McDonald Leaves Cape Cod League

Pitcher Ben McDonald, the Baltimore Orioles’ unsigned top draft pick in this spring’s amateur draft, has quit playing in the Cape Cod League after one start.

McDonald decided to play in the league while his negotiations with the Orioles continued, but excessive attention by fans and the media proved to be too much, Larry McDonald, the pitcher’s father and agent said.

“The situation wasn’t what it should have been,” Larry McDonald was quoted as saying in the Baltimore Sun. “There was just too much fanfare up there. That’s what he wanted to get away from, and it was worse up there. He needed police escorts to get from the dugout to the mound. The house he was staying in had autograph seekers there all the time. They just weren’t prepared for it, nor was Ben.”