Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the Baseball Hall of Fame, announced on Thursday, July 29, the new elected Board of Directors.
Craig Biggio, Tom Glavine and Ken Griffey Jr. have all been elected to serve as Board of Directors.
“We are thrilled to welcome Craig Biggio, Tom Glavine and Ken Griffey Jr. to the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum,” Clark said in a media release. “As players, Craig, Tom and Ken were each known for their passion for the game and their leadership. Since being elected as Members of the Hall of Fame, they have all demonstrated their continuing commitment to baseball and to this institution. Their vision will help guide the Museum toward the future while it remains focused on its mission to preserve history, honor excellence and connect generations.”
In addition, Curt Schilling’s request to be removed from the 2022 Baseball Writer’s Association of America ballot was denied in a unanimous vote.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame is partnering with Mango Publishing to explore 100 years of baseball on the radio airwaves.
One hundred years ago, a new technology carried descriptions of the Aug. 5, 1921, Pirates vs. Phillies game beyond Forbes Field and into a few hundred homes with receivers within reach of KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh. It was the start of an unbreakable bond between broadcasting and baseball – one that brought the national pastime to more fans than ever.
“Memories from the Microphone: A Century of Baseball Broadcasting” brings to the written page the magic of baseball over the airwaves. The new book, authored by historian Curt Smith, takes readers behind the scenes of some of baseball’s greatest moments with the announcers who brought those games to millions of fans.
THEATER – 7 p.m. The Glimmer Globe Theater presents ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)’ with 3 actors (in tights) performing all 37 of the bards plays. Cost, $15/adult. Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown. 607-547-1453 or visit www.fenimoreartmuseum.org
GALLERY TALK – 2 p.m. Sydney Waller will discuss the art and life of local Farmer/Artist Lavern Kelley, whose painting and wood carvings are displayed in the Smithsonian and the Fenimore Art museum. Free, space limited, reservations recommended. The Art Garage, 689 Beaver Meadow Rd., Cooperstown. 607-547-5327 or visit www.facebook.com/TheArtGarageCooperstown/
With induction delayed, HOF awards get Saturday spotlight
By CHARLIE VASCELLARO • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
While the Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony has been pushed back to Sept. 8, in order to accommodate the inclusion of fans in attendance on the lawn at the Clark Sports Center, the Hall’s annual Awards Presentation honoring baseball writers and broadcasters is scheduled for Saturday, July 24, as a television only event.
This year’s Ford C. Frick Award and Baseball Writer’s Association of America Career Excellence Award ceremony will include respective 2021 recipients, broadcaster Al Michaels and writer Dick Kaegel as well as 2020 honorees, Ken Harrelson and Nick Cafardo.
‘Do you Believe in Miracles?’
Perhaps best known for his indelible call of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s stunning defeat of Russia in the 1980 winter Olympics, Al Michaels was already a seasoned and accomplished sports broadcaster at the time breaking into baseball with the Pacific Coast (minor) League’s Hawaii Islanders in 1968. The 45th winner of the Frick Award, Michaels assumed the lead broadcaster responsibilities for the Cincinnati Reds in 1971 and the San Francisco Giants in 1974.
Calling all baseball fans!
Tune in for the 2021 awards ceremony live on the MLB Network. The ceremony will include the Ford C. Frick Award winner for broadcasting excellence, Al Michaels; the 2020 Frick Award winner, Ken Harrel-son; the 2021 Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Award winner, Dick Kaegel; the 2020 BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner, Nick Cafardo; and the 2020 Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award winner, David Montgomery.
Presented by The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown on Saturday, July 24. Call 607-547-7200 or visit baseballhall.org.
The history of the national pastime stretches across multiple centuries. But the connections that link baseball’s early days to today’s game are always evident in Cooperstown.
Through its new YouTube series, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is sharing those connections with viewers at home, according to a media release.
The Hall of Fame is debuting a YouTube series, “Hall of Fame Connections,” produced by MLB Network and made possible by a grant from I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism.
The series looks at the Hall of Fame’s collection from a new and exciting angle, with each episode telling a different story of how two seemingly unrelated artifacts in the museum’s vast collection connect to each other, crossing through generations of baseball history.
THEATER – 7 p.m. The Glimmer Globe Theater presents ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)’ with 3 actors (in tights) performing all 37 of the bards plays. Cost, $15/adult. Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown. 607-547-1453 or visit www.fenimoreartmuseum.org
One of the artifacts for New York Mets fans to discover in the ‘Starting Nine’ program in is the jersey Mike Piazza wore in his first game back after the Sept. 11, attacks. (National Hall of Fame and Museum.)
By CHARLIE VASCELLARO • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN — Like Dorothy taking her first steps on the Yellow Brick Road in the Land of Oz, first time visitors to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum are often advised that “it’s always best to start at the beginning” moving in a linear and chronological fashion through the game’s formative years and early history.
Returning visitors to the museum and more seasoned veterans might make a beeline to a new installation or favorite exhibit moving through the museum at their own pace or in a more unorthodox fashion; like former New York Met Jimmy Piersall circling the bases backwards when he hit his 100th career home run.
The Hall of Fame’s new “Starting Nine: The Must-See Artifacts from Your Team” and “Ultimate Fan Experience” allow fans to carve their own path through the museum on an interactive scavenger hunt through their favorite teams’ histories.
Devised by the Hall of Fame’s curatorial staff, “Starting Nine” highlights nine team-specific objects for each team, culled from tens of 1,000s of artifacts in the Hall’s collection.
Visitors can begin their journeys almost anywhere they choose after receiving a team “line-up card” available at the Hall on its mobile website.
Looking through teams’ Starting Nine lineup cards, the game’s history and evolution unfolds and stirs the reflective imagination and makes one realize the depth of the Hall of Fame’s collection, including:
The catcher’s mitt that Yogi Berra wore when he caught Don Larsen’s perfect World Series game in 1956;
Roberto Clemente’s retired No. 21 Pittsburgh Pirates jersey;
COOPERSTOWN — Following last week’s announcement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that lifted significant COVID-19 restrictions, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced Monday, June 21, that tickets will not be needed for free lawn seating for the Wednesday, Sept. 8, induction ceremony.
The ceremony was rescheduled from its traditional last Sunday in July to an event at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 8, on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center in the town of Middlefield.
The event will celebrate the inductions of Class of 2020 members Derek Jeter, Marvin Miller, Ted Simmons and Larry Walker and will be broadcast live exclusively on MLB Network.
Since 1992, the event has been held on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center, with estimated crowds approaching and surpassing 50,000 at five of the last six ceremonies, from 2014 to 2019. The second-largest crowd on record – an estimated 55,000 people – attended the Hall of Fame’s last induction, July 21, 2019.
CIRCUS – 5:30 & 7:30 p.m. Bring the kids out for the Zerbini Family Circus featuring Animals, Aerialists, Jugglers, Clowns, and more. Pony rides available 1 hour before. Masks, social distancing required. Cost, $15/adult. Free Parking. 6th Ward Playground, Scramling Ave., Oneonta. 607-434-4419 or visit zerbinifamilycircus.com
COOPERSTOWN — A National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum official said the rescheduling of Induction Weekend to a Wednesday in September came down to one simple factor: the calendar.
“Looking at the calendar, we just had a very limited amount of options,” Jon Shestakofsky, vice president of communications and education, told Iron String Media, Friday, June 11.
The exclusive interview took place two days after the Hall announced it would shift from a virtual induction on the traditional Sunday afternoon in July to a limited capacity, ticketed-only induction Wednesday, Sept. 8, at the Clark Sports Center in the town of Middlefield.
Shestakofsky said the date was the best available option. He said there was no weekend date in September that worked for all of the induction stakeholders, including Major League Baseball, the MLB Network, the inductees and their families, the Hall and the Hall of Famers.
AUDITIONS – 7 p.m. Women between 25 & 55 are invited to audition for lead and supporting roles in October production of ‘The Haunting of Hill House.’ Presented by Stuff of Dreams Productions. Held at Foothills Performing Arts Center, Oneonta. Visit www.facebook.com/GEStevensOneonta/
Baseball Hall of Fame has new elected Board of Directors
