Cold and Rain Can't Dampen Hall of Fame Memorial Day Weekend Baseball Celebration
By CHARLIE VASCELLARO
COOPERSTOWN
Like the proverbial carriers of the U.S. mail, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” was going to keep visitors and participants in the Hall of Fame’s Memorial Day Weekend celebration of the national pastime from having a good time here in Cooperstown.
Leading off with the first annual Hall of Fame Film Series—running from Thursday, May 22 through Sunday, May 25—“Diamond Diplomacy: U.S. Japan Relations Through a Shared Love of Baseball,” directed by Yuriko Gamo Romer, was screened in the Fenimore Art Museum theater and was the first of the six-film series.
According to Romer, “The history of Japanese baseball is the history of Japan/U.S. relations.”
Kerry Yo Nakagawa, executive director of the Nisei Baseball Research Project, said that for the first and second wave of Japanese immigrants in the U.S., “Putting on a baseball uniform was like wearing the American flag.”
Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch used his introduction of the film to announce the opening of the Hall’s new Yakyu Baseball exhibit in conjunction with the 2025 Induction Ceremony, which includes Japanese superstar Ichiro Suzuki.
