Museum Fundraiser PLAY Ball gets Hall of Fame Weekend Under Way

Written by: Bill Francis

With two days to go before the Hall of Fame raises its enshrinement total with six new electees, Friday morning began with Ozzie Smith and a trio of the game’s greats raising funds for a good cause.

The 2018 National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend got off to its official start when, for the 17th consecutive year, Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith, in an event whose origins coincided with his 2002 induction, hosted his PLAY (Players, Legends And You) Ball event.

The Wizard of Oz, with contributions from fellow enshrinees like catcher Johnny Bench, first baseman Jeff Bagwell and outfielder Tim Raines, entertained and educated 53 fans with a session at a baseball field at the Clark Sports Center, only a few dozen feet from where Sunday’s Induction Ceremony will take place. Thanks to the generosity of the players and those attending, the final tally for this year’s PLAY Ball was $39,400.

Johnny Bench gives some young catchers advice on the game during the Museum's PLAY Ball fundraiser on Friday in Cooperstown. (Parker Fish/National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

“It’s important to be able to give back,” Smith said. “This gives us as players the opportunity to spend some time with the fans and stay connected to the game. What better place to do that than here in Cooperstown.”

Smith, who has attended every induction ceremony since his own, was asked what advice he would offer to this year’s Class of 2018.

“They haven’t asked me for any advice but we tell them to keep it short,” he said with a laugh. “This will be the largest class of living inductees since I started coming back and it can get pretty hot out here, so hopefully the weather holds out and the speeches aren’t too long.

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“It’s cool being able to come back and enjoy this weekend. But I’m sure that the guys going in are probably stressing out about the speech. We’ve all experienced that, we know what it’s like and I’m sure they’ll remember this day for a long time,” he added. “They’ve been under a lot of pressure playing but this is a different pressure when you have to get up and speak. Most of us are not very comfortable doing that but somehow you’ve got to figure it out.”

The 70-year-old Bench, inducted in 1989, acts as a de facto elder statesman these days when it comes to new electees.

“Jim Thome, I saw him at breakfast this morning, sat down with him last night with Chipper,” Bench said. “It’s very meaningful to me because I never get to see these guys and spend time with them. There’s a natural camaraderie to it. It’s really special the way all these guys respond to it. And they’re all nervous.

“But they’re now Hall of Famers, so it’s pretty easy to go in and make them comfortable and welcome them. Part of our role – if we have roles as Hall of Famers – is living the life of a Hall of Famer, so on Sunday, and it’s a tradition I’ve done for many years, is I have the new inductees sit on the veranda of the hotel and make them pause and say, ‘This is over. Everything all weekend has been for your family and for your friends. Now it’s yours and you have to realize you’re in the Hall of Fame and what your accomplishments have been.’ Then we look out over Lake Otsego and I say, ‘Take a minute to breathe here.’ It’s a nice tradition where I can give a little bit back.”

For Bagwell, this is his first trip back to Cooperstown since he was inducted last year.

“It’s definitely a different feeling. A lot more serenity in me, really. Just to be here around these great players. Last year I had to deal with my family and where they’re going to go. It’s just a totally different experience,” Bagwell said. “Everybody always talks about the speech, but that really wasn’t my biggest concern. It was just dealing with the itinerary, where there’s a lot going on. Coming in now I’m just hanging out and having fun and enjoying it more. For me, when I got here last year I didn’t know if I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. As the year has gone by, I feel a little bit more comfortable.”

Later Friday morning there was an official dedication of the Hall of Fame’s completely renovated Grandstand Theater. A focal point of the Museum experience for decades, the 4,400-square-foot space with its 196 seats also includes a brand new 15-minute film, “Generations of the Game,” that will serve as an emotional welcome for visitors.

Attending the dedication were Hall of Famers who appeared in the film, such as Rod Carew, Juan Marichal, Carlton Fisk, George Brett and Rickey Henderson, as well as key contributors to the film and theater project.

“The Museum’s new film, ‘Generations of the Game,’ is evocative and emotional,” said Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson. “Plain and simple, visitors leave this theater inspired. Visitors love the Hall of Fame, and since our doors opened in 1939 more than 17 million visitors have come through our turnstiles to relive history. And now with this new theater and ‘Generations of the Game’ we are giving baseball fans yet another important and compelling piece to their Cooperstown experience.”

Kevin Yeaman, chairman and CEO of Dolby Laboratory, added, “At Dolby everything we do starts with the belief that people want to have the most compelling and immersive experience possible. We think of it as creating a technological palate for storytellers to engage audiences. Baseball, I think, is one of the best ways to inspire storytellers.

“This is why we do what we do. Our passion is giving people the ability to tell amazing stories and baseball creates a lot of amazing stories.”

One of the stories the film shares is Fisk’s famous home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.

“Baseball never gets old. That’s the good part about it,” Fisk said. “When I watch that movie it’s about baseball. People are just mesmerized by the game. I think that’s what makes it so memorable. No matter how old you are you can look back on a player or a game or a team and say, ‘I remember that.’

“Sometimes when I look back after seeing my homer it’s almost like in a different lifetime. ‘Who was that young guy?’

“But to know that you were a part of it is the remarkable part of the whole thing. It’s the first time I’ve seen the movie, and I just feel privileged to be included in it. It was emotional watching it because that’s what baseball does to you. It brings out that emotion, maybe that little kid emotion, that everybody has about the game.”

It was also the first time seeing the film for Marichal.

“Every time I’m here in Cooperstown I feel like I’m in heaven because I love the game so much,” he said, adding to a point he makes in the film. “I get to chat with so many different Hall of Famers that I never played with. Any time that I have a chance to talk to those people, I feel like a little kid looking for an autograph. I’ve loved the game since I was a little kid.

“I used to have an argument with my mother. She used to tell me, ‘Son, you have to get a good education. You have to be prepared for the future.’ The only answer I had for her was, ‘Mom, don’t worry. I’m going to be a baseball player.’”

Jonathan Hock, a 10-time Sports Emmy award winner, seemed awestruck minutes after the film ended in front of its prestigious audience.

“It’s better than I imagined even in my greatest hopes that I dared have for the film. This exceeds even those,” Hock said. “This theater is so spectacular. It’s probably the nicest theater I’ve ever been in, let alone shown one of my films in.

“I’ve got to pinch myself today. I think it can be emotional because experiencing it here is not like watching it on your TV at home. It’s the shared aspect of it, the idea that you’re sitting among other people who love this game. That makes it deeper and the emotions pop to the surface.”

This year, 57 Hall of Famers are scheduled to be in Cooperstown to honor the Class of 2018 at the Induction Ceremony, to be held Sunday, July 29, at 1:30 p.m. at the Clark Sports Center – located one mile south of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The Induction Ceremony will be shown live on MLB Network, as well as simulcast at www.mlb.com.

On Saturday, July 28, the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation will be held at 4:30 p.m. at Doubleday Field and will feature the presentation of the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting to Bob Costas of NBC Sports and the MLB Network and the presentation of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing to Sheldon Ocker, formerly of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. The Awards Presentation is free and open to the public.

Also on Saturday, immediately following the Awards Presentation and scheduled to start at 6 p.m., the Hall of Fame Parade of Legends returns for a ninth year to provide fans with more thrills. Hall of Famers will ride down Main Street in trucks provided by Ford Motor Company en route to a private reception at the Museum.

On Sunday, July 29, the Induction Ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. on the grounds outside of the Clark Sports Center, which is located on lower Susquehanna Avenue – located just one mile south of the Hall of Fame.

Bill Francis is the senior research and writing specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

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Thursday of Hall of Fame Weekend 2018 featured the return of many Hall of Famers to Cooperstown.

Bench, Yastrzemski elected as part of historic Class of 1989

The Class of 1989 was inducted on July 23, 1989, in Cooperstown.

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For Tim Raines, the road to Cooperstown was long and winding in more than one way.

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