By ERIC AHLQVIST
Cooperstown Crier
Persistence paid off for Kristian
Connolly.
The Cooperstown graduate and
SaveTheFameGame.com founder
announced this week that Major
League Baseball Commissioner
Bud Selig arranged a meeting between
Connolly, MLB president
Bob Dupuy, and Hall of Fame president
Jeff Idelson in Cooperstown
during the Hall of Fame’s Induction
weekend, which begins this
Friday and goes through Sunday.
Connolly sent three separate requests
for a meeting before Selig
finally relented.
The meeting will take place at
the Hall of Fame at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Connolly has been at the front of
the fight to save the annual Hall of
Fame Game, a Cooperstown tradition
for nearly 70 years. In January,
Major League Baseball announced
this year’s game, which
was scheduled for June, would be
the final one. The game between
the San Diego Padres and Chicago
Cubs was rained out.
``While the ultimate goal was to
sit down and talk with Mr. Selig
directly, the opportunity to meet
with Mr. Dupuy and Mr. Idelson is
certainly a very positive development
in the campaign to have the
Fame Game tradition continue,’’
said Connolly.
``I thank Mr. Selig for arranging
this meeting, and I cannot help but
view the upcoming meeting as a
validation of the campaign, as a
recognition of the impact that passionate
baseball fans from all over
the country can have on the national
pastime’s direction and future,
and as a signal of MLB’s and the
Hall of Fame’s willingness to rethink
the decision to end the great
baseball, American and Cooperstown
tradition of the Hall of Fame
Game.’’
MLB officials cited scheduling
problems and a players’ union request
to discontinue the game
among the reasons for cancelling
the contest.
In recent years, mostly minor
leaguers have played in the Game,
unlike in the past when star players
participated.
In June, Hall of Fame spokesperson
Brad Horn said a replacement
for the game was in the works
and should be in place by 2009.
Possible replacements bandied
about include a minor league game,
a Futures Game or an Old Timers’
Game.
In addition, Senator Jim Seward
volunteered to chair a committee of
local leaders to find a possible replacement
for the Game.
Connolly sent Commissioner
Selig three separate letters asking
for “the opportunity to discuss with
you the passion that exists for
keeping a great American and
baseball tradition alive ... and have
an open discussion about options
for retaining Major League Baseball’s
participation in the Hall of
Fame Game, as it has been since
1940.”
