Orleans Firebirds

Orleans Firebirds
League Cape Cod Baseball League (Eastern Division)
Location Orleans, MA
Ballpark Eldredge Park
League championships 1986, 1993, 2003, 2005
Post-Season Division championships 1988, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2005
Regular Season Division championships 1994, 2002, 2003 (tie), 2005, 2011
2016 season 3rd place, Eastern Division
Ownership Gene Hornsby, (President)
Management Sue Horton (General Manager), 18th season
Manager Kelly Nicholson (Field Manager), 13th season

The Orleans Firebirds are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League and plays in the league's Eastern Division. They were known as the Orleans Cardinals from 1946-2008.

Orleans currently plays its home games at Eldredge Park and has been among the league leaders in attendance in recent years. The Firebirds are owned and operated by the non-profit Orleans Athletic Association,[1] and like other Cape League teams, are funded through merchandise sales, donations, and other fundraising efforts at games such as fifty-fifty raffles.

The Firebirds finished the 2007 season in a third place tie in the Eastern Division with 47 points, only six points away from a playoff berth. Orleans has won two Cape Cod Baseball League Championships in the 21st century, most recently in 2005 when they defeated the Bourne Braves two games to one in the championship series. The team was originally known as the Orleans Cardinals but in October 2008, Orleans announced they would be changing their team name for the 2009 season in response to the licensing agreement between the CCBL and Major League Baseball.

History

The Pre-Modern Era

Orleans has fielded a team since the early days of the Cape League. In the final fifteen years of the Pre-Modern Era, Orleans won a total of seven league championships, including back to back titles in 1949 and 1950, and again in 1952 and 1953. Their title in 1957 had been their most recent title up until 1986, when the then-Cardinals broke a nearly thirty year championship drought.

The Modern Era

The early part of the modern era for the Cardinals were plagued with the team's inability to break through in the playoffs. Despite qualifying for the post-season eleven times between 1967 and 1985, the team was unable to win any league crowns. Orleans made the playoffs four consecutive times from 1969 to 1972, but was eliminated in the semi-finals in 1969 and 1972 and lost in the championship series to the Falmouth Commodores in both 1970 and 1971.

Orleans would fall in the championship series two more times in 1974 and 1981 before finally winning their first title in the modern era in 1986. That year, manager John Castleberry led the Cardinals to the best record in the league in the regular season. Orleans would sweep their semi-final series against the Chatham Athletics and eliminate the two-time defending Cape League champion Cotuit Kettleers two games to none in the championship series.

In the 1990s, Orleans would win another Cape League title in 1993 and make the playoffs on five other occasions. Their Eastern Division Regular Season Championship in 1994 was their only regular season crown until 2002.

Orleans has seen tremendous success in the 21st century, making the championship series three times, and winning the title twice, in 2003 and 2005.[2]

For the 2009 season the team changed its name from the Orleans Cardinals to the Orleans Firebirds, following an agreement between the Cape League and Major League Baseball which stated that if a CCBL team shared a nickname with an MLB team that they would have to obtain their uniforms through a Major League Baseball Properties-licensed vendor. Wanting to maintain their independence and longstanding relationship with local vendors, the Orleans team has changed its name. The current logo is a Firebirds inside of an O. "It's all about the O." [3]

Orleans won the East division title in 2011 and lost in the CCBL Championship in 2013. The Firebirds led the Cape Cod League with 31 wins in 2015. They made the playoffs again in 2016 as the #3 seed in the East.

Notable alumni

Nate Freiman

Broadcasters


References

  1. ↑ 1998 Cape Cod Baseball League Official Yearbook, p. 26
  2. ↑ Cape League Championships Archived September 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  3. ↑ http://www.orleanscardinals.com/namechange.html Orleans Firebirds Join Chatham Anglers As New Names in Cape League for 2009
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