BASE Week Programs with Hall of Famers May 4-8
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is taking its “Be A Superior Example” (BASE) program on the road, with visits to Kansas City, Salt Lake City and San Francisco from May 4-8, featuring Hall of Fame members Ozzie Smith, Goose Gossage and Ferguson Jenkins, to share messages of healthy living and character-building choices during the Museum’s first-ever National BASE Week.
Three programs scheduled to take place in cities in the Central, Mountain and Pacific Time Zones, will spotlight major focus areas for the Museum’s award-winning educational programs that present core learning curriculum such as math, science, geography, character education and a dozen other learning units through the lens of baseball and American culture.
BASE’s Beginnings
The Museum’s BASE program was launched in 2011 to provide a healthy living curriculum for students of all ages focused on four core tenets of playing the game the right way: fitness, nutrition, character and fair play. The BASE program features an online interactive program element, featuring several Hall of Fame members, sharing lessons of making good character-building decisions. An exhibit featuring the BASE program content greets visitors in the education area of the Cooperstown museum. Funding for the Museum’s BASE initiative was provided through the generosity of many contributors, including a significant gift from Major League Baseball.
“BASE Week provides an educational opportunity for school-age students across the country to remember that learning can be enjoyable through baseball and that baseball teaches us so much more about our culture and society than simply a win or a loss,” said Brad Horn, the Hall of Fame’s Vice President for Communications and Education. “Thanks to our educational partners in Kansas City, Salt Lake City and San Francisco, we have the opportunity to share these lessons in person, while extending a positive message through the eyes and words of Hall of Fame members that healthy living and respecting the game are choices reflective of good character, and that everyone can benefit from being a superior example within their community.”
Star-studded lineup
Ozzie Smith, who serves as Education Ambassador for the Hall of Fame and remains a beloved baseball hero in Missouri, will lead off BASE Week on Monday, May 4, as the Baseball Hall of Fame joins with the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City to present a symposium for high school athletes, promoting the benefits of making healthy choices. Smith will share his lessons and the lessons of the BASE program with the audience on Monday morning at the Kansas City shrine.
On Wednesday, May 6, Goose Gossage will join the Hall of Fame’s “Sandlot School of After-School All-Stars,” a new outreach program to benefit after-school communities across the country, made possible by the support of Morgan Stanley. Gossage will meet with several dozen students from the Bud Bailey Housing Complex in Salt Lake City prior to the Salt Lake City Bees Triple-A game that night. The “Sandlot School” has already reached students in the Bronx throughout 2015 and will become an enhanced focus of educational offerings from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
On Friday, May 8, Ferguson Jenkins will be a part of a special announcement in San Francisco at Rosa Parks Elementary, where fourth-grade students will connect with the Baseball Hall of Fame through a videoconference program and participate in an active clinic focused on the four tenets of the BASE program, one for each base on the diamond. Following the videoconference program, officials from the San Francisco Unified School District will join with San Francisco RBI leaders to announce ways that Hall of Fame videoconference programs will be made available district-wide.
Each year, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s reaches tens of thousands of students through onsite and distance learning programs. The Museum’s education curriculum features 16 thematic units, scaled age and grade appropriate, to further learning through baseball and understanding the role the National Pastime plays in the evolution of American culture. For more information, please visit, www.baseballhall.org/education.
