Michelle Miller
Staff Writer
Members of the savethefamegame.com
campaign were hoping to silence the crowd
at Doubleday Field during the bottom of the
third inning of the Hall of Fame Game Monday,
in order to demonstrate opposition to
the decision to end the game, but Mother
Nature had other plans — the nearly 70-
year tradition came to an end earlier than
expected.
At about 2:35 p.m., shortly after the National
Anthem was sung, the sold-out exhibition
game between the Chicago Cubs and
San Diego Padres was called due to poor
weather conditions. Thunder roared in
along with lightning flashes, heavy winds
and hail, that at first, had organizers thinking
the game could be postponed. However,
as more storms rushed in, about 10,000
baseball enthusiasts ran to seek shelter.
The savethefamegame.com campaign
was launched earlier this year, following
the announcement by Major League Baseball
that the 2008 Hall of Fame Game would
be the final such game played, ending a tradition
that began in 1940. Despite ruined
plans, the savethefamegame.com campaign
announced that it will continue moving forward
with its effort to urge MLB Commissioner
Bud Selig, MLB President Bob Dupuy,
MLB Players Association Chief Donald
Fehr and Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson
to reverse the decision to end the annual
baseball tradition in Cooperstown after this
year.
``I’ve always thought that Mother Nature
should be the only thing to cancel a Hall of
Fame Game, and today (Monday) that
proved to be true,’’ said savethefamegame.
com creator Kristian Connolly. ``The savethefamegame.
com campaign had a tremendous
experience in Cooperstown today,
and the parade alone was an amazing event.
I can’t say enough about the thousands of
people who showed their support for savethefamegame.
com today, and we look forward
to building upon that support in the
future.’’
Connolly, a Cooperstown native, said
even if the game had been played, the campaign
to save the game would not have ended
on June 16.
``This was an important day and we were
able to accomplish a great deal, but this
campaign moves forward and will remain
being about ensuring that major league
teams and/or major league players continue
to play a game on Doubleday Field in Cooperstown,
as they have since 1940,’’ Connolly
said.
Connolly said he believes the last week
has validated the idea that people all across
the country want the tradition to continue,
and that it’s only a matter of getting the
word out about the decision to end it in order
to get people motivated to voice their opposition
to the league and to the players.
``I was extremely encouraged to see some
veteran players, like future Hall of Famer
Greg Maddux, step up and say that the
game is a good thing, that the opportunity
for players to come to Cooperstown is special
to them, and that ending the game is a
big loss,’’ Connolly said.
Connolly said the campaign will try to
build on that sentiment as much as possible.
``Baseball is a long season and there are
still key events on the calendar, so there
will be plenty of opportunities to keep
spreading the word, both in Cooperstown
and elsewhere, that savethefamegame.com
will pursue to keep the campaign moving
forward,’’ Connolly said.
Sen. James Seward had earlier joined
the fight to save the game, but said he heard
directly from MLB commissioner Bud Selig
that the plan to cancel the game is irrevocable,
so now he has formed a local commit-
tee to develop an alternate
plan to fill the Hall of Fame
Game niche.
``I’m very disappointed,
but we won’t lie down and
quit,’’ said Seward. ``We’ve
got to start planning how we
can turn around a tough
break and make sure we
have a significant annual
baseball event that continues
to be a tourist destination,
builds on our baseball
history, and is an economic
asset for our area.’’
``The Hall of Fame Game
is key to our area, and we
need to work together to
make a positive change for
Cooperstown, Otsego County
and the area that will boost
tourism and create jobs. I am
convinced that the Hall of
Fame has done everything to
keep the game and certainly
the Hall will be a key part of
our effort to develop a honest
substitute,’’ added Seward.
According to Seward’s
spokesperson Duncan Davie,
the committee is still in its
early stages, and the senator
is not ready to put any ideas
out to the public yet.
Kathie Egloff, from Glenfield,
N.Y., marched in the
parade as part of the savethefamegame.
com campaign.
Egloff said the Hall of
Fame Game has become a
family tradition, and she
would hate to see the game
taken away from Cooperstown.
``I have been coming since
my son (Wyatt Gokey, who
also marched) was three
years old,’’ said Egloff. ``He is
now 11.’’
Egloff said she pulls her
kids out of school so they can
experience the excitement of
the game. Professional tickets
are too expensive, so the
Hall of Fame Game is the
best way to give the kids exposure
to professional players,
said Egloff.
Egloff said she sees more
and more kids at the Hall of
Fame Game festivities each
year, and it would be a shame
to end such a great experience.
She said she feels it is
hard enough to keep kids interested
in sports as it is, because
people’s lives are becoming
more hectic and there
are more activities with
which kids are becoming involved.
As much as Egloff said
she would hate to see an alternative
to the game, she
said if it were to happen, she
would at least like to see current
players involved somehow.
She said the younger
kids do not know the old-timers,
so she doesn’t believe
that option would appeal to
the younger generation.
``Kids today watch the
players on television and
want to see the players they
see on the screen,’’ said Egloff.
``Even if the players were
just there to sign autographs
that would be something for
the kids to look forward to.’’
Dan Fuller, also from
Glenfield, N.Y., said the fans
come to support the players,
so he believes the players
should be able to take one
day out of the year to come
support their fans. He said
most people understand the
team’s schedules are busy,
but they get paid enough to
be able to fit the Hall of Fame
Game into their schedules.
Jerry Picolla traveled all
the way from the San Francisco
Bay area with his wife
Carol and two grandchildren
Cory and Brendan Kennealy
to see the Hall of Fame
Game, with his cousin Richard
and his wife Dee of
Oneonta.
While waiting for the parade
to start, the Picolla
cousins said this year marked
the eighth game they had
come to see together, the first
being in the early 1940s,
which they believed was either
the second or third game
that was played in Cooperstown.
The guys were only 7
or 8 at the time, they recalled.
Both Jerry and Richard
said they believe the game
still generates the same sort
of excitement it always has.
Jerry, who was decked out
in an Oakland A’s Hawaiian
t-shirt and team sports cap,
said he finds it disappointing
that the Cooperstown tradition
will come to an end. He
said the game’s demise will
be a great loss to Cooperstown
tourism.
Richard, whose parents
used to manage the Victory
Grocery Store in Cooperstown,
said each year the
game attracts more people.
He said back in the early
1940s, it was unheard of to
travel more than 100 miles;
today there are fans of every
team that are able to come
experience the game.
When asked what he
would like to see replace the
game, Jerry said he would
like to see an old-timers
game.
``Babe Ruth played in the
first game after he was already
retired,’’ Jerry said.
Jerry said an old-timers
game would also provide the
opportunity for grandparents
like him to bond with their
grandchildren. Even if they
did not know the players, it
would provide the older generation
an opportunity to
teach the younger generation
about the older players they
watched and grew up with,
said Jerry. However, he said,
the players would not necessarily
have to be real oldies;
he said it would be good to
see the ballplayers that have
been retired only 10 years or
less.
Sixteen-year-old Cory and
13-year-old Brendan sported
their Chicago Cubs caps. It
was their first Cooperstown
experience. Although the
game was cancelled, they
were able to tour the Hall of
Fame museum and buy souvenirs
at the gift shops. Their
next journey would be to the
Bronx to see Yankee Stadium
and then off to Boston to
see Fenway Park.
As Cooperstown resident
Mildred Lehman waited for
the parade to begin, she said
she was at the first Hall of
Fame Game. She said she is
sorry to see the game come to
an end, and is particularly
remorseful that the Cooperstown
Central School students
will no longer have the
event to use as a fundraising
opportunity.
Adam Shumway, a 17-
year old from Morris, N.Y.,
said he was really let down
when the game was cancelled,
especially because it
was going to be the last
game. He said he and his
mother have come to past
Hall of Fame Games, but his
entire family came out this
year to become a part of history.
``It was really disappointing
because we waited in line
for so long and then had to
leave the stands,’’ said Shumway.
Shumway said he was not
at the game to cheer on a
specific team. He said he is
just a genuine baseball fan
that hopes some sort of game
will replace the Hall of Fame
Game, even if it is just a Triple
A game.
This year marked the
ninth occasion the annual
Hall of Fame Game has been
canceled.
The last time rain canceled
a Fame Game was in
2006, when Pittsburgh and
Cincinnati stopped playing
in the third inning. Other
rainouts were 1993 (Cleveland
Indians vs. Los Angeles
Dodgers); 1990 (Baltimore
Orioles vs. Montreal Expos);
1962 (New York Yankees vs.
Milwaukee Braves) and 1944
(Detroit Tigers vs. New York
Giants). The game also was
canceled in 1989 (Boston Red
Sox and Reds) because the
Reds had plane problems;
1981 (Oakland vs. Reds) because
of the player strike;
and in 1945 because of World
War II.
Ticket holders who had
been admitted to the park
can receive a refund of the
face value of the tickets by
mailing the ticket stub, along
with the ticket holder’s name
and address, to Cooperstown
Baseball Committee, P.O.
Box 590, Cooperstown, N.Y.,
13326. Refunds will be issued
by check and should
take four to six weeks for
processing.
