Photo by Milo Stewart Jr.,/National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
COOPERSTOWN—Scott Rolen visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Tuesday, February 28 for his orientation tour. Rolen will be inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame class during Induction Weekend, July 21-24. He is a seven-time All-Star who won eight Gold Glove Awards for fielding at third base during a 17-season career in the major leagues. This is Rolen’s sixth year on the ballot. From left: Niki Rolen (Scott’s wife), Finn Rolen (son), Raine Rolen (daughter) and Scott Rolen. They are sitting on a bench in the museum in front of a photo of the 1939 Hall of Fame Induction Class.
COOPERSTOWN—The New Jersey Warriors Hockey Team poses in front of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday, February 18. “Even though they have traveled all across the country, every one of the players, coaches and board members that came has posted that they have never felt the love as much from any community they have been to as the love that was shown to them here in Cooperstown. I thank each and every one of you for making their trip here so memorable,” wrote Barry Shelley, who coordinated the event, in a Facebook post on Monday, February 20.
By TED MEBUST ONEONTA The SUNY Oneonta Men’s Soccer program continued its winning ways this past season, and they have the awards to prove it. Their coaching staff, led by veteran Head Coach Iain Byrne, received Division III Region III Staff of the Year commendations for 2022 by the United Soccer Coaches, an American organization of coaches made up of over 30,000 members, the largest association of soccer coaches in the world.
“This is really another award for the players. We ended the year as the number one team in the region, won our conference, and made a run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. We had great support from our assistants—who wanted to do most of the work!” said Byrne, commending Assistant Coach Brian Wagstaff and Faculty Mentor JoAnne Murphy.
By TED MEBUST COOPERSTOWN Due to the fallout of team sports seasons being canceled for the 2020-21 season, the Cooperstown boys and girls swimming and diving programs were each left without coaches. As the fall sports season approached in August of 2021, Coach John Hodgson said he felt compelled to step in and ensure his daughter, Ariadne—then a senior—could compete. After completing his first campaign with the girls team, a 3-9 effort with just 11 people, Hodgson said he immediately knew it wouldn’t be his last.
“It’s such a wonderful sport for competition. The goals are measurable and everything is in times, so you know exactly where you stand and how your progress is doing. It’s easy to measure yourself,” he said of his first experience as a swim coach. “It’s the best part of my day.”
Damar Hamlin in one sense is the luckiest undead person in the world. As probably almost all of you readers know, he is the Buffalo Bills player who went into ventricular fibrillation when he tackled an opposing player in the Bills-Bengals game on December 26 in Cincinnati. This was seen on national television by millions. He was successfully resuscitated on the field and rapidly transferred to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, which is the major teaching hospital in southwest Ohio. He has done so well that he was released from the intensive care unit at UCMC and transferred back to Buffalo on Monday.
There’s a big difference between mostly dad and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.
By TED MEBUST LOS ANGELES – It’s hard to imagine growing up closer to the game of baseball than Allen Schery, author of the recently published historical treatise “The Boys of Spring,” which details the history of the Dodgers franchise. According to Schery, his bedroom sat 200 feet from Ebbets Field, the “soul” of Flatbush, Brooklyn.
“I was practically living where the parking lot would be, if they had one. The noises from the games, the cheers and Vin Scully’s announcing were filtering into my crib before I could say ‘goo-goo,’” Schery quipped about his early childhood.
Bradley Weldon attends Tabor Academy, an independent preparatory school located in Marion, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of William and Jeanette Weldon of Cooperstown. (Photo courtesy of Tabor Academy)
Reprinted with permission from Tabor Academy
MARION, Mass. – Whether it be on the trails, on the track, or in the classroom, Bradley Weldon ’23 brings levity, hard work and a positive attitude to every space she enters.
According to Weldon, running has been a big part of her Tabor experience.
“The cross country team was the first group of people I got close with my first year at Tabor. Through running, I have made and developed countless friendships that I will have for years to come,” she says.
SAN DIEGO – Five-time All-Star and 1995 World Champion Fred McGriff earned election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, December 4 via the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee process.
McGriff was the only candidate elected from the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee Players Ballot, which was considered by a 16-member committee that held meetings in San Diego. The eight-person ballot was comprised of candidates whose primary contribution to the game came from 1980 to the present.
Neal Moore Topps Allen & Ginter baseball card. (Photo by Neal Moore)
By TED MEBUST
Standing next to his uncle amongst the roaring Jack Murphy Stadium crowd, a young Neal Moore watched the Cincinnati Reds’ Johnny Bench step into the batter’s box for one of his final career at-bats. Pausing to capture the moment, he felt forceful echoes of “We want Johnny! We Want Johnny!” rumble throughout the grounds. It was a moment, he said, that made him understand the significance of baseball.
“There were three pitches and there were three strikes. And it didn’t matter. In the nosebleeds [seats] with my uncle, I thought to myself, this isn’t about the Padres, and it’s not about the Reds. This is about baseball, America’s pastime. Right here and right now is something beautiful. There are moments that are magic,” he explained.
COOPERSTOWN—Local soccer fans gathered at Upstate Bar & Grill to watch the U.S. Men’s National Team’s long-awaited Group Stage showdown against England at the 2022 World Cup in Al Khor, Qatar on Friday, November 25.
Though the fixture proved scoreless in the end, watchers were treated to a fast-paced, physical match-up between one of the tournament favorites in England and a scrappy, youthful U.S. squad. With their 1-0 win against Iran on Tuesday, November 29, the U.S. team finished second in Group B, advancing to the Final 16 knockout round for the first time since 2014. They play next on Saturday, December 3 against the Netherlands.
The Gelbsman family support son, Aiden, on his NLI signing day. Front row from left to right: Craig, Hudson, Aiden and Melinda. Back row from left to right: Reese and Scarlet.
By TED MEBUST
ONEONTA – Surrounded by friends and family, Oneonta High School’s Aidan Gelbsman signed his national letter of intent to play Division I baseball for the University at Albany on Thursday, November 17.
The Yellowjackets hurler, who committed in September, boasts a fastball in the high 80s, which, along with his offspeed stuff, helped him throw two no-hitters during his junior season.
COOPERSTOWN—The Houston Astros made history at the 2022 World Series. Now, artifacts from the second World Series championship in franchise history are coming to the Hall of Fame.
Following the Astros’ 4-1 win on Saturday night, the team, its players and manager generously donated several artifacts that tell the story of their victory to the Hall of Fame, and those pieces will soon take a permanent place in Cooperstown.
ONEONTA—The New York State Athletic Trainers’ Association has named Lauren Stephenson, athletic trainer at SUNY Oneonta Athletics, as the new president of the organization. NYSATA stands to advance the profession of athletic training for the purpose of enhancing the quality of healthcare for the physically active in New York State.
As president of the organization, Stephenson plans to draw on her business consulting and administration experience to elevate the profession and awareness of athletic trainers with the goal of improving the general public’s understanding of what athletic trainers do and the importance of their role in protecting the health and well-being of the physically active. She also aims to bolster diversity and inclusion initiatives while working to get legislative goals passed in New York State. This includes an ongoing effort to pass a bill that would require licensure for athletic trainers, rather than just a certification.
Grace Shipman and the team from Findlay’s Ridge at Capital Challenge Horse Show—Grace Shipman on horse, Calamanzo, with Val Renihan, Chris Strucker, and Grady Lyman.
Grace Shipman of Cooperstown and Ridgefield, CT competed in Equitation Weekend of the Capital Challenge Horse Show last weekend, September 29 through October 2, at Prince George’s Equestrian Center in Maryland. Shipman rode Calamanzo, a grey Holsteiner gelding, to earn champion in the 16-Year-Old Equitation Division–Section A.
She and Calamanzo went on to place ninth in the Palm Beach International Academy-sponsored North American Junior Equitation Championship, a national final in which the fences to navigate are 3’6” in height. There were 148 competitors in this North American championship. Shipman took home a seventh place in the PBIA North American Junior Equitation Flat Championship, as well, which judges the riders on the flat rather than jumping.
