in the modern baseball landscape. Collins captures the events of the 2002 Chatham A's through brilliant writing about significant players on the team and about the league as a whole. The Cape League is written about as a rarity in the modern world of baseball - a pure, untouched league staffed by volunteers and taking place on old, poorly kept fields in the heart of summer. Excellent read for baseball fans and those interested in a different world of baseball.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

good at first, but since i don't really know anything about baseball it got pretty boring, and hard to follow the baseball sequences. some of the tangents about ncaa involvement in summer leagues, metal vs wood bats, and steroids, among other things, were interesting. my main complaint was that it seemed to implicitly condone the players' behavior and attitudes towards women, which seemed degrading at best--boys will be boys, right?

[Herb Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the Cape Cod League, an important independent summer league for collegiate players. The author had full access to a team, the Chatham A's, in 2002. I expected more on-the-field action. We learn a lot about a few players, the coach and the many boosters and volunteers of the league.

[Andrew McNally · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice breezy read about the end of youthhood and some young men on the cusp of stardom. Delves into the Cape league and the way it's run very effectively. It could've described the actual Cape setting more, though. Probably only interesting for those who already like baseball and/or Cape Cod (of which I am both). The ultimate Dad book.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and easy read about the Cape Cod league. The author focuses on a single season of the Chatham team. Not a charmed year and no one really makes it in the end. No matter. It’s a great story with great characters. And a perfect plane read too.

[Josh S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do a 20 year review too! How cool would that be?

Fantastic book! Can’t believe these are real people! Thanks for writing. Amazing that ALL these people would be willing to partake in such an experiment.

[Lianna Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was great focusing on all the different players and reminded me of my last season :,). Could’ve spent more time on the team dynamics bc that’s a huge part that was left out more than it should’ve been. But this book was mostly gas

[Patrick Macke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book can be magical (as baseball often is) ... If you love baseball you're bound to like this, it's a bit of a diamond in the rough that blends a bunch of stuff most of love: baseball, the dreams of youth and American small towns ... It's a quick read and worth it

[Pete Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elite college players are recruited to play in the Cape Cod League for the summer, one of the top amateur leagues in the country. They live with host families, work day jobs, and are watched by MLB scouts. Interesting read for anybody who enjoys baseball.