BY GREG KLEIN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
When he heard that Barry Larkin got elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan Bill Brady knew he had to bring his daughter to Cooperstown. Larkin Brady, age 7, was named after the Reds shortstop after all.
“I promised Larkin when Barry went into the Hall of Fame we would bring her up here,” said Brady, a Cincinnati native who now lives in Takoma Park, Md. Brady and his children, Larkin and her younger brother, 4-year-old William, were all decked out in their Reds gear Sunday. Although they no longer live in Ohio, they have not stopped cheering on their team.
“We watch a lot of games on the internet,” Brady said. For years, Brady said, his daughter’s favorite bedtime story was about how she got her name.
“My nephew was 5 at the time and we told him he could help us with names,” Brady said. “So he sent us a postcard with a list on it. It had his name, his father’s name, and then a bunch ofnames of Reds players: Ken, then Griffey, then Adam for Adam Dunn, then Dunn, then Barry, then Larkin.
“At first we thought we were going to have a boy. At about six months (when they learned they were having a girl), my wife said to me, ‘You know, Larkin is a pretty name for a girl.’
“When I told my nephew, ‘Christopher, you named your niece,’ he was tickled pink,” Brady said.
The Brady family joined a slightly above average size induction crowd of Reds and Cubs fans, nearly evenly split between red and blue. The Hall of Fame announced that an estimated 18,000 fans attended the induction ceremony.
“It is like the whole weekend is one friendly Reds-Cubs game,” theatre owner Ron Onesti of Chicago said. “You look into the crowd and it is like there is a friendly battle going on as to who could bring the most fans.”
Onesti’s theatre, Arcada Live in St. Charles, Ill, is hosting a screening of Jeff Santo’s movie about his father “This Old Cub” on Saturday. A small portion of the film was shown on the jumbo screen before Santo’s induction.
The screening will benefit the charity Ron Santo spent much of his adult life supporting, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Santo’s widow, Vicki, said her husband had raised more than $65 million publicly for the foundation.
For Cincinnati fans, the trip was inspired by the lure of seeing a hometown hero go into the Hall. Larkin grew up in Cincinnati and spent his entire 19-year career with the Reds. “It is special,” Marshall Stills, Jr., of Xenia, Ohio said. “I am a lifelong Barry Larkin fan. I didn’t have to follow him from team to team. I could watch him his entire career with the Reds.”
Added Brady: “You know, he was just a classy guy. Cincinnati is a small town. People know what kind of person you are. Everybody knows Barry was a good guy.”
For Cubs fans, the induction of Santo may have been even more special. The late Cubs third baseman and longtime announcer for the team died in Dec. 2010, just before his selection by the Golden Era Veterans Committee.
“Ronny is the Cubs,” said Jim Pacifici of Chicago, who spent nearly 24 hours over two days driving to get to the induction. “All these fans are here because of Ron. We’re Cubs fans, we love our team, but we love Ron Santo.”
Many Cubs fans lamented that Santo’s induction to the Hall of Fame came a year too late. “If he had been alive,” Pacifici said, “I tell you this entire field would have been filled with Cubs fans.” Onesti had a different perspective.
“If it had to be this way, it just makes it more special to me,” he said. “I know some people are still angry that it didn’t happen sooner, while he was still alive. I feel like it is better it happened this year than not at all.”
Bob Fannello, 59, of Rockford, Ill, made the trip with his 30-year-old son Matthew.
“He came through in 2005 when Ryne Sandberg was inducted and got me a bat,” Fannello said. “This trip was a surprise for him to celebratemy 59th birthday and his 30th birthday. I called him up and said ‘Matthew, we’re going to Cooperstown to get another bat.’”
“Ronny was my hero,” Fanello added. “I’m here for him. You may be surprised by how many Cubs fans are here, but I’m not. It is a worldwide phenomenon. We all love Ron Santo.”
Local News
Fans bask in the glory of their heroes
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Dreams Park, then and now, required a work ethic
courtesy of Cooperstown Dreams Park This photo shows an aerial view of Cooperstown Dreams Parkin 2011.
Campers coming to the Cooperstown Dreams Park each year not only come to play on fields near a historic setting, they come here to apply and improve upon their baseball skills and work ethic. Long before the Dreams Park came to be, those fields held another function that required a good work ethic, in that of farming.
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Ford's state title a first for CCS
Creative visualization works. Just ask Lucy Ford. She didn't know it as creative visualization at the time, but it may have helped her win a state championship anyway.
Continued ... - Trolley schedule has been interrupted
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Fly Creek artist's collages are on display
"Chromatones," collages by Fly Creek artist Amy Cannon, will be on display through Aug. 5 at The Garage at 689 Beaver Meadow Road in Cooperstown.
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Marchi leaves Manor for new job
COOPERSTOWN -- Amid Otsego County's effort to sell the debt-plagued Otsego Manor, the nursing home's administrator, Edmond Marchi, has resigned to take a $107,000-a-year job running a similar facility in Schenectady County, officials said today.
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Deowongo Island dedication planned
Otsego Land Trust and the Canadarago Lake Improvement Association are inviting the public to participate in the community dedication of Deowongo Island as a shared public space on June 22.
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Some businesses remain short-staffed this year
Businesses in the Cooperstown area are gearing up for another summer season. As more tourists visit the area businesses, more employees need to be trained and ready to answer their call.
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CCS names top four students
On Sunday, June 23, 74 Cooperstown Central School seniors will put on caps and gowns to conclude one phase in their lives and prepare to embark on another. Among those walking to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance" will be the top four students.
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Farmers' Museum announces results of 17th annual benefit horse show
On Sunday, June 9, equestrians from around the region participated in the 17th annual Farmers' Museum Benefit Horse Show, held at the Iroquois Farm Showgrounds on River Road, just outside the village of Cooperstown.
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Hands-on learning for homeschool students being offered
The Farmers' Museum, the Fenimore Art Museum and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum have teamed up to offer a day of hands-on learning for homeschoolers and their families.
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MCS announces valedictorian, salutatorian
The top two students at Milford Central School have been named.
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Drillers appeal frack-ban ruling
The courts are expected to take less time to determine if towns have the legal right to keep out hydraulic fracturing for shale gas than state officials are taking to determine if the controversial form of drilling should be allowed in New York.
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DOT ends lakeside chemical spraying
State officials have agreed to stop spraying chemical herbicides along a stretch of state Route 80 that runs along the west bank of Otsego Lake, the source of drinking water for some 2,000 people, Cooperstown Mayor Jeff Katz said Monday.
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Three local men are arrested in arson case
Three local men have been arrested on felony charges after investigators determined that fire was set at an unoccupied home in Hartwick to collect more than $50,000 of insurance money, Otsego County deputies said Monday.
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CV-S names top students for Class of 2013
The top two students at Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School have been named.
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Students participate in pre-engineering competition
The New Visions Pre-Engineering students brought home the gold at the SkillsUSA State Competition held in Syracuse.
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Musician's 100th birthday to be celebrated
The B-Side Ballroom and Supper Club at 1 Clinton Plaza, Oneonta, will host the Gallodoro 100th Birthday Bash featuring New York City saxophonist, Chad E. Smith at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 20.
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Performance set at Lake Front Restaurant
Nashville-based singer and songwriter Erin Thomas will appear at 7 p.m. at Lake Front Restaurant in Cooperstown tonight. Her husband, 1995 CCS graduate Brian Horner will play saxophone with her.
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Smithy has lots to offer this summer season
The Smithy Center for the Arts, at 55 Pioneer St. in Cooperstown, is working year-round to fulfill its mission of bringing the arts to all members of the community, inviting them to be appreciators and creators of virtually all art forms, according to Danielle Newell, the Smithy’s executive director.
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Shakedown Street is coming to village
For one weekend only, the Chestnut Street parking lot will be known as Shakedown Street. The open-air market famous at Grateful Dead shows is expected come to Cooperstown on July 13 and 14 for the Furthur concert at Doubleday Field on Sunday, July 14. Furthur is the Grateful Dead legacy band that features original Dead members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir.
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