Advertisement. Advertise with us

JEFF IDELSON RETIRING

HoF Chief

‘Good For

Hall, Village’

By JIM KEVLIN

Departing Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson participates in one of the light-hearted events of his tenure: Presenting Homer Simpson with his plaque on May 27, 2017, on the 25th anniversary of “Homer at the Bat.”

COOPERSTOWN - He was there in 2014 when the first sitting president, Barack Obama, visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame, pitching his tourism strategy.
He was there that fall when Little League World Champion pitcher Mo’Ne Davis, a national phenomenon, took a break from Cooperstown All Star Village in Oneonta to donate her jersey to the Hall.
He was there in 2017 on the steps of the Hall’s library to present the plaque inducting Homer Simpson into the Hall on the 25th anniversary of the iconic Simpsons episode, “Homer at the Bat.”
He was there when Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero and four other standout ballplayers drew 53,000 fans to the 2018 Induction, the second largest crowd in Hall history.

You have reached your limit of 3 free articles

To Continue Reading

 

Our hard-copy and online publications cover the news of Otsego County by putting the community back into the newspaper. We are funded entirely by advertising and subscriptions. With your support, we continue to offer local, independent reporting that is not influenced by commercial or political ties.

Posted

Related Articles

Waller: Concerts Were a Boost to Village

Letter from Carol Bateman Waller Concerts Were a Boost to Village I read with interest the little piece in the Journal on “20 Years Ago” and the Willie Nelson/Bob Dylan concert in Doubleday Field. While it is true that Trustee Stuart Taugher did originally oppose the idea, he embraced the results when the concert was a rousing success. This concert came about through an approach by Jeff Idelson, then president of the Hall of Fame, to then-Mayor Carol Waller. Jeff met with Carol and said that Willie and Bob were beginning a concert tour set in small baseball parks and…
August 29, 2024

Mauer, Cooperstown Linked Since Long Before Induction Weekend

The 2001 June Draft is more or less where my Mauer story begins, though technically it starts five months earlier. After a year working for the Hall of Fame, and with the help of future Hall President Jeff Idelson, I was literally in my first day as an intern in the Twins’ media relations department when former Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett and former Twin and St. Paul native Dave Winfield both were elected to Cooperstown by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.…
July 18, 2024

New Exhibit, Statue Unveiled at BHoF

The East-West Game on Saturday, May 25 was the culmination of the weekend’s celebration of the Black baseball experience, beginning with the unveiling of a new statue of Hall of Fame slugger, civil rights activist, philanthropist and humanitarian Henry “Hank” Aaron in a private ceremony near the base of the museum’s Grand Staircase on the first-floor lobby beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 23.…
May 30, 2024

PUTTING THE COMMUNITY BACK INTO THE NEWSPAPER

For a limited time, new annual subscriptions to the hard copy of “The Freeman’s Journal” or “Hometown Oneonta” (which also includes unlimited access to AllOtsego.com), or digital-only access to AllOtsego.com, can also give back to one of their favorite Otsego County charitable organizations.

$5.00 of your subscription will be donated to the nonprofit of your choice: Friends of the Feral-TNR, Super Heroes Humane Society, or Susquehanna Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 

Visit our “subscribe” page and select your charity of choice at checkout