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="Nymr83":1y7bcicq]they should make the game between teams who would actually be happy to be there- college teams.[/quote:1y7bcicq]
Tough to find college teams ready to play in July
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G-Fafif
Jan 29 2008 03:01 PM
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Mets played in HOF Game in both '76 and '78. White Sox were the opponent in '78. Don't remember who it was two years earlier but I do remember that coach Willie Mays suited up and played. Mets were also a contestant in 1992 and, to honor their Fresno-raised Hall of Famer, called up Fresno-raised prospect Bobby Jones to start.
Agree with the Bucket that it was weird seeing these sorts of games on the sked and discovering there was no media coverage. The Mets were still playing an annual game at West Point, even, into the '70s.
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Zvon
Jan 29 2008 03:06 PM
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I for one, will miss this game.
I went to a few over the years.
Don't know if you can stuff do this these days, but you used to be able to just go on out onto Doubleday field and play ball.
One trip up there, when I was a teen (many moons ago) the whole family went.
My dad was hitting fungos to us ( me and three brothers) out on the field and one of my brothers and I collided trying to snag a shallow pop up into left (he was in left, me at short).
Dislocated my collarbone.
Ahhhh, good times.
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G-Fafif
Jan 31 2008 04:29 PM
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Mets in the Hall of Fame Game, 1-2-2 lifetime, according to HOF site:
Casey's Crew Falls to the Senators, 6-4, July 27, 1964
Casey Stengel brought his New York Mets to Cooperstown for the first time in team history, but the appearance would be Stengel's last. In hoping for a farewell victory for their manager, the Mets instead would fall to the Washington Senators, 6-4. Gil Hodges skippered the Senators, his second season as a manager and first after stepping off the playing field. Washington totaled 14 hits in the game, building a 5-1 lead after four. Joe Cunningham had three hits for the Senators, scoring twice. Chuck Cottier also collected an RBI double. The Mets rallied for two scores in the ninth inning on Larry Elliot's two-run home run before Don Loun recorded the final out. Don Rudolph earned the victory and Pete Craig worked three innings in relief.
Brewers Power Socks Mets, 9-3, August 9, 1976
Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were no doubt Hall of Famers in 1976, when Willie's New York Mets traveled to Cooperstown to play Hank's Milwaukee Brewers. For the already-retired Mays, the Game gave the outfielder an opportunity to test his skills one final time. While neither player impacted the outcome, the Brewers, led by four home runs, beat the Mets, 9-3. Mays, who coached for the Mets from 1974-79, entertained early in the game at second base, dancing off the bag, much to the delight of the capacity crowd at Doubleday Field. The Brewers, though, would be the top entertainment, with Sixto Lezcano blasting two home runs and driving in five runs. Lezcano's first blast, a three-run shot in the first inning, gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead. In the third, his two-run shot extended the margin to 5-2. Mike Hegan's three-run blast in the sixth and Bernie Carbo's solo shot in the seventh concluding the Brewers parade. Larry Sorenson pitched seven innings for the Brewers, allowing all three runs, to earn the win. Robin Yount made his lone Hall of Fame Game appearance.
Rain Knots Tigers and Mets at 4-4, Aug. 7, 1978
Milt May made the most of the six frames the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets would play in the 1978 Game, belting two solo home runs and driving in three runs for Detroit before rain ended the game in a 4-4 tie in the top of the seventh inning. Lenny Randle's three-run blast gave New York a 4-3 lead entering the bottom of the fifth inning, before May's second clout evened the score. May would hit a first-inning home run, and later doubled in Tigers rookie Alan Trammell in the third-inning to give the club a 2-1 lead. Tom Grieve homered for New York to even the score at 1-1 in the second.
Rain Ends New York's Comeback, 4-4, August 2, 1982
Appearing for the second time in three years, the Tony LaRussa-led Chicago White Sox were determined to collect a Hall of Fame Game win. With the "Clown Prince of Baseball" Max Patkin in attendance, a victory for the Pale Hose appeared in hand. Rusty Staub, the New York Mets, and a heavy rain storm changed the landscape quickly, however. Trailing 4-2, the Mets added a run in the seventh to close to 4-3. As the rains began to fall in the eighth inning for the third time during the game, Staub launched a solo home run in the bottom of the frame to even the score at 4-4. The game would be called at the end of the inning. Hubie Brooks also homered for the Mets, with George Foster, Bob Bailor and Dave Kingman all reaching base for New York. Marc Hill homered for the White Sox.
One Hit Wonders: White Sox Blanked By Mets, 3-0, August 3, 1992
The New York Mets made their fifth Hall of Fame Game appearance a winning one, after losing two and tying two in four previous visits, beating the Chicago White Sox by a 3-0 margin. Three Mets pitchers combined on the only one-hitter in Hall of Fame Game history. The second best-pitched game came in 1960 when the Cubs two-hit the Indians. Gene Lamont of Chicago and Jeff Torborg of New York were both appearing for the first time as managers at Doubleday Field. Fresno, California's Bobby Jones, the Mets' first round pick in the 1991 draft, was brought in to Cooperstown to pitch, and he proved to be spectacular. He was perfect through six frames and pitched seven innings overall, allowing a hit in his final inning of work - a bad-hop single to center to minor leaguer Byron Matthews. The game was scoreless through seven innings, as Jason Bere (five hitless innings) and Scott Ruffcorn worked magic for the Pale Hose. In the last half of the eighth inning, Chico Walker led off with a home run to left field to provide the only run Mets pitchers would need. Jeff McKnight and Mackey Sasser both singled in the inning and scored on a two-run double by Daryl Boston. Tony Freitas pitched the eighth inning and was credited with the win, with Mark Dewey pitching a hitless ninth for the save. Charlie O'Brien caught the entire game for the Mets. Robin Ventura won the home run derby before the start of the game by blasting four dingers for the Cooperstown fans. Future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray made his second appearance in Cooperstown, as he played in the contest.
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Fman99
Jan 31 2008 06:40 PM
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I've never been to a HOF game, though I've been to the HOF many times.
It's about a two hour drive from my home... I think this year I'm going to take the day off to attend the game. My last chance to do so and all.
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Mex17
Feb 03 2008 05:45 AM
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Making that game count (as opposed to killing it) would have been an EXCELLENT idea!!!! Surely a better one than playing in Japan!
I would love to see the best players in the world playing in that little intimate park.
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SteveJRogers
Feb 10 2008 07:56 AM
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[url=http://www.savethefamegame.com/2008/01/top-10-reasons-to-save-hall-of-fame.html:3539uxa1]An effort and petition to save the HOF game.[/url:3539uxa1]
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HahnSolo
Feb 18 2008 10:49 AM
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I was in Cooperstown this weekend. Save the Hall of fame Game is a big theme of many of the local merchants. One thing they griped to me about is the timing of this year's game (the last few as well): In May, kids are still in school, it's the day after Fathers Day, and you have much fewer people in town. But they'd rather have it that day than not at all.
My thought? Put lights on Doubleday Field and get a NY-Penn league team. They'd have a natural rivalry with Oneonta, and the summer crowds in town would have somewhere to go at night.
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Benjamin Grimm
Nov 18 2008 02:00 PM
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It's back, sort of.
I think I like this format better than the one they've been using. Better to see stars of the past than Triple-A fill-ins of the present. It's more in the spirit of the event this way. Even if most of the players involved aren't enshrinees.
| ="Associated Press"]
Hall of Fame schedules replacement game for 2009
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP)-Baseball’s legends and old-timers will play in a new Hall of Fame Classic, a creation deemed insufficient by the group opposed to the elimination of the annual exhibition between major league teams.
The inaugural Hall of Fame Classic will be held on June 21-Father’s Day and the first day of summer. It will replace the Hall of Fame game, discontinued this season after 68 years because of scheduling problems.
We’re honored to be a part of this, said Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, which is working with the Hall of Fame to put on the Hall of Fame Classic.
There’s a lot we can do to promote the game of baseball. This will be a great success and hit here in Cooperstown. It will be a lot of fun-autographs, family entertainment. That’s what it’s all about, he added.
Next June’s game at Doubleday Field will feature four Hall of Famers and more than 20 other retired major leaguers, although the decision on who will play will not be made until later, Hall of Fame spokesman Craig Muder said.
We are extremely excited to start a new Cooperstown tradition for multigenerational families everywhere, Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson said. Given that Cooperstown is steeped in nostalgia, a legends-style baseball game is a natural fit.
Idelson said the game will be part of a weekend of activities and programs, including a skills clinic featuring former major leaguers, a hitting contest and autograph sessions.
Major League Baseball announced in late January that the Hall of Fame game was ending because of scheduling problems.
Although U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and other members of Congress objected, baseball commissioner Bud Selig defended the move, explaining that major league teams play 162 games in 183 days and that the addition of interleague play and interdivision matchups made scheduling two teams for a game in Cooperstown exceedingly difficult.
The last game was scheduled for June 16 between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres but it was rained out.
Eliminating the game was unpopular with many fans, including Cooperstown native Kristian Connolly, who started a Web-based crusade to save the annual game.
No longer should Cooperstown be known as the `Home of Baseball,’ but instead it should be known as `The Tomb of Baseball,’ she said in a statement. For 68 years, kids have been able to enjoy connecting with their modern heroes of the diamond, but now they’ll be replaced by kids who will watch old men whose playing careers they did not witness, ghosts whom they know nothing about.
Connolly had sent letters to Selig, players’ union leader Donald Fehr, a select group of major leaguers from all 30 clubs, and the owners and front office leaders.
In July, Connolly met with Major League Baseball president Bob DuPuy during the Hall’s annual induction weekend to urge him to bring back the annual game, but was unsuccessful. |
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Valadius
Nov 18 2008 02:20 PM
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Hey, I like it better too. It allows kids to see the players their parents used to watch play.
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metsguyinmichigan
Nov 18 2008 03:04 PM
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Good idea!
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Vic Sage
Nov 18 2008 03:51 PM
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they should do the All-star game there, to celebrate the connection between the past and present that is quintessentially baseballian. Logistics would be tough, but if Cooperstown knew it was getting that game every year, it would build the infrastructure to support it, cuz it would make sick money for that little town.
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Nymr83
Nov 18 2008 04:25 PM
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the owners would never go for moving their cash cow to rural upstate NY every year
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A Boy Named Seo
Nov 18 2008 05:52 PM
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It's a softball game, right? Or all the oldies playin' hardball?
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SteveJRogers
Nov 18 2008 07:24 PM
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In every known version of an Old Timers Game, they do play hard ball. Only when celebs are involved is it softball.
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Benjamin Grimm
Nov 18 2008 07:46 PM
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I'm sure the players won't be real old-timers. They'll probably all be under 50.
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SteveJRogers
Nov 18 2008 08:28 PM
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Luke Appling hit a homer in one during the 1980s at quite an advanced age:
From baseball-almanac.com
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In 1982, at the age of 75, he electrified the crowd at a Cracker Jack Old Timer's game, in Washington |
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DocTee
Nov 18 2008 08:32 PM
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I remember that. It was the first game associated with the All Star festivities, I think. The walls were brought in, but I think it still cleared 275'.
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