Play Ball!

6 years ago it was Sparky Anderson, Carlton Fisk and Tony Pérez for CBS broadcast. This year it was 94-year-old Buck O’Neil, the split-fingered fastball pitcher Bruce Sutter and one of the most gifted base runners in baseball, Lou Brock. A NBC affiliate Sports Reporter from St.Louis called yesterday and we were off and running bases at the Hall of Fame ceremony in Cooperstown, NY.

It was an especially memorable day for the families of 17 black players, posthumously recognised for their outstanding performance in the Negro Leagues. A woman by the name of Effa Manley also became the first woman elected to the Hall of Fame as a former Newark Eagles executive.

Percentages, averages, singles, doubles, triples, unfortunately it's always been the math in baseball that's struck me out. ERA's, RBI's, SLG's, all those complicated acronyms never helped either. Try as I might to become a fan of America's favorite past time, it's the location of the museum in Cooperstown, NY, that scores homeruns verses watching the game.

Cooperstown is stunning in the summer and offers world class opera, national art exhibitions, theater, and concerts. Sarge insists next year will be different when Mark McGwire (what steroid use?), Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. are eligible for Hall of Fame entry. I insist I'd rather work the event and enjoy the town with a fresh brew Pale Ale Slugger overlooking Otsego Lake from the back porch of a Victorian B&B. That's a winning inning in my travel log anyday.