Cap Selections Announced for Hall of Fame Plaques for Class of 2019 Inductees

(COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.) – The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has announced the cap selections that will appear on the Hall of Fame plaques for each of the six members of the Hall of Fame class of 2019. Harold Baines, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith will be formally inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 21, in Cooperstown, N.Y., as the feature to a four-day celebration of baseball and their careers as part of Hall of Fame Weekend 2019.

Halladay, Martinez, Mussina and Rivera were elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Jan. 22. Baines and Smith were elected to the Hall of Fame by the Today’s Game Era Committee on Dec. 9.

Each Hall of Fame plaque will be revealed as the prelude to each electee’s induction speech on July 21. The Hall of Fame plaque, which serves to reflect the totality of a career, details an individual’s accomplishments in the game in approximately 90 words, while listing each team on which an individual played or managed. An artist rendering of the individual being honored tops the Hall of Fame plaque, and in many instances, a cap, where a logo may or may not be featured, is included. The Hall of Fame provides guidance to inductees as to which logo, if any, may be depicted on an electee’s plaque cap.

In conjunction with the Hall of Fame and their families, the six members of the Class of 2019 will feature the following on their Hall of Fame plaque: Harold Baines – Chicago White Sox logo; Roy Halladay – no logo; Edgar Martinez – Seattle Mariners logo; Mike Mussina – no logo; Mariano Rivera – New York Yankees logo; and Lee Smith – Chicago Cubs logo.

The six newest members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame will take their permanent place in Cooperstown on Sunday, July 21, with the ceremony beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT – televised live on MLB Network, highlighting four days of celebratory events and programs for baseball fans of all ages, as part of Hall of Fame Weekend 2019, July 19-22.

“Roy was incredibly proud of his accomplishments with both the Blue Jays and the Phillies,” said Brandy Halladay, Roy’s wife. “We spent many great years in Toronto, where he established his career and became a Cy Young-winning pitcher. In Philadelphia, he reached the Postseason, threw two no-hitters and won a second Cy Young Award. As a family, and with the blessing of the Hall of Fame, we feel confident that Roy would have come to the same conclusion, had he known it to be an option. Both franchises, and their fans, meant so much to him.”

“Both the Yankees and the Orioles were instrumental in my reaching Cooperstown,” Mussina said. “I am proud to have played for these great organizations, in front of the tremendous fans in Baltimore and New York, and I am honored to have the opportunity to represent them both in the Hall of Fame.”

Hall of Fame Weekend 2019 will also feature the Saturday, July 20 Awards Presentation, when J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner Jayson Stark and Ford. C. Frick Award winner Al Helfer will be honored. The Weekend will include family programming for baseball fans of all ages, including the July 20 Parade of Legends and a July 22 Legends of the Game Roundtable discussion event with the five living inductees.

More than 50 Hall of Famers are expected to return for Hall of Fame Weekend, with the full list of returnees to be announced in early July, to honor the Class of 2019 at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.