Sunday’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Will Cap Baseball’s Best Weekend
(COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.) – Scott Rolen enjoyed a round of golf in Cooperstown with his son on Saturday. But for the soon-to-be inducted member of the Class of 2023, the environment was positively surreal.
“I was just on the 18th hole. I didn’t even know where 18 was when I was standing on it,” Rolen told the assembled media at the annual Hall of Fame Golf Tournament. “None of this is going to set in for quite some time.”
For Rolen and fellow Class of 2023 member Fred McGriff, Saturday’s festivities marked the final hours before officially joining sport’s greatest team. The Induction Ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown. The Ceremony, which is expected to last about two hours, will be broadcast exclusively on MLB Network and livestreamed at MLB.com.
McGriff and Rolen were among about two dozen Hall of Famers at the famed Leatherstocking Golf Course on Saturday, enjoying cool-and-dry summer weather. The Hall of Famers played golf in the morning, then attended the Awards Presentation and the Parade of Legends before relaxing at a private evening reception at the Hall of Fame.
At the annual Awards Presentation, longtime Chicago Cubs voice Pat Hughes was presented with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence, John Lowe received the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for writers and Carl Erskine was honored with the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, with his son, Gary, accepting the award on his behalf.
“I am extremely proud and happy to be here,” Hughes said. “It’s almost happening to somebody else and I'm just kind of watching the thing.”
Highlights of the speeches from the Awards Presentation will be included in MLB Network’s pre-Induction Ceremony coverage starting at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Some of Saturday’s additional highlights included:
**The annual Hall of Fame Weekend Golf Tournament at the Leatherstocking Golf Course was won by the team led by Hall of Famer Greg Maddux and his son Chase, with the team led by Goose Gossage and Jack Morris taking second place. Greg Maddux took home low gross honors with a round of 74.
**Hall of Famer Randy Johnson shared background about his photo exhibit, Randy Johnson: Storytelling with Photographs, currently on display at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. The exhibition runs into December.
**Fans jammed Main Street to get a glimpse of their Hall of Fame heroes at the 12th Parade of Legends, some lining up for spots along the parade route as early as Thursday morning.
The Museum is open Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with participants in the Hall of Fame’s Membership Program able to enter the Museum at 8 a.m. For more information on Membership, please visit baseballhall.org/join.
Follow all the action during Hall of Fame Weekend with the #HOFWKND hashtag on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.