‘Cape Dreams’ Chronicles The 2024 Brewster Whitecaps’ Season

BREWSTER – The Cape Cod Baseball League offers Cape Cod residents and visitors something unique: the chance to watch great players before they make it big. For Mark Epstein, the experience was worth writing a book about. 

 Epstein was born and raised in Massachusetts. He’s been coming to the Cape for over 40 years, sometimes renting a cottage in Falmouth or staying in Dennis Port. His love of the collegiate summer league started early on when he would attend games with his dad. Soon, he passed the tradition onto his daughters and now he brings the entire family, including his grandchildren and his wife, Barbara. 

 After graduating from Worcester State University, Epstein started working for the family business, a local sporting goods store in Worcester called Charlie’s Surplus. With 13 years of experience selling athletic supplies and organizing local community sporting events, Epstein decided to change his career path. He moved to South Carolina, received a master’s degree in school counseling and started working as a history and language arts teacher. Epstein happily took on the role of basketball coach. 

 After over 30 years in education, Epstein decided to turn to a different passion: writing. In 2020, he published his first book, “They Call Me Pathfinder: Education, Basketball, Equality.” The memoir details his personal journey of combating inequality in the public school system through sports. 

 The “Pathfinder” nickname comes from a sleeping bag brand that was available at the sporting goods store he worked at with his father. His father called him “Pathfinder” because he seemed to be “as useless as the sleeping bag,” he said. The nickname stuck. 

 His second book, “Jack ‘The Shot’ Foley: A Legend For All Time” is about the Worcester native and his legendary collegiate run as a basketball player.

Epstein then decided to turn his sights on baseball. 

With fond memories of the Cape League, he knew he wanted to follow one of the region’s teams for the summer, but the hard part was deciding which one. 

“I spoke to the president of the league, and in the beginning, I wanted to write a story about the whole league,” he said. “[President] Andrew Lang advised me to pick one team.”

While Epstein reached out to multiple teams, interest from the team management and a deeper connection kept drawing him back to Brewster. 

“The biggest reason [is] I have family connections to Brewster,” he said. “I was exceptionally close to my sister, who spent her last two years living with my niece in Brewster.” 

 His sister passed away in 2022, making Brewster that much more special. Once he decided upon the town, Epstein got to work following the team. By the end of the season, he’d made friends for life. 

 While his newest book, “Cape Dreams: A Season With The Brewster Whitecaps” chronicles the team’s 2024 season, it also gives readers a peek into the lives of the players, management and staff who make up the team. 

 Tim Fortungo, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, called the book “a vivid snapshot of what makes the Cape Cod Baseball League so special. Epstein follows the Whitecaps through a memorable season, painting a rich picture of the players, the coaches, the host families, the community, and the magic of summer baseball.” 

 Epstein said the experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity, something he doesn’t take for granted. 

 “I traveled, I ate, I slept, I lifted weights with them,” he said. He went on to say that he views some of the players and the staff as family members now. 

 “He was in the dugout. He was at my home. He was on the bus,” said Whitecaps coach Jamie Shevchik. “But I felt like if you’re going to do it, then let’s do it right. And I think he captured a lot of the essence of what Cape Cod League Baseball is. Could it have been a better story if we won a championship? Of course. I mean, he’s the first guy that wanted to write a book the year that we didn’t even make the playoffs. But there’s a lot of little stories in there that I thought were really cool that he captured about the Cape League.”

 Epstein will be traveling across the Cape and Islands, throughout Massachusetts and at some locations in South Carolina to greet fans, sign books and conduct press conferences. His first Cape appearance will be on Friday, June 27 at the West Dennis Library at 1 p.m. He’ll also be hosting a press conference at Ocean Edge in Brewster on June 30, at 10 a.m. with a surprise keynote speaker. 

 Throughout the summer, he’ll be stopping by a few games as well. For a complete list of events, visit markpathfinderbooks.com. 

 The Brewster Whitecaps’ season begins this Saturday with a home game against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. The game starts at 5 p.m. at Stony Brook Field. 

“Hopefully the story ‘Cape Dreams’ will help attract new visitors to Brewster and Cape Cod to experience the unique enjoyment of attending a Cape Cod Baseball game,” said Epstein.