COOPERSTOWN – The Hall of Fame announced a few minutes ago that it still hopes to hold the annual Induction on July 25, but not the unticketed event in the Clark Sports Center fields that can attract tens of thousands of fans.
“We have prepared alternative plans to conduct our annual Awards Presentation and Induction Ceremony as television events taking place indoors and adhering to all of the required New York State guidelines,” Jane Forbes Clark, Hall chairman, announced a few minutes ago.
Miss Clark also announced the Cooperstown Classic events planned for Memorial Day Weekend have been cancelled, including the Legends Game, for a second year in a row.
BASEBALL AUTHOR – 1 p.m. Reading by Jane Leavy, author “The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created.” Discuss baseball history, ask questions, get your copy signed. Included with Museum admission. Grandstand Theater, Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown. 607-547-7200 or visit baseballhall.org/events
If you need to go into downtown Cooperstown, go now! Because of the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction, Main Street will be closed from 5 a.m. Friday until Sunday evening. (AllOTSEGO.com photo)
Relive the one weekend a year where Otsego County is in the middle of national attention: Hall of Fame Weekend 2018. With exclusive articles, photos and commentary, this week’s Hometown Oneonta and The Freeman’s Journal will be on newsstands this afternoon.
AWARDS PRESENTATION – 4:30 p.m. Features the presentation of the Ford C. Frick award for baseball broadcasting excellence and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing. Gates open 3 p.m. Followed immediately by the Parade of Legends Doubleday Field, Cooperstown. baseballhall.org/events/Awards-Presentation-2017?date=0
All hands are on deck, including proprietor Perry Ferrara’s wife Cathy, foreground, as the Railroad Inn, the new boutique hotel at Railroad and Glen avenues, Cooperstown, prepares to welcome its first guests tomorrow evening. Ferrara, in right photo with Cathy, said the first-floor rooms will be occupied Friday evening, and by next weekend – Hall of Fame Induction Weekend – all 22 rooms will be completed and filled. Crews have been renovating the historic hops-storage facility since last October, which had been vacant since businessman Mike Manno bought the former Agway in 2009 and restored the exterior. Ferrara, who has operated Cat Construction on Long Island for 30 years, said bringing the building back to life while preserving the historic ambiance has been a particularly satisfying part of this project. Bob Holt, at the registration desk, former manager of the Best Western in Harwtick Seminary, is managing the new hotel. Helping Mrs. Ferrara in the top photo are, from left, friends Lorraine Banfield and Cathy DiResta, and Cassie Sawyer of Worcester. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
The crowd isn’t what it’s going to be (Cooperstown Mayor Katz predicts 40,000-50,000 visitors) but excitement is starting to build on Main Street as Induction Weekend 2016 gets underway. Top photo, 19th District Congressional hopeful Zephyr Teachout arrived at Pioneer Park a few minutes ago and greets, from left, MLB Official Historian John Thorn of Catskill, Mayor Katz and Village Trustee Jim Dean; she’s attending this evening’s county Democratic Dinner at Village Trustee Richard Sternberg’s home, where state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is keynoter. At right, proprietor May Laio of All About The Girls By May poses with Alex Johnson, all dolled up to slow customers passing by 147 Main. Center left, the Breck Girls (Kristen and Kathryn Busse) are together again, selling cool Italian ices in front of the Silver Fox at 139 Main. Lower left, the village had closed off Main Street by noon today, and put on-street parking off limits on Lake and River streets and the Doubleday lot. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)
COOPERSTOWN – The Hall of Fame announced a few minutes ago that it still hopes to hold the annual Induction on July 25, but not the unticketed event in the Clark Sports Center fields that can attract tens of thousands of fans.
